Mad Kids to produce half hour ABC pilot of web series The Legend of Gavin Tanner
The ABC has commissioned West Australian production company Mad Kids to produce their first TV pilot adapted from web series The Legend of Gavin Tanner.
The half hour pilot, which has started production in Perth, is part of the network's new primetime comedy season, ABC Comedy Showroom.
ABC Comedy Showroom has collected Australia’s top comic talent for six pilots, each the first episode of a brand new sitcom.
ABC audiences will be given the opportunity to vote on which they would like to return as full series.
The pilot season is a joint initiative with Screen Australia in association with Film Victoria, Screen NSW and ScreenWest.
From Perth-based production company Mad Kids, The Legend of Gavin Tanner pilot is written and directed by Matt Lovkis and Henry Inglis and produced by Lauren Elliott.
The series follows the misadventures of Gavin Tanner (Matt Lovkis), a West Coast Eagles-loving, weed-dealing big mouth who is utterly convinced he’s the biggest legend in Balladeen.
The problem is, no-one else agrees. Gavin’s dodgy plans, schemes and boasts are invariably exposed and brought crashing down, causing mayhem for everyone around him.
The pilot will also star returning cast Emily Rose Brennan as Gavin’s girlfriend, Trish and Liam Graham as Gavin’s apprentice, Damo.
ABC head of comedy, Rick Kalowski, said WA’s Mad Kids were one of the most exciting comedy outfits in the country.
"I loved their Legend of Gavin Tanner web series and I can’t wait to see what they do with it as a half hour pilot,” he said.
ScreenWest chief executive, Ian Booth, said it was fantastic that the ABC were now supporting this very funny, original content.
The 2014 web series was made possible by $70,000 production funding from ScreenWest and the Film & Television Institute (FTI), via Hyperlink, an initiative designed to assist Western Australian filmmaking teams to develop their production, storytelling, financial and project management skills to professional industry standards.
FTI chief executive, Paul Bodlovich, said having The Legend of Gavin Tanner web series directly result in an ABC TV network deal was a fantastic outcome of the Hyperlink initiative.
"We’re so pleased for the Mad Kids team,” he said.
If the pilot proves a success and returns as a full series, The Legend of Gavin Tanner will join the likes of Comedy Central hits Broad City, Drunk History and Workaholics, HBO’s High Maintenance and Adult Swim’s Children’s Hospital, as well as ABC series, Soul Mates – all TV series that started out as web series.
The Mad Kids team said creating a web series had become a viable way to break into TV.
"We’ve been developing and producing web series and digital shorts over the last five years and are so thrilled to be producing our first ever half hour of television for the ABC.”
Since the web series release in April 2014, Gavin’s YouTube channel has had over 1.3 million views and the character of Gavin Tanner has gained over 4,500 Facebook friends from all over the world.
Mad Kids have a slate of projects in development and have produced multiple web series and digital shorts to date including The Legend of Gavin Tanner, Matt & Henry Working Together, The Shapes and DAFUQ?
Mad Kids were the only West Australian team commissioned for Fresh Blood, the ABC and Screen Australia initiative designed to discover the next generation of Australian comedy performers and producers.
Their three-part comedy series The Write Stuff with Noel and Carl Pennyman debuted on ABC iview in June 2014 and was declared one of the “Five Freshest Fresh Bloods” by Junkee.
Elliott was the winner of the inaugural ScreenWest Emerging Producer’s Initiative in July 2015, winning $100,000 to put towards project and professional development over the next 12 months.
The Legend of Gavin Tanner will debut on ABC TV as part of ABC Comedy Showroom in 2016.