Production is underway on a second season of Ambience Entertainment’s hit series Muster Dogs for the ABC as Netflix launches the first iteration to international audiences.
The production company has also started shooting a new garden and lifestyle series hosted by Lisa McCune and Dave Franklin, The Garden Hustle, for the Nine Network. Production will take place across Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales, and will focus on creative garden, courtyard, and balcony makeovers.
Competition series Muster Dogs is based on an original concept by producer Michael Boughen and tells the stories of remote and regional farmers as they meet the challenge to train a Kelpie puppy in just 12 months. The first season drew 2 million viewers, ending 2022 as the ABC’s most watched program of the year. It was also nominated for an AACTA and recently saw Ambience win a Screen Producers Australia (SPA) Award.
Netflix has acquired the first series for UK/Ireland, US, Canada, the Nordics, Spain and Latin America, as well as the SVOD rights for ANZ. ABC Commercial manages international sales.
The second round is led by a creative team that includes Boughen, series director and producer Monica O’Brien, co-producer John Unwin, director Sally Browning and executive producer Matthew Street. Editors include Unwin, Orly Danon, Dan Oates and Chris Beeson, with DOPs including Ben Emery and Brad Smith. Danon is the post producer.
The Garden Hustle has been created by O’Brien, with Boughen and Street executive producers. Executive producers of content include Browning and Keaton Stewart, with associate producer Jonathan Jeffrey. Justin Schneider and Dave Wallace are directing, with Oates and Unwin editing.
“This is an exciting time for Ambience Entertainment, with new productions underway for the ABC and Channel Nine, Australian content streaming internationally on Netflix and several fantastic shows in the works,” said O’Brien.
“Our shows are incredibly inspiring, authentic, and quintessentially Australian with interesting and diverse stories. We’re so proud to be bringing Australian stories to screens and are looking forward to seeing these amazing shows air later this year.”
Other recent productions for Ambience Entertainment include NITV’s Barrumbi Kids, for which it also won a SPA Award with Tamarind Tree Pictures, and Matthew Reilly’s Interceptor.
In December last year, it was awarded development funding from Screen Australia for series drama Placed, set in the emotionally charged world of foster care and examining what happens when bureaucracy grates up against the complex realities of people’s lives. Partho Sen-Gupta is attached as writer and director, with O’Brien, Megan Hutt and Faith Martin producers.