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Aquarius Films and Anonymous Content to produce ‘The Subjugate’

Polly Staniford and Angie Fielder, with the book cover for Amanda Bridgeman's 'The Subjugate'.

Aquarius Films and Anonymous Content will partner to produce dystopian sci-fi crime thriller The Subjugate, based on the novel of the same name by Amanda Bridgeman.

Planned as a long-format series, The Subjugate is set in 2040 and follows a number of murders that send shockwaves through the religious community of Bountiful, which has turned its back on technology and the modern world. The obvious suspects are ‘The Subjugates’, violent offenders who are transformed into town servants, known as Serenes at the Solme Complex.

Sent from the city to investigate the crimes, two homicide detectives are met with open hostility. Everyone has a motive and the frustrated detectives begin to crack under the pressure. As their mutual mistrust builds, they set out on parallel investigations.

Angie Fielder and Polly Staniford will produce for Aquarius Films and Luke Rivett and Ryan Cunningham for Anonymous Content. The producers are currently in talks with writers but no names have been confirmed as yet.

The Subjugate explores topical themes of rehabilitation, recidivism and advancing technology in a captivating near-future science fiction thriller and is perfect raw material for a compelling TV series,” said Fielder and Staniford in a joint statement.

“We’ve always been huge fans of the work that Anonymous Content produce and are thrilled to be partnering with Luke and Ryan to bring to life the rich and complex world that Amanda Bridgeman has created in her novels.”

Rivett and Cunningham said: “Amanda has created an incredibly complex world that examines the bonds between good and evil and what happens when the lines between the two are blurred. We are thrilled to collaborate with Angie, Polly, and the Aquarius team to bring Amanda’s novel to life on screen,”

Aquarius’ upcoming projects include The Unusual Suspects for SBS and children’s series Parent Up for the ABC. It is also developing series The Geography of Friendship with Dollhouse Pictures.

Recent Anonymous Content projects include Dickinson, Catch-22, Paradise Lost, Home Before Dark, and Defending Jacob. It is also a producing partner with See-Saw Films for Thomas M. Wright’s feature The Unknown Man, starring Joel Edgerton.

The Subjugate is the first in a trilogy of books from Bridgeman, with the second,The Sensation, released worldwide last October. Her other work includes alien contact drama The Time of Stripes, and she was a previous finalist in the Universal AU/Screenwest Pitch competition and a finalist in the AACTA Regional Landscapes Pitch in partnership with Screenworks.