The #7DaysLater team.
Australia’s Ludo Studio is working on deals to export its format of #7DaysLater to international markets after the multi-platform project won an International Digital Emmy® Award at the MIP-TV market in Cannes.
The show beat three other finalists, Real Escape Game TV (Tokyo Broadcasting System Television); Collider (Beactive Entertainment, S.A. / FICA – Fundo de Investimento para o Cinema e Audiovisual, Portugal); and Latitudes (Losbragas / House Entertainment, Brazil) to win the prize for best digital program, fiction on Monday.
Billed as the world’s first crowd-sourced TV show, #7DaysLater ran for eight weeks on ABC2. The online audience contributed to the storylines which were performed by YouTube identities and guest stars such as Corey Feldman (Stand By Me, The Goonies), Collin Mochrie (who’s Line Is It Anyway?), John Jarratt, Jemaine Clement, Megan Washington, Sigrid Thornton and Toby Truslove.
“We're at MIP-TV in Cannes now and we're having great chats about recreating our format internationally,” Ludo Studio’s Daley Pearson told IF. “We're seeing proof that international market value and not local production cost is the true value of a format.
“We love #7DaysLater and we're so happy our audience love it too. It's crazy that we've won an international Emmy, but it’s a testament to the massive talent and dedication of our Australian team and the #7DaysLater community.”
Pearson and his Ludo Studio partner Charlie Aspinwall are developing a second series of the show for ABC2, which was co-created with Nick Boshier. “For me personally, I'm able to bask in the glow of the massively talented people that surround me at Ludo,” Pearson said. “It's a true testament to their talent and my ability to take credit for their brilliance.”
#7DaysLater was financed without a pilot last March by Screen Australia’s multi-platform drama fund and ABC TV with development funding from Screen Queensland and Screen NSW.
Ludo Studio, whose founders created The Strange Calls, Beached Az and Bondi Hipsters, is also developing an original 52- episode animated comedy The Strange Chores for ABC3.
One half of the Bondi Hipsters, Boshier is producing a six-part half-hour bromantic comedy, Soul Mates, with ABC2, co-produced by the Van Vuuren Brothers and Ludo.