‘A Series of Unfortunate Dates’: Independant Gold Coast producer premiers comedy series

Five years after being slapped in the face with an ex’s cruel comment, a Gold Coast producer has created a comedy series spilling the details of her worst dates.

Not many people want to relive their worst romantic encounters, but Gold Coast producer Amy Raffe is preparing to share hers with a global audience.

Ms Raffe created six-part TikTok comedy series A Series of Unfortunate Dates from her own — often uncomfortable — experiences.

She said she wrote the script during the pandemic, but getting dropped by her acting agent was the push she needed to bring it to life.

“I had a guy that I had been seeing for about three months tell me the reason I didn’t get into the acting school I wanted was because I wasn’t pretty enough,” she said.

“He said it with a big smile on his face, like, obviously that’s not news.

“The first rehearsal was the first time I’d read some of the lines out loud since writing them, and I actually got emotional hearing (it) back in real words.”

A Series of Unfortunate Dates is a TikTok comedy series filmed on the Gold Coast. Photo: contributed.

The series is set to premier on Valentines Day, by which time Ms Raffe would have been working on the project for well over a year.

It was produced with Gold Coast-based independent production company White Bonnet Films using largely local talent and crew.

The series is set to premier on TikTok on February 14, 2025. Photo: contributed.

Ms Raffe, who worked in local theatre and film in Melbourne, moved to the Gold Coast to pursue a professional career in the creative industry.

She said the Gold Coast had long been a production epicentre for some of the world’s biggest movies, but had noticed a lack of grassroots productions.

She said big production studios loved the Gold Coast because it had “mountains that can look like the Amazon rainforest, we’ve got the beach that can look like Hawaii, we’ve got palm trees that kind of look like LA”.

Creator Amy Raffe of indie production company White Bonnet Films has put together a miniseries comedy on the dating scene filmed on the Gold Coast. Picture Glenn Hampson

“I just kind of thought, well, why can’t an independent project take advantage of the same resources and locations?” Ms Raffe said.

“A Series of Unfortunate Dates features some iconic Gold Coast landscapes like the Surfers Paradise skyline, as well as restaurants and bars across the coast, and a room at Southport TAFE.

“We used Southport TAFE and they had literally used the same space for a Netflix series a month earlier, and they were just as accommodating for us on a tiny budget, which was lovely.”

The six-part series was shot across the Gold Coast at TAFE Southport. Photo: contributed.

Ms Raffe said because film productions had become so common on the Gold Coast, many of the restaurants and bars she approached as filming locations were understanding and helpful.

“I would love to see an increase of the different levels of budgets being made here,” she said.

“As amazing as it is to have the multimillion-dollar productions, it would be amazing to also have the accessible Australian local productions and even the independent stuff, that way you can involve more people as well.”

The series is the first release from Gold Coast production company, White Bonnet Films. Picture: contributed.

Ms Raffe plans to submit a version of the production to local and international film festivals, including the Gold Coast Film Festival which has announced it will have a web series category for the first time in six years.