Hit Aussie book set to get TV treatment as part of Amazon’s new lineup

Holly Ringland is completely speechless. The TV adaptation of her award-winning first novel, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, is one of seven new original Australian productions announced by Amazon Prime Video on Tuesday, as the streaming giant makes its most ambitious play yet for local eyeballs.

“This is not anything anyone ever tells you is possible with your first novel,” Ringland says. “So I feel like Charlie Bucket can move right over and I can confidently say that I am out of the Wonka factory and in the glass elevator. This is not anything I know how to be prepared for, but it is a thrill and a joy.”

From left: Holly Ringland, Bruna Papandrea, Sarah Lambert, Kacie Anning, Kate McLennan and Kate McCartney.Credit: Wolter Peeters

The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart was handpicked by uber TV producer Bruna Papandrea and it joins a strong lineup of female-led productions at the streamer, including the feminist noir dramedy Deadloch, from Get Krackin’s Kate McLennan and Kate McCartney, the high-concept comedy Class of ’07 from rising talent Kacie Anning and the bushfire documentary Burning, which is executively produced and directed by a couple of Oscar winners: Cate Blanchett and Eva Orner.

Also announced was the monthly satire The Moth Effect, from Bondi Hipster Nick Boshier and Tonightly’s Jazz Twemlow, while sport documentaries Warriors on the Field and Head Above Water follow a group of Indigenous AFL players and Australian swimmers respectively.

Kacie Anning at the Amazon Prime announcement on Tuesday. Credit: Wolter Peeters

The announcement effectively turns the streaming wars into a proper three-way fight between the foreign-owned Amazon and Netflix and the local offering Stan, which is owned by Nine, publisher of this masthead. It fires a shot over the bow at Netflix which is also investing in Australian content, including commissioning a Heartbreak High reboot and controversial reality series Byron Baes, and last year appointed Que Minh Luu as director of local originals.

And while Amazon’s glossy launch at the Crown Casino focused very much on the streamer’s global reach and its “175 million global subscribers”, there were no Australian subscriber numbers given.

The only guide is a Roy Morgan survey from July last year, which reported Amazon Prime had about 2.16 million subscribers in Australia, putting it behind Netflix (13.28 million viewers), Foxtel (5.5 million), Stan (4.4 million) and Disney+ (2.49 million).

For Papandrea, who is behind the blockbuster book-to-TV adaptations of Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies and Nine Perfect Strangers, which will also screen on Amazon Prime later this year, it’s that global reach that makes streaming services so appealing, regardless of small home-town subscriber numbers.

“It’s great to have options,” says Papandrea. “For us, we love that this is going to be a global, international original, it’s amazing. Amazon has a reach that no one else has. So for us to be able to tell this Australian story on such a big canvas is phenomenal.”

For Anning, who directed The Other Guy in Australia before being chosen by US comedy legend Greg Daniels to direct a couple of episodes of his comedy Upload, the streaming services allowed young Australian creatives to stay in the country and create more aspirational work.

“We know everyone is watching everything everywhere,” Anning says. “So the appeal is in this huge audience. And being able to make content here is the perfect situation.”

Also wheeled out at the launch on Tuesday were the stars of Amazon Prime’s previously announced shows: the Packed to the Rafters reboot Back to the Rafters, the slick real estate reality show Luxe Listings Sydney, the documentary Kick Like Tayla, which follows AFLW and boxing star Tayla Harris; and teen castaway drama The Wilds.

The streamer will also take its first stab at live sport in June, with its coverage of the Australian Swimming Trials and a commentary team snatched straight from the commercial channels, including former Olympians Nicole Livingstone and Grant Hackett.