Female Filmmaker Team Drives Heliums Paper Dolls Scripted Series Riding Premium Austr

 Posted on August 24, 2024  |  6 minutes  |  1218 words  |  Aldo Pusey

Set in a pre-#metoo era, Oz girl-band drama “Paper Dolls” has been realized by an all female filmmaker team shedding light on this darker era for women in the music industry.

Former MTV Australia chief Mark Fennessy executive produced the 8-part scripted drama for Paramount + through his two-year-old banner Helium. eOne is launching international sales at Mipcom this week.  

As well as empowering women filmmakers in Australia, the production shows what Fennessy is currently dedicated to – creating premium Australian content and finding the resources to take it to the next level to compete internationally with its rival Anglo markets. 

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“The feedback from buyers I’ve spoken to pre-Mipcom has been really strong,” said the veteran Australian television executive who is readying several other projects for the streamers in Australia, as well as Season 2 of the hit “Last King of the Cross” for Paramount +.

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Set in 2000, “Paper Dolls” follows the meteoric rise and fall of a fictional  girl-group, Harlow, born from the music reality television show “Pop Rush.”

The band’s members, five young women, must navigate the dark side of the music  industry. The members includes Emalia (“Australian Gangster”); Naomi Sequeira (“Evermoor Chronicles”); Miah Madden (“Redfern Now”); Courtney Clarke (“Last King of The Cross”); and Courtney Monsma (“Frozen The Musical”). 

Created and written by Ainslie Clouston (“Amazing Grace”), with other writers, “Paper Dolls” is directed by Tenika Smith (“The Heights”), Nina Buxton (“Summer Love”) and Erin White (“Wellmania”), produced by Jessica Carrera (“Seriously Red”) and Kerrie Mainwaring (“Bali 2002”), and executive produced by Mark Fennessy (“Last King of The Cross”) and Belinda Chapple, with Alexander Pettaras (“Last King of The Cross”) as associate producer.  

The show is based on an original concept created by Chapple who wrote the book “The Girl in the Band,” about her own dramatic rise and fall in the girl band, Bardot.

“I’m here as a cheerleader for ‘Paper Dolls,’” said Fennessy. “It was very much female led and female driven. And the team has done a great job. The level of talent auditioning was incredible. Some came back five times and still didn’t get cast.”

Fennessy is also here flying the flag for Australian premium content, and rallying to get more funding for the sector whilst navigating changes in the industry both good and bad. 

“A lot of the streamers in our market tend to only buy Australian rights,” he said. “You need a distributor to provide a minimum guarantee. As an independent, I have to go dating around to find the right distributor. You are like any producer trying to raise the most amount of money., rattling cans at traffic lights to get the biggest budget you can. Viewers, consumers, subscribers have got so much choice.”

He added: “What a lot of streamers are trying to do is that they want other sources to cover a lot of the costs, government funding, distribution. Like any producer, that’s the challenge.”

Limited resources also limits Australia competing with bigger markets.

“In order to compete we need better budgets,” he said. 

“Viewers can access content from bigger markets on platforms competing with local content. For Australian producers, we have got to be able to deliver at a premium level that’s on par with what viewers are able to access on the platforms from the U.K. and U.S. In order to compete we need more money,” he added. “It’s difficult in Australia to create premium drama without public funding, and I would really like to make it without public funding.”

The streamers have helped move things in the right direction in some ways. 

“The rise of more streaming platforms and quality has lifted the bar for everyone really. We have never lacked good ideas and good production values in our market,” he added. “With drama on the streamers, they are pushing the boundaries out further and aiming for braver ideas.  That has ultimately inspired producers locally.”

There are limits.

“The platforms we have are not commissioning the volume of scripted content you are getting in  the U.S. or U.K. It’s two or three each year. They are funding a lot of development. They then either green light or not, based on what you deliver.”

Helium has got three projects in funded development currently. One at Paramount. One at Netflix. And the second season of the “Last King” is in pre-production to shoot in January. “Dolls” launches in December. 

“We have a ‘Dolls’ story plot for Season 2. It is an exciting time for us. Helium is only two years old,” he said.

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