The gig economy, and the food delivery industry in particular, are set for scrutiny in “Appetite,” an Australian short-form series that will debut next month at Canneseries, the TV festival that runs alongside the MIP-TV rights market (April 14-19).
“Appetite” is a mystery-comedy in which three penniless food delivery riders are brought together after their housemate mysteriously vanishes on the same night as a rider has a fatal roadside accident. They set out to discover the truth behind the accident and expose multinational food behemoth, Appetite.
“Appetite” was created by Mohini Herse (“Hair”) who wrote, directed and produced the series under her Fell Swoop Pictures banner. She worked with fellow writers Neilesh Verma (“Letters Home”) and Grace Tan (“Lucky Peach”), director Neil Sharma (“Heartbreak High”), and producer Karen Radzyner (“Paper Giants: The Birth of Cleo”).
The drama includes performances from rising stars Shirong Wu (“Neighbours”), Gabriel Alvarado (“The Winter’s Tale”), Raj Labade (“Back Of The Net”) and Kabir Singh (“The Tourist”), with Marta Dusseldorp (“Janet King”) voicing Appetite.
The series will receive its world premiere at Canneseries. Its first season will be viewable on SBS as a 60-minute mini-feature or six ten-minute episodes from April 22 on SBS Viceland and SBS On Demand.
It is the second year in a row that New South Wales-based Photoplay, in partnership with Fell Swoop Pictures, has a series in competition at Canneseries.
Herse is a writer and director based in Sydney, who served as director’s assistant for Taika Waititi on Marvel’s “Thor: Love and Thunder” and directed Australia’s first ever Instagram series “The Out There” in 2016. She began development of “Appetite” in 2017. In 2020, the project was selected for the Digital Originals initiative in 2020, which saw a wider creative team take part in exclusive development workshops held virtually, run by Screen Australia, SBS and NITV. Later, principal production funding came from Screen Australia in association with SBS and support from Screen NSW.
“ ‘Appetite’ is a satirical look at the effects of the gig economy, and we can only hope that it starts a conversation – Canneseries feels like a good place to start,” said Herse.
Photoplay is currently in production on “The Disposables,” for ABC Me and has “I’m Fine, I’m Fine” coming up for SBS On Demand. It has previously collaborated on “Goldstone,” “Berlin Syndrome” and “Sweet Country.”
“ [‘Appetite’ is] the work of a brilliant team creatively led by Mohini Herse, showcasing the incredible talent we have in Australia – a new and noisy wave of storytellers determined to tell their distinct stories on their own terms,” said Loani Arman, commissioning editor, SBS scripted.
