One of the intriguing things about the arrival of the new Amazon Prime Video Australian Original Luxe Listings Sydney is the partnerships created to produce the series. The show also sees Amazon Prime Video creating a new franchise (more about that tomorrow) that has helped catapult small Melbourne indie Kentel into the big league.
Mediaweek earlier this week detailed how Kyle Sandilands and producer Benjamin Scott developed the idea. Amazon Prime Video liked what they saw and Eureka was engaged to make the show alongside Scott and Kentel.
As crack Sydney real estate agent, and one of the three stars of Luxe Listings Sydney, Gavin Rubinstein, told Mediaweek yesterday, Sydney has never been showcased like this before.
The eastern suburbs really glisten during Luxe Listings Sydney and there’s hardly a scene that is not enhanced, even momentarily, by some great ariel images of the strip of land that ends at the tip of South Head.
Kentel executive producer Benjamin Scott
Ben Scott told Mediaweek that it is all drone footage, no helicopters were commissioned for any images during the series. “One of the great things about having Amazon as the client, is that they have a very big budget. That enables us to have all the best people and all the best camera equipment.
“It is a very high-quality cinematic production and every house and every car looks even better than real life. The post-production team at Eureka are very, very good. Also, the people on the ground during filming were very good. It was a real combination of both.”
Scott added, “We were originally inspired to come up with a television show about Gavin Rubinstein. He stood out as a real character in real estate in the eastern suburbs. We later identified D’Leanne Lewis and Simon Cohen as equally valuable cast members.
“The magic of the show is the dynamic between the three of them.
“Because of the credibility of Kyle and my business partner James Kennedy (Kentel founder and the biggest jewellery retailer in Australia) we were able to secure that talent.
“After Amazon met each of the cast they realised we had something special. Gavin and D’Leanne combined would sell $1b worth of property a year. Because Amazon is such a great and big streaming company it gave them extra comfort to be working with salespeople who have the ability of our main stars.
“It is a risk for high-value individuals such as Gavin, D’Leanne and Simon to take part in a reality show as they all have their own personal brand they have built up carefully over many years. That is worth a lot to them and they need to be presented in the right way. By having Kentel and Kyle in support they were comfortable they would be presented in the right way.
Luxe Listings Sydney: D’Leanne Lewis and Simon Cohen
“Eureka’s Jake Hargreaves, who is a great producer, was in charge of Gavin’s stories in the series and was picked by Amazon’s CJ Yu to oversee the production on behalf of Amazon. Jake was also a series producer for The Voice and he is very experienced at working with high-end talent.”
There’s not a lot of auctions in Luxe Listings Sydney, but they make for compelling viewing because of the amount of money involved.
“Amazon seemed to have something like 20 cameras every time we filmed an auction and there were no budget restraints when it came to the sale process.
“There are two specific points of difference about this show that Kyle and Kentel came up with. One is that it was critical to capture the thrilling nature of the Sydney market. We feature a property that sold for $24.6m, the highest residential sale in Australia last year.
“The other key point is that every single transaction you see on the show is true and verifiable.
“Every house that Gavin is selling he listed and every house that he sells he really sold. There is nothing made up for the series. All the facts are able to be verified on the public record.”
Tomorrow: Amazon Prime Video’s growing slate of Australian Originals
See also: Inside Luxe Listings Sydney: Amazon Prime Video’s latest Australian Original
