The first ever web series to be funded by both Screen Australia and Film Victoria for TikTok, launched on May 17. Produced by Hayley Adams and Michelle Melky, and directed by Logan Mucha, Scattered is a new queer drama comprised of 38 x 1-minute daily eps to be released on TikTok.
It follows three best friends, Jules, Sami and Bo, the day after their friend Wil’s funeral, when they wake up with brutal hang-overs and one less person, Wil… well, his ashes that is. Over the series, the friends retrace their steps to find his ashes and give him the send-off he deserves.
TikTok has become the platform for queer communities to gather and create art, memes and trends online. Bringing this queer series to the platform in 2021 is the perfect pairing of emotive filmmaking and a platform designed for mass distribution.
Since the release of the trailer earlier this week, the account has already gained 700,000 views, 40,000 followers, 230,000 likes and 1500 comments, all before a series episode has been released.
This is not the first creative collaboration for Adams (2021 Screen Forever Ones to Watch) and Melky (creative producer of youth entertainment agency Amplify). They previously pro- duced and directed Love Songs, the world’s first narrative series for TikTok – 21 x 1 minute episodes which has amassed more than 140k followers, 12 million views and 2.5 million likes, with the highly anticipated Season 2 now being released in partnership with Tinder. Season 2 stars Australian TikTokers with a combined following of 4 million.
Scattered stars an emerging cast of relative newcomers, including the three leads – Zenya Carmelotti as Sami, Kurt Pimblett as Bo, and Campbell Connelly as Jules. It has been co-written by Logan Mucha, Kate Darrigan and Adolfo Aranjuez, and was filmed on location in Melbourne.
Lee Naimo, senior online investment manager at Screen Australia said, “We’re really proud to support this clever and captivating series from a talented team with a proven track record of creating entertaining content in bite-size episodes. With the trailer already gaining impressive traction, I can’t wait to see the full series reach audiences on TikTok.”
Film Victoria CEO Caroline Pitcher said “Moving, diverse and beautifully shot, Scattered has set the bar high for Australian TikTok series. We can’t wait to see audiences embrace this heartfelt screen story and we encourage more Victorian creative teams to take the leap into vertical production.”
Scattered has received principal production funding from Screen Australia in association with Film Victoria.