The new Stan Original from Matchbox Pictures, Bad Behaviour, was first announced in mid-2021. Today the streaming TV platform has released a trailer and confirmed the series premiere for next month.
Based on the book by Australian writer Rebecca Starford and directed by Corrie Chen, Bad Behaviour is set in the unforgiving world of an exclusive girls boarding school. Starring Jana McKinnon, Markella Kavenagh and Yerin Ha, the series premieres February 17 on Stan.
Produced by Matchbox Pictures, which is part of Universal International Studios, a division of Universal Studio Group, the series is led by Jana McKinnon (We Children from Bahnhof Zoo), alongside Markella Kavenagh (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Stan Original Series The Gloaming), and Yerin Ha (Halo), Bad Behaviour is a four-part “visceral ride” into the epicentre of the teenage experience where the question is to bully or be bullied in the unrelenting struggle for acceptance and social power.
Bad Behaviour – Jo (Jana McKinnon) and Alice (Yerin Ha)
Top: Bad Behaviour – Briohny (Melissa Kahraman), Portia (Markella Kavenagh) and Ronnie (Erana James)
Images: Sarah Enticknap, Jane Zhang
When 25-year-old Jo Mackenzie (Jana McKinnon) bumps into her old school friend Alice Kang (Yerin Ha), memories of the brutal year they spent together at Silver Creek – the wilderness campus of an exclusive boarding school – come flooding back.
The ensemble cast includes Erana James (The Wilds), AACTA Award-winning Tuuli Narkle (Mystery Road: Origin), Dan Spielman (Stateless, New Gold Mountain), Diana Glenn (Harrow, Reckoning), Mantshologane Maile (The PM’s Daughter) and newcomers Melissa Kahraman, Daya Czepanski, Bronte Locke, Abbey Morgan, Malaynee Hayden and Jessica Lu.
Bad Behaviour: ‘Physically intense deep dive’
The Stan publicity calls Bad Behaviour an emotionally and physically intense deep dive into the lives of teenage girls. Exploring the complicated nature of desire, memory and sexuality within the confines of a prestigious girls boarding school. Bad Behaviour is played out across past and present timelines. The series reveals that even 10 years on from our high school years, no one escapes unscathed – and often, we are scarred for life.
Led by an all-female creative team, the Stan Original Series is written by Pip Karmel (Total Control, New Gold Mountain) and Magda Wozniak (The Messenger, While The Men Are Away), produced by Amanda Higgs (The Secret Life of Us, Barracuda), and directed by Corrie Chen (New Gold Mountain, Homecoming Queens).
The series will have its international premiere at the 2023 Berlinale Series, the Berlin Film Festival’s television showcase. Major production investment from Screen Australia in association with Stan. The series was developed and produced with support from VicScreen. NBCUniversal Global Distribution is handling international sales.
See also: Stan claims local leadership as it unveils Bump(er) slate of new Stan Originals
Some of the Stan Originals slate