Australian streamer Stan marked its 10th anniversary this week with a slate of original commissions, including three dramas and six feature films, as well as five scripted series acquisitions.

Cailah Scobie

Nine Entertainment-owned streaming platform Stan has committed to 14 new original commissions across scripted, features and documentary, all announced as it unveiled its new slate for 2025. The streamer marked its 10th year of operations with the content update including new acquisitions.

To date, Stan has delivered over 120 originals, comprising 80 scripted and 40 unscripted projects, and now describes itself as the biggest commissioner of Australian drama.

For 2025, Stan is delivering 26 projects, with the 14 new originals adding to the previously announced 12 that are poised to premiere. Stan’s acting MD Dan Taylor said the streamer has established itself as one of the most successful single-territory SVoDs in the world.

“Over the past 10 years, we’ve brought Australian stories to global audiences and solidified our position as the largest commissioner of Australian drama. We look forward to the next decade of screen storytelling on Stan.”

Stan’s chief content officer Cailah Scobie and head of originals, Amanda Duthie, detailed the slate of new commissions that includes three dramas, six features and five documentaries.

Leading the original scripted slate is a first-time collaboration with Victorian producer Gristmill with six-part series Love Divided by Eleven, starring Brooke Satchwell.

Love Divided by Eleven stars Brooke Satchwell

Described by Scobie as “tender and heartfelt”, the series follows a young grieving widow (Satchwell) who finds consolation in seeking out the recipients of her dead fiancée’s donated organs.

The series is written, directed and executive produced by Gristmill founders Robyn Butler and Wayne Hope with Greg Sitch also EP’ing, alongside Scobie with MaryAnne Carroll as producer. International sales are being handled by UK-based Hat Trick International.

Jungle Entertainment, meanwhile, is due to deliver a feminist murder mystery with He Had it Coming, executive produced by Gretel Vella and Chloe Rickard, Shay Spencer and Bridget Callow-Wright.

Created and written by Vella and Craig Anderson and directed by NZ’s Rachel House and Anne Renton, the dramedy centres around two feminist art activists embroiled in a murder. Jungle will also be delivering the previously announced eight-part original comedy crime drama series Sunny Nights later this year.

In scripted comedy with a horror twist is Gnomes, written by Hollywood stalwart Paul Verhoeven and Tegan Higginbotham, which is scheduled to go into production in Victoria shortly.

Thriller Watching You is inspired by JP Pomare’s bestselling novel The Last Guests

Gnomes is a coproduction between Total Fiction and Screen Invaders alongside US coproduction partners Happy Accidents and Network Movie (Germany). Happy Accidents will also handle international distribution, with a German pre-sale secured via Network Movie.

Stan EPs are Scobie and Donna Chang. Set in a forgotten country town that is besieged by an army of murderous garden gnomes brought to life by occult practices, the series sees former police chiefs and locals fight back.

Scobie said the dark comedy is unlike anything seen before. “Australian audiences adore horror and genre and this project typifies the kind of audacious and unique productions that we love to show on Stan. We’re thrilled to be partnering with such an exceptional creative team, along with Happy Accidents on their first Australian series.”

Lingo Pictures brings the erotic psychological thriller Watching You, inspired by JP Pomare’s bestselling novel The Last Guests. This six-part series stars Aisha Dee as a woman who discovers her passionate one-night stand encounter was secretly filmed by hidden cameras. The cast also features Josh Helman, Chai Hansen, Laura Gordon, Olivia Vásquez, and Luke Cook.

All the original scripted series received production investment from Screen Australia in association with Stan and state agencies.

Stan’s commitment to feature films on the platform is growing with six new originals. They include Beast In Me, a martial arts feature from emerging Australian director Tyler Atkins, starring Russell Crowe, Daniel MacPherson and Luke Hemsworth. The film is produced by Deeper Water Films, Broken Open Pictures, and Armagh Films.

Australian distribution company Sharmill Films brings Ruben Östlund’s satire The Entertainment System is Down to Stan, starring Kirsten Dunst and Keanu Reeves. The film is set on a long-haul flight between England and Australia with a failing entertainment system. The ensemble cast also features Australian actors Daniel Webber, Wayne Blair and Dan Wyllie.

Original comedy crime drama series Sunny Nights will air later this year

Whale Shark Jack, meanwhile, stars Abbie Cornish and Rachel Ward, and was filmed in Western Australia and produced in partnership with Australian Children’s Television Foundation.

Retro comedy One More Shot features a time-travelling bottle of tequila and a party in the eve of Y2K and stars Emily Browning and Pallavi Sharda. And fresh horror feature Saccharine, filmed in Melbourne, comes from writer and director Natalie Erika James.

James has partnered with Carver Films and Thrum Films in a tale following a lovelorn medical student who becomes terrorised by a hungry ghost after taking part in an obscure weight-loss craze: eating human ashes. The Stan series Bump will also take one final screen run with A Christmas Film, featuring the original cast.

On the documentary slate, five new originals were announced as part of Stan’s investigation strand Revealed. They include sporting feature Craig Bellamy: Inside the Storm; and Zyzz & Chestbrah: The Poster Boys, which looks at the rise of two high-profile bodybuilders.

Also on the Revealed slate are political biopic Joh: Last King of Queensland, detailing the life of the former Queensland premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen with actor Richard Roxburgh bringing events to life; Into the Night, a four-part investigation into one of Australia’s more baffling crimes; and Death Cap, offering insights into the recent triple homicide that used the world’s most lethal mushroom.

Stan’s global studio partnerships include All3Media, AMC, Banijay, BBC, Fremantle, ITV, Lionsgate, NBCUniversal, Paramount, Sony and Warner Bros Discovery. These relationships have yielded newly acquired series Half Man, from creator and actor Richard Gadd; crime drama Long Bright River with Amanda Seyfried; John Grisham adaptation The Rainmaker; sci-fi mystery The Institute, based on the Stephen King novel; documentary Kevin Costner’s The West; and British espionage thriller Secret Service.

Stan has also secured the local rights for Oscar-nominated films The Apprentice, Memoir of a Snail and Western Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2 with Kevin Costner.

Stan Originals that are still to premiere include: The Hack, the seven-part limited series about the UK phone hacking scandal; Ten Pound Poms S2;  Good Cop/Bad Cop; Poker Face S2; Love Triangle S3; documentary Revealed: Malka Leifer; feature film The Surfer, starring Nicholas Cage ​and produced by Robert  Connolly; and Stan original series Lord of the Flies, based on the novel by William Golding.

Scobie said: “Following 10 years of championing exceptional storytelling for Australian audiences, Stan continues to commission premium original productions and acquire the best in international entertainment. As we look to the next 10 years and beyond, we will continue to connect with our audiences and showcase Australian storytelling at its very best.”