Wooden Horse tech thriller Dark Mode wins development cash from Screen Australia, Dynamic TV fund

Australian production company Wooden Horse has been commissioned by US-based Dynamic Television to develop a drama series with funding from Dynamic’s partnership with Screen Australia.

Anna Barnes

Described as a tech thriller, Dark Mode was created by Anna Barnes and adapted from the novel of the same name by Ashley Kalagian Blunt.

Wooden Horse executive producers Jude Troy and Richard Finlayson will receive A$100,000 (US$63,000) from the Dynamic TV Scripted Initiative to develop the series.

Louise Gough, funding body Screen Australia’s director of narrative content, said the project presented “a unique and compelling exploration of privacy challenges in the digital age, and with such a strong creative team, this series has the potential to resonate with both local and global audiences.”

Dark Mode centres on the nightmare faced by GP Dr Reagan Walton when she is plagued by a stalker. Attempting to regain control of her life, she goes into ‘dark mode,’ erasing all traces of her online presence, but is soon forced to confront what she has been trying to escape.

Carrie Stein, Dynamic TV’s president of global scripted television, was impressed by the female-led, plot-twisting thriller and its tackling of privacy in the digital age. “With its unique Australian setting and timely exploration of digital privacy, online stalking and harassment, Dark Mode is a bold and resonant story that audiences will love,” she said.

This is the second year of the Dynamic Television Scripted Initiative, a collaboration between Screen Australia and Dynamic created to support distinctive scripted projects with a focus on international audiences. The first project to secured funding was crime mystery series Fox Hunt, created by writer and producer Nicole Delprado and producer Kate Separovich.

The scheme has called for applications for its third and final round, which will provide another A$100,000 in TV development funding.