Netflix commissions new Original series from Wildseed Studios
Netflix has commissioned a new 10 part live-action Original series aimed at the family and co-viewing audience from Wildseed Studios, called The Last Bus.
Wildseed Studios is a Bristol-based multi award-winning scripted entertainment production company, specialising in nurturing exciting new talent to make premium content in live action and animation for older kids, family and young adult audiences.
The Last Bus is an action-packed, sci-fi road trip adventure about a group of mismatched school students who band together to face a fearsome new machine intelligence.
This ambitious series will be produced in Bristol and the South West and shot in the Bottle Yard Studios, with pre-production starting this month and shooting beginning in the autumn.
Jesse Cleverly, Wildseed Studios’ creative director and co-founder explains: “Although at the top level The Last Bus is a shamelessly entertaining sci-fi romp, at another level it is a powerful eco-fable about how the younger generation must be empowered to make very different choices from the generation which preceded it when it comes to the two big challenges of the age – environmental breakdown and hugely sophisticated artificial intelligence.
“We hope that by producing The Last Bus, and releasing it simultaneously to a global audience, we will have made a small contribution to the pool of courage young people will need to draw upon in the years ahead.”
The studio has pioneered a unique approach to nurturing exciting new talent by identifying promising creatives, working intensively with them in development, piloting their ideas and pitching the resulting work into premium platforms. As a result, The Last Bus features an array of rising production talent identified and mentored by Wildseed over several years.
Miles Bullough, managing director and co-founder of Wildseed Studios says: “When we established Wildseed, our vision was to become the leading destination for promising talent looking to get their break into scripted prime time – plugging the gap between platforms and financiers looking for new talent and the ‘bedroom creators’ with the ideas.
“We are proud and delighted that Netflix has championed the production of this ambitious, entertaining and important show and we look forward to working with the excellent team we have assembled in order to execute this to the highest possible standard.”
The series is created and written by Paul Neafcy, who was spotted by Wildseed making mobile-phone films on YouTube from his bedroom and new directors include 25-year old Drew Casson and Nour Wazzi, the first Arab director of a premium drama in the UK. These rising stars will be supported by some of the UK’s leading creative talents including directors Lawrence Gough (Misfits, Endeavour, Dr Who, Bancroft and Vera) and Steve Hughes (Doctor Who, Land Girls, Midsomer Murders, Treadstone) and production designer James North (Discovery of Witches, His Dark Materials, Dr Who and Line of Duty).
Wildseed worked with Paul Neafcy to develop two series – Philip Human and PrankMe – for SVoD service Fullscreen before developing a premium scripted sci-fi drama concept and a 10-minute pilot that convinced Netflix this new creator was worth a full Original commission. Drew Casson met Wildseed when he was just 18 and produced Hungerford with him, a low budget 80-minute multi award winning feature film and then its sequel The Darkest Dawn, both picked up by Netflix. The studio worked with rising young director Nour Wazzi on proof of concept film The Moderators before asking her to direct two episodes of The Last Bus.
The cast will combine proven talent with some kids who have never acted before, cast from a trawl of thousands of young people.
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