'MaveriX' a roaring success on Netflix after ABC premiere in 2022; South Australian Film Corporation a backer
MaveriX, an ABC ME channel and Netflix and television drama series about motocross riders, was filmed mainly around Alice Springs with some blocking scenes in Adelaide. South Australian Film Corporation was one of the production funders with Adelaide's Kelly Schilling a writer and co director.
Image by Charlie Lowson, courtesy Screen Australia
South Australian funds and talent backed MaveriX, an Australian drama television series, aimed at children and young teenagers, that was in the Top 10 kids shows on Netflix watched in 33 countries after it premiered on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s ABC Me channel in 2022.
The South Australian Film Corporation funded the series along with the ABC, Screen Territory and the Australian Children's Television. Adelaide’s Kelly Schilling was a writer and co directed on one of the productions teams. South Australia under-16 motocross champion Emma Haylock was among Adelaide riders who were featured in the 10-part series shot mainly in Alice Springs but with final blocks in Adelaide.
The Brindle Films series follows the story of a group of junior motocross riders who are selected for the first ever MaveriX Academy in Alice Springs, the home of dirtbike racing in Australia. The six teens are pushed to their limits, and the academy ultimately gives them the chance to join a professional racing team. MaveriX is a kids’ adventure series – big on drama, and big on laughs – aimed squarely at eight- to 12-year-old boys – big on drama and big on laughs –was in the Netflix Top 10 most-watched television shows overall, including adults, in seven countries and remained in the top 10 in France for four weeks.
Isaac Elliot was nominated for the two ADG (Australian Directors Guild) awards as main director of the series. Rachel Clements – a producer and co founder of Brindle Films – said she and Elliot first started to talk about a family and teen drama series within this world of dirt bikes while they were making Finke: There and Back about the gruelling two-day Northern Territory desert race: “The other part is my son was the under-10 BMX champion of Central Australia.”