Satirical web series ‘For A Good Cause’ calls out Australian sham culture in politics and media
A satire about the trials of a junior editor in a toxic media agency is making waves online, with more than 12k YouTube views registered since the pilot episode launched last Monday. Watch the 30-second promo here.
For A Good Cause was created by emerging writer and director Tony Walsh (The Bus Knight, Sodium Squad) with funding from Screen Queensland’s shorts program. It is set in a media agency that creates progressive content and political advertising, and follows new editor Ollie (Julian Curtis) whose moral compass slowly erodes at the hands of a dysfunctional team that regularly betray their values.
The first episode ‘White Balance’ features a hilarious jibe at tokenism, as the hapless Ollie is ordered to “fix” the diversity problem in a government ad for the opposition party. It is inspired by Labor’s notorious 2017 ad-fail, when Bill Shorten urged the public to ‘Employ Australians First’ in front of an overwhelmingly white cast.
The series highlights sham morality and hypocrisy in politics and media, and is an ode to overworked, underpaid young people in creative industries. It is somewhat based on Walsh’s own experiences freelancing for Australian agencies that specialised in progressive social change content.
Says Walsh: “From nightmare clients to crazy bosses, to unmeetable deadlines and unreasonable expectations, this series is written for a generation of young people who just can’t get a break.”
The series features some of Australia’s best emerging actors and comedians, including Julian Curtis (The Britishes, East West 101), Thoman Larkin (Homecoming Queens, Rush), Becky Lucas (Comedy Up Late, Drunk History), Sam Cotton (The Family Law, Reef Doctors), Shuang Hu (Ronny Cheng’s International Student, The Family Law), and Sophia Emberson-Bain (Aquaman, San Andreas).
The pilot is produced by Genevieve Larin and Mary Duong, under emerging Brisbane production company Stranger Films. The team intend to take the series to market in 2019 and are seeking expressions of interest from the industry to fund their first season.
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