‘Colin From Accounts’ Producers Rob Gibson And Ian Collie On The Hit Comedy’s Second Season, Signing With CAA & Challenges For Streaming In Australia
20.12.2023 - 13:29
/ deadline.com
EXCLUSIVE: Producers Ian Collie and Rob Gibson are best known for helping bring an injured mongrel dog into the global consciousness in Colin From Accounts. Ahead of a busy 2024, the pair sat down with Deadline to chat about plans for their Easy Tiger Productions imprint, the state of TV in Australia and signing with CAA.
And where else to start, but with Colin From Accounts, Australian streamer Binge’s romantic sitcom series written by and starring real-life couple Patrick Brammall and Harriet Dyer. Over the weekend, the critically acclaimed show, winner of the Most Outstanding Comedy Program at the Logies, went into production on Season 2 after a delay primarily caused by the U.S. writers strike.
Gibson was first alerted to what would become Colin just after leaving his post as Head of Originals at Binge rival Stan. “Harriet had given me the script as a writing sample for another show,” he recalls. “When I joined Collie at Easy Tiger, I showed it to him and he laughed uproariously, so the first call was to find out the name of that script. Next, we called Binge and said, ‘Let’s do this.'”
The pair recall how it wasn’t an immediately obvious sale. “Comedy has traditionally been difficult in Australia, with only the ABC really making them, but since the streamers have come in there are new opportunities,” says Gibson. Ultimately, “the geniuses at Foxtel-Binge — Alison Hurbert-Burns and the late Brian Walsh — recognized the quality of the package,” he adds.
“Brian was a great champion of the show — it was the last that delivered under his tenure,” he adds of the much-loved executive, who passed away unexpectedly in March. “Ali is continuing that legacy there with Amanda Laing.”
Co-produced with CBS Studios, Colin From