Stranger Things, Tiger King, and Bridgerton are all well-known small-screen behemoths and cultural touch points found on Netflix.
But the latest worldwide success from the streaming giant comes from the mind of one of Canberra's own — the psychological thriller Echoes, written by Vanessa Gazy.
Gazy hails not from the Hollywood Hills or the Brooklyn lofts that some content makers call home, but from the emerging talent pool of Canberra's suburbs.
Starting life with a script originally named Id, Gazy wrote the first version of what would eventually become Echoes in 2015.
After she received mentoring and funding from Screen Canberra and the wider Australian film community, Netflix picked up the script for production in 2019.
They then brought on Executive Producer Brian Yorkey who was previously EP of another Netflix success, 13 Reasons Why.
Since premiering less than a month ago, it has quickly become one of the platform's most-watched shows, a fact Gazy herself can still hardly believe.
"I think we're now up to 100 million hours of viewing, globally on Netflix, which is insane," Gazy said.
"It had really gone from being my little project that I'd worked really hard on, to a big American show."
Echoes isn't Gazy's first foray into the world of streaming — her drama Eden was picked up by Australian streamer Stan, a series that has an all-female writing room.
However, Gazy says working with Netflix presented a new challenge.
"You're giving your baby up," she said.
"So that was interesting and exciting and painful sometimes, I mean, those writers' rooms are quite brutal.
"I was ultimately proud of myself for stepping into that world, [and] it's the number one global show on Netflix.
"I've definitely reached a certain level where part of me can just take a deep sigh of relief and say, hopefully, I'm not going backwards now."
Ciao, Venezia
Clare Young, another Canberran, is also on a journey towards international success and recognition, albeit in a more traditional manner.
Away from the obsession with viewing hours that dominates the world of streaming services, Young is currently debuting her short film Love Forever at the Venice Film Festival.
Young says she drew on her documentary work and teenage years for the film.
"It's inspired by an experience that happened with me growing up in Canberra, searching for something beyond myself," she said.
Love Forever tells the story of a girl from the capital who navigates the thrill and pain of first love.
"As a 16-year-old woman, the fantasy is that if you find somebody who will love you completely you'll be transformed and of course, [that's] an illusion, so I wanted to shatter that illusion."
Young, like Gazy, also received funding from Screen Canberra earlier on in her career.
She is mentored by Oscar-winning filmmaker Jane Campion, who also happens to be an executive producer on Love Forever.
'I just screamed at the director'
When casting her new project, Young kept things local.
Hannah McKenzie, who plays the lead in Love Forever, found out about the opportunity through her drama teacher while still at school in Canberra.
"I was in year 11 at Dickson College in my drama class and the teacher came in [and] said 'we've got these two filmmakers casting for their short film'," McKenzie said.
"We did some improv, which was just so much fun and [I] did a scene with Clare where she was my mother.
"We had this massive fight, and at the end, I was screaming at Clare.
"I was like, oh no, I just screamed at the director."
However, it seems the angst worked and McKenzie got the gig as Young's lead.
From drama class to Venice, McKenzie and Young have now found themselves at one of the oldest and most prestigious film festivals in the world.
"To be here amongst so many other passionate filmmakers from around the world is an absolute honour and very inspiring," Young said.
Screen attractions
While these successes overseas signify the talent the ACT has to offer, Screen Canberra — which helped both Young and Gazy get their start — wants to see more big-budget films and television series being made in the ACT.
The CBR Screen Attraction Fund is currently open in a bid by Screen Canberra to attract productions to the local area.
To be eligible for the funding the projects must use local crews.
Last year, production for the Liam Neeson film Blacklight took over some Canberra streets for some action sequences.
It's the kind of thing Screen Canberra CEO Monica Penders wants to see more of.
She said the ACT provided an ideal location for productions due to its layout, access and pace.
"It's our access that makes Canberra ideal to shoot in and we are so [geographically] high we don't have pollution and[we] have that crisp light — cinematographers love it."
The beauty of Canberra as a shooting location has not gone unnoticed by filmmakers.
As Gazy plans for her next project, she has her eye on her hometown.
"It's so easy to shoot in Canberra, it's not only beautiful but you've got this incredible freedom to choose locations.
"I'll be planning my next production in [the] Canberra region."
