The move marks the beginning of a push by the publisher of the leading LGBT magazine Frontiers into online television, and a shift in focus for the Australian-based dramedy to its massive U.S. audience. It is also the first web series to take the leap into importing its format internationally. The Sydney, Australia based series starring Patrick James, Indigo Felton and Paul Layton is the top gay web series online today, having amassed over 23 million viewers. The Horizon launched its fourth season in June.
Frontiers Media and Cobbstar Productions will co-produce the fifth and sixth seasons, currently shooting in Sydney. As part of the arrangement Frontiers will be interwoven into the storyline in episodes featuring the newly announced casting of Emmy-winner Jai Rodriguez. The Queer Eye for the Straight Guy star will play a promiscuous American pop singer visiting Australia, where the series is based. Jai’s character will then return to the US and be the focus of the first installment of The Horizon: L.A. The series will be available on Frontiersmedia.com as well as YouTube and Season 5 will debut in December 2014.
“With its wholly original story line, and huge American audience, The Horizon was a natural fit for Frontiers Media’s first move into online television,” says Michael Turner, CEO and Founder of New Frontiers Media. “Patrick James is clearly a rising star who will no doubt be called on by Hollywood soon and Frontiers has enjoyed a long friendship with Jai Rodriguez. The creators of The Horizon have consistently raised the bar for the genre from season to season and it fits with Frontiers Media’s investment in quality gay content across many platforms.”
“With our international success I always liked the idea of formatting the series in different countries,” says Brian Cobb, Series Producer. “And with our huge American audience base, why not start in the U.S.? No other web series in the world has walked the format path and we are doing it. We’ll develop American storylines and characters, and pepper these with our key Australian cast, as we explore the explosive gay scene around West Hollywood. Frontiers is the perfect partner to expand our American audience”
Cobb continues: “We are part funded by our state Aids council, ACON (Aids council of NSW), and we will stick to our original vision remaining a vehicle for safe sex and HIV awareness. Our talented Creator Boaz Stark has found the perfect balance in writing engaging, edgy, true to life stories, while still being insightful and raising awareness on gay issues. That won’t change no matter where we make the series.”
The Horizon has won praise from critics and fans alike, with Inside Film labeling the series as ‘The Australian Screen Industry’s best kept secret’, while fans continually bombard social media sites demanding more episodes.
