By Luke Voogt
Both seasons of Geelong-made comedy Rostered On are coming to Netflix on June 12, the company behind the show has revealed.
Robot Army producer and series writer Ryan Chamley had initially delayed the deal with the live-streaming giant as he planned a third season.
“This has been a long time coming for us,” he told the Independent this week.
“Netflix was showing interest at the end of last year.
“We had a few parties interested in season 3 but when COVID-19 hit, we thought we might as well get seasons one and two up now.”
The show follows retail workers as they deal with ridiculous customers, over-zealous brown-nosing 2ICs and stuck-up area managers.
Season one had an 18-month stint on Netflix, while the show has appeared on 7mate and has hundreds of thousands of viewers on YouTube.
But this would be the first time both seasons were on Netflix, Chamley said.
“We’re hoping we can have a bit of a rebirth.”
The show expanded from focussing on main character ‘Shaun’ in season one to multiple storylines in season two, he said.
“The more I wrote and heard from fans, the more I realised there was more to it. By the end of season 2 you’re invested in multiple characters.”
Filming a third season would near impossible under current restrictions, with more than 20 people on the cast and double that onset, Chamley said.
But he hopes to continue the series when the situation improves.
“I still think like there’s a lot of a laugh left in these characters.”
Fyansford actress Tara Vagg, who plays saleswoman Tess, shared that desire.
“I hope there’s a third season because it’s a great show to be a part of and great cast to be around.”
The 29-year-old had been filming show reels and auditions to send online during the pandemic.
“We’re all just navigating a new way of how this works,” she said.
“I’ve been keeping busy by reading and writing – I’m trying to keep the creativity going through the pandemic.”
Vagg said the Netflix deal was fantastic timing.
“Everyone wants some new content at the moment. People are in lockdown, so hopefully this will give them some much needed laughter and entertainment.”
Fellow cast member Jack Garnett, who plays no-nonsense Storeman Darren, was equally thrilled by the deal.
“To see it back on the international stage through a big player like Netflix, that’s really exciting,” he said.
A paramedic of 14 years, Garnett is a latecomer to acting.
Chamley wrote the character Darren for him after the two met through a series of “fortuitous events”, he said.
“Well, that’s what he tells me. Darren’s got that wonderful character trait of not tolerating ignorance or stupidity.
“In my day job as paramedic, the pressure and consequences are high, so there’s no room for being overly-theatrical – it’s just about getting the job done.”
The Jan Juc ambo had been “surprised” with how many local people were doing the right thing during the pandemic, which he said made life easier at his job.
“It’s been pretty amazing to watch the community in Geelong come together.”
He hoped the Netflix run would provide comic relief to the retail industry, which was “hurting pretty badly across the world”.
“The irony is there’s probably a lot of people that are happy to go back to work at the moment and deal with s***ty customers,” he said.
