Netflix series starts filming on Surf Coast

New Netflix teen surf series Surviving Summer has begun filming on the Surf Coast and will continue over the next couple of months.

The series is produced by Werner Film Productions, best known for Dance Academy, and will launch on Netflix worldwide next year.

Surviving Summer will tell the story of Summer Torres, a fierce Brooklyn teen who’s just been sent Down Under to live with family friends the Gibsons, in a tiny coastal town on the Great Ocean Road. Ari Gibson is an introverted but ambitious young surfer returning to competitive surfing after a life-threatening injury. Summer’s about to spend the next three months falling in love with surfing, driving Ari crazy… and upending everyone’s lives.

Shooting began today (Tuesday, March 2) and will continue on beaches including Jan Juc, Point Addis, Point Roadknight, Urquharts Bluff, Sandy Gully and Lorne.

The 10-episode drama series has attracted names including star of Disney Channel’s Raven’s Home, Sky Katz, who will share the screen (and the water) with Brazilian rising star João Gabriel Marinho (Malhação), Australia’s Kai Lewins (Wild Boys) and Savannah La Rain (Content) and in her first foray into acting, five-time Queensland junior state surf champion Lilliana ‘Lil’ Bowrey.

Lil is not the only professional surfer in the series. Associate producer and Barwon Heads local Fran Derham (First Love, Conspiracy 365) has been working closely with Surfing Victoria’s high performance director Cahill Bell-Warren to cast a swathe of Surf Coast surfers who will appear in the show, including Billy and Ellie Harrison and Laurie Hamshere.

As part of the preparation, the cast have just finished three weeks of a surf boot camp at Melbourne’s URBNSURF under the supervision of Bell-Warren and fellow performance coach Todd Rosewall.

Creator and producer Joanna Werner said Surviving Summer had been a passion project of hers for a long time.

“We are very lucky to have access to the spectacular Surf Coast, and sincerely thank the community for welcoming us.

“Our supremely talented teen cast come from New York, Rio, Noosa, Brisbane and Sydney and are an exciting mix of acting and surfing talent. They have been training hard and will be ably supported by our brilliant crew, fantastic scripts and fingers crossed, great surf.”