‘The Cry’ Outfit Synchronicity Opens Australia Office With Former BBC Drama Producer

Glasgow-based Synchronicity Films, which has credits including ABC/BBC miniseries The Cry, is opening Melbourne-based offshoot Synchronicity Australia.

Former BBC Drama Development Producer Ruth Underwood has been hired to head up the new outfit, which has locked its debut project as a TV adaptation of The Cry writer Helen FitzGerald’s upcoming noir thriller Ash Mountain. The book is set to be published August 20 in the UK and March 2021 in Australia; it is a portrait of small-town life in rural Victoria, where a catastrophic event changes things forever.

NENT Studios UK will represent international distribution rights for Ash Mountain.

The move follows The Cry – which starred Jenna Coleman as a schoolteacher whose four-month old baby disappears while she and her fiancé visit Australia – being mounted as a UK-Australia co-production, shooting in the latter. Underwood, who also had roles at Kudos and Shed media Group, will be tasked with setting up future co-pros.

Claire Mundell, Founder and Creative Director at Synchronicity Films, said, “A key goal for Synchronicity is to expand our production reach so we can focus on truly universal stories with global appeal. Having spent a considerable amount of time in Australia filming The Cry we feel a real affinity with the country, so it’s a natural place for us to set up a new office to originate projects.”