iview: Housemates

iview is screening Housemates, a new documentary series that looks at three different and controversial ways to share a house,  those who try to make it work and the horror stories of when it goes wrong.

At a time where finding a place to live is the number one concern for youth in Australia, it asks could you live in these houses?

The project is the first from Mashup Pictures, produced and directed by Rob Innes.

“The idea for the show came about as my friends often talk about their shared living experiences,
and all of them were so different – we set out to capture those unique differences,” says Innes.

Comedian Scott Brennan, who co-produces says, “These segments allowed me to tick ‘recreating a lounge room orgy entirely out of barbecue meat’ off my bucket list.”

TV and film producer Mish Armstrong, who is a producer on the recently announced MIFF 2016 Opening Night film ‘The Life and Death of Otto Bloom’ consults as executive producer, and Aleck Morton, who has worked on shows across all networks, is series editor.

Episode one features Crunchy Town, where 20-30 people live at any one time without any privacy; they share beds, couches and floor space. The food bill? Zero dollars. Sam is the leader of the house that works more like a community.

Episode two reveals the Private House, where boundaries between private and shared space are strict, but what happens when a housemate breaches one of these boundaries?

Episode three is the App House, which tries to achieve the ultimate share house utopia, turning shared living into an economic system – the more chores you do, the less you pay. Could you live in these houses?