"It's something that people - we think - are going to find interesting and different and innovative which is no different to someone commissioning for a broadcast network, someone commissioning for Foxtel, someone commissioning for any broadcast medium," James says.
That said, there are some differences between broadcast and SVOD platforms that change the way shows are consumed.
"In terms of delivery to consumer, we are different and we offer a different utility, which is that ability to stand content up at a particular point in time - you know a full series or a complete season of a particular project, and if you look at the way that people are utilising the service, they're coming to it for that on demand capability," explains James.
Sneesby also tells us that having a show available all at once changes the way it's marketed. Instead of building to a premiere, the arrival of No Activity becomes a selling point of the service for months.
"One of the advantages we have in being a streaming service is we've got less of the drivers that other traditional networks and platforms have on an episodic level. We're not relying on that how many weeks until we have to bring back viewers and what our ratings look like – we can really afford to just go out and say is this a great show," Sneesby says.
Shake your moneymaker
Original programming is not just an important brand building tool – something to help these new SVOD services stand apart from their competition. It's also a money making endeavor.
Netflix has made no secret of the fact that original programming is a lure to gain new subscribers around the globe. This approach is true for both Stan and Presto, too, although without the big budgets of the US giant, it's unlikely we'll see anything to the scale of a Daredevil or Marco Polo.
However, what the originals will offer these SVOD platforms is a new revenue stream in the form of licensing deals.
During a recent trip to LA to discuss licensing deals, some top Stan executives took the opportunity to show clips from No Activity to Hollywood executives. The response, across the board, was positive.
"We didn't take No Activity to LA to go and sell it, we went there for a bunch of other reasons, but the response we had from studios was just... We literally sat there in the hotel lobby bar and just went 'we think we might be onto something here'," Sneesby confesses.
"Early indications from those guys overseas, they've literally just said to us the moment they saw it: "Who's bought this show internationally and who's distributing it for you?" so I'm quite confident we're going to see more of No Activity outside of Australia as we expect to for our other titles," he adds.
Interestingly, No Activity wasn't commissioned with international distribution revenues in mind, although the interest from overseas partners is certainly welcome. But according to Sneesby, other programming will definitely be targeted at both local and international audiences.
"No Activity wasn't commissioned as a show that we were planning big international distribution, but other shows that we have in the pipeline are being designed to be produced in Australia with Australian production companies, and Australian talent but also overseas talent, and with concepts that are designed to translate internationally," he says.
"So we've literally taken that model of creating shows, creating them for our platform, creating what we know the audience in Australia wants, but giving them relevance so that we can go and generate international revenues back into Australia and put that money back into more productions here. And really, the more successful we are with international distribution, the greater the pipeline of productions we'll be able to make," Sneesby says.
All six episodes of No Activity arrive on Stan on October 22. Let's Talk About will be available in its entirety on Presto this month, with specific launch dates to be confirmed.
