Netflix Toasts to Miles Franklin & Brilliant Careers – It’s the year of Sybylla (and Miles)! Netflix brought together creatives and tastemakers inspired by Miles Franklin’s trailblazing legacy for a very special toast in her honour – led by women whose own brilliant careers were shaped by her work. From authors and creators to women-owned book clubs and key cultural voices, the cocktail reception was an opportunity for these women to raise a glass to Miles and share how her stories have influenced their own.
Leading the toasts were Netflix ANZ’s Head of Content, Amanda Duthie; Philippa Northeast, lead of Netflix’s upcoming adaptation of My Brilliant Career; and Chloe Rickard, Executive Producer of My Brilliant Career.
In recent months, Miles Franklin’s enduring stories have sparked a new wave of adaptations and reimaginings: a hit musical adaptation of My Brilliant Career from Melbourne Theatre Company and Sydney Theatre Company; new novels including Miles Franklin Undercover by Kerrie Davies and The Very Secretive And Passionate Stella Miles Franklin by Alexandra Lapierre (who spoke to Miles’s legacy across several panels at this year’s Sydney Writers’ Festival); and an upcoming series adaptation of My Brilliant Career, set to launch on Netflix later this year.
Amanda Duthie, Netflix ANZ Head of Content:
“Miles spent her whole life being told her ambitions were too big. We thought – what better fit for Netflix. There is something quietly poetic about a story that was almost suppressed in its time now reaching more people across the world than ever before.”
Philippa Northeast, lead of Netflix’s My Brilliant Career:
“The gift Miles gave me, and all her readers is this: through Syb, [Miles] loudly asks us who we might become if we were brave enough to believe in ourselves, she challenges us to know ourselves honestly and offers us the confidence to pursue a life that feels true to us even if it’s awkward and even when it challenges our societal expectations…more than a century later, her words still remind us that ambition is not arrogance, pants are optional, contradiction is a right of passage and dreaming beyond a life planned for you is worth fighting for.”
Chloe Rickard, Executive Producer of Netflix’s My Brilliant Career:
“Sybylla Melvyn is as fresh, funny, and as fiercely alive today as she was in 1901…And now Phillippa Northeast is about to take Sybylla out to the world with such ambition and tomfoolery.”
Also offering words of admiration were Alexandra Lapierre (Author of Very Secretive And Passionate Stella Miles Franklin), Kerrie Davies (Author of Miles Franklin Undercover) and Nikki Gemmell (The Australian).
In 2026, 125 years on from her writing debut, Miles Franklin continues to captivate a new generation, garnering international appeal as well as being widely celebrated locally.
Sybylla Melvyn’s story, her ambition, her quest for identity and expression, resonates for young creative women now as strongly as it did over one hundred years ago. It’s a timeless narrative that continues to inspire the free spirited creativity of Australian women.
Inspired by her journey, Amanda Duthie shared from the event that Netflix will soon announce a brand-new initiative to find Australia’s modern-day Miles. The program will offer a cohort of emerging Australian female writers a chance to pitch an original concept directly to the Netflix ANZ Content team and receive feedback. More details to come soon.
The new Netflix adaptation of My Brilliant Career rounds out the undeniable ‘Year of Sybylla’, by bringing Sybylla’s passion and lust for her own vibrant life and career to audiences around the world.
My Brilliant Career is coming soon to Netflix.
ABOUT MY BRILLIANT CAREER
Sybylla is a shockingly modern young woman with one searing ambition – to be a writer, while her family is determined to marry her off. With an irrepressible taste for fun, Sybylla breaks every convention of 1901 Australia as she searches for a story that will allow her to write her way to independence. For her, the choice between adventure or marriage seems easy, until she falls in love. Will Sybylla marry, or will she risk it all for a creative life?
KEY CAST: Philippa Northeast as Sybylla Melvyn, Christopher Chung as Harry Beecham, Anna Chancellor as Mrs Bossier, Genevieve O’Reilly as Aunt Helen, Kate Mulvany as Augusta Beecham, Jake Dunn as Frank Hawden, Alexander England as Julius, Sherry-Lee Watson as Nell, Miah Madden as Betty
ADAPTED/ WRITTEN BY: Liz Doran
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Chloe Rickard, Liz Doran, Alyssa McClelland
DIRECTORS: Alyssa McClelland, Anne Renton
PRODUCER: Paul Ranford
CO-EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Courtney Wise
WRITERS: Liz Doran, Sarinah Masukor
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER: Shari Sebbens
PRODUCTION COMPANY: Jungle Entertainment
FILMED IN: Adelaide, SA with support from South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC)
Media Release – Netflix
Link to Netflix HERE
TV Central Netflix content HERE
Netflix Toasts to Miles Franklin & Brilliant Careers
