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Baz Luhrmann creating music-driven drama Get Down for Netflix on the birth of hip hop

Netflix has moved to bolster its original programming roster by commissioning Australian director Baz Luhrmann to create a new about how New York gave birth to hip hop in the 1970s.

In 13 one hour episodes, from Sony Pictures, will be a “music driven drama” called Get Down and made available in all Netflix territories in 2016.

The move will be a shot in the arm for the service which is set to launch here next month with question marks over how much of its own original content, including House of Cards and Orange is the New Black, it will be able to show because it is tied up with a Foxtel programming deal.

Yesterday Foxtel and Seven West Media’s Presto service signed an agreement with ABC Commercial to carry a range of the public broadcaster’s content, similar to a deal struck with rival service Stan last year.

“In this golden era of TV, the Netflix culture puts no constraint on creative possibilities. So it is a natural home for The Get Down, a project I have been contemplating and working on now for over 10 years,” said Luhrmann on the Netflix series.

“Throughout, I’ve been obsessed with the idea of how a city in its lowest moment, forgotten and half destroyed could give birth to such creativity and originality in music, art and culture.”

Get Down will chart the journey of a group of teenagers in The Bronx in the 1970s as they pioneer the hip hop movement as the city is on the verge of bankruptcy.

Luhrmann’s work includes The Great Gatsby, Strictly Ballroom, Moulin Rouge and Romeo and Juliette.

Presto’s deal sees the service carry shows including Chris Lilley’s series Summer Heights High and Angry Boys, dramas Redfern Now, Rake and Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries and children’s shows The Wiggles, Angelina Ballerina, Thomas and Friends, Bob the Builder and Octonaughts.

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