The Future Fixers TV Show
A reality TV show where Australia’s brightest teenagers set out to solve Australia’s biggest problems with technology.
What if the next generation of innovators got a national stage, real mentors and real stakes?
The Future Fixers was a groundbreaking eight-episode reality series built on that premise. It was part LEGO Masters, part Shark Tank. Teams of teenagers took on real problems, designed and built tech solutions, and pitched them to some of Australia’s most influential tech leaders. The finalists took their ideas to San Francisco to pitch to the world’s best.
25 years in the making
I started researching why so few women work in technology in 2000. Later I ran the Tech Girls Movement Foundation for a decade, and more than 15,000 girls engaged in STEM entrepreneurship and built apps to solve problems in their local community.
The Future Fixers was the culmination of that work. I spent three years developing the format with production partners and pitching it to funders.
I designed the show to go beyond girls in STEM. We cast five girls, three boys and two trans students, because the question wasn’t only who gets left out of tech, but who we’re leaving behind across the board.
Making the TV show
Filming took place in 2024 in Sydney with the finale filmed in San Francisco and secret tech labs in Silicon Valley.
Around 100 people turned up each day to bring the show to life. Ten young Australians gave up a significant part of their school year to take part. Eight one-hour episodes were filmed with a multi-episode broadcast run set with a major free-to-air network.
It was a landmark attempt to put diverse young innovators in prime time, and I believe it had the potential to change how Australia thinks about young people, technology and who gets to build the future.
The Future Fixers never aired…
While in post production, serious allegations about the host of the show came to light. They related to conduct unrelated to the production, and none of the teen cast was involved. Funding and partnership arrangements then came under strain. Ultimately, it was not feasible to proceed with the series.
The collapse came from the actions of adults. It had nothing to do with ratings, the quality of the show or the young people who made it. The cast, who had trusted us with a year of their lives, have been caught in the fallout. I have chosen not to name the cast, who deserve their privacy unless they choose to tell their own story.
In January 2026 The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald reported on what happened…
And the backstory is important too..
Click the articles to read
More on my Substack
