About

Picking Scabs is a co-venture production label with See-Saw Films and award-winning showrunner and writer Samantha Strauss (Grown Ups – currently in production, Apple Cider Vinegar, The Last Anniversary, The End, Nine Perfect Strangers, Dance Academy).

We tell itchy, addictive stories that dig deep into personal, societal, and structural wounds – to let them air, breathe, weep, and ultimately, heal.

We are currently in production for Netflix on an adaptation of Marian Keyes’ novel, Grown Ups, starring Sarah Greene, Barry Ward, Aisling Bea, Robert Sheehan, Amy-Leigh Hickman, Adrian Dunbar, Sinéad Cusack, Karin Hanczewski, James Agnew, and Katelyn Rose Downey. Grown Ups is created by Samantha Strauss and written by Strauss with Liz Doran, Greg Waters, Margaret Perry and Eugene O’Hare and directed by James Griffiths and Ciarán Donnelly.

Picking Scabs’s first project was Apple Cider Vinegar, a television series also for Netflix starring Kaitlyn Dever, Alycia Debnam-Carey, Aisha Dee, Tilda Cobham-Hervey, Ashley Zukerman and Mark Coles Smith. Apple Cider Vinegar was created by Samantha Strauss and written by Strauss with Anya Beyersdorf and Angela Betzien and directed by Jeffrey Walker.

Prior to starting Picking Scabs, See-Saw and Sam collaborated on The End for Foxtel (Australia), Sky Atlantic (UK) and Showtime (USA), starring Dame Harriet Walter and Frances O’Connor. The End was created, written and executive produced by Samantha Strauss.

Picking Scabs projects are led by Sam and Executive Producer Shay Spencer on behalf of See-Saw, alongside Liz Watts, Helen Gregory, Emile Sherman, and Iain Canning.

About Sam & Shay

Samantha Strauss

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Shay Spencer

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Samantha Strauss

Samantha is an Australian writer and executive producer for film and television and co-founder of her own label PICKING SCABS, a co-venture production label with See-Saw Films.

In 2025-2026 Samantha will write and showrun Grown Ups, an 8-part series for Netflix (UK), based on the bestselling novel by Marian Keyes. This will film in Ireland and be produced by Picking Scabs, See-Saw Films and directed by James Griffiths (The Ballad of Wallis Island) and Ciarán Donnelly.

In 2023-2024 Samantha was the showrunner, head writer and executive producer of Apple Cider Vinegar, a 6-part limited series for Netflix. Starring Kaitlyn Dever and Alycia Debnam-Carey. Produced by Picking Scabs and See-Saw Films, The Guardian UK described this series as: “A fast, drily witty, acutely intelligent, compassionate and furious commentary on greed, need, mass delusion, self-deception, the exploitation of the credulous and the enabling of insidious new forms of all of these by technology.” It has been nominated for 8 Logies Awards and 20 AACTA awards; the most nominated production of 2025.

In 2023-2024 Samantha wrote and executive produced The Last Anniversary, a 6-part series for Foxtel/Binge (Australia), AMC+ (USA) and the BBC (UK). Based on the book by Liane Moriarty. Starring Teresa Palmer, Miranda Richardson and Danielle Macdonald. Produced by Made Up Stories and Blossom Films. The Last Anniversary was nominated for an AACTA award as Best Mini-Series. It was reviewed by The Guardian Australia: Tender and mysterious, imbued with a soft literary quality.

In 2020 Samantha wrote and executive produced Nine Perfect Strangers for Hulu. Based on the bestselling novel by Liane Moriarty. Starring Nicole Kidman, Melissa McCarthy and Bobby Cannavale. Produced by Made up Stories and Blossom Films.

In 2019 Samantha wrote, created and executive produced 10-part series The End for Foxtel (Australia), Sky Atlantic (UK) and Showtime (USA), produced by See-Saw Films. The Guardian UK described The End as “devastating TV that shows what makes life worth living.” The Times reviewed it as “sharp and unlike anything I’ve seen.”

As an emerging writer, Sam created teen phenomenon, Dance Academy, which screens in over 160 countries and ran to 65 episodes. Sam was the head writer across the three series and wrote 25 episodes. In 2016, Samantha wrote a spin-off feature film, Dance Academy: The Movie, which has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Shay Spencer

Shay Spencer is an award-winning producer who has worked on over 140 hours of television drama. She started her career as director’s attachment on Jonathan Teplitzsky’s feature film, Burning Man, before stepping into producing via an attachment on Stephan Elliott’s A Few Best Men.

She worked with Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA award winning producers, Douglas Wick and Lucy Fisher on Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby before joining Fremantle in 2012.

As Drama Executive, Shay worked across the full life cycle of projects and was involved in some of Australian television’s most exciting and successful series including the international hit Wentworth for Foxtel which sold to over 170 territories internationally and Picnic At Hanging Rock for Foxtel.

During her time with Fremantle, she was also appointed to the company’s global shadow board after a competitive process across the 5000+ employees internationally. More recently, Shay served as Head of Drama at Jungle Entertainment. There she produced Wakefield for ABC/Showtime/BBC Studios, Executive Produced SUNNY NIGHTS for STAN/Cineflix, He Had It Coming for STAN/Fifth Season, as well as leading a full slate of drama projects, including My Brilliant Career.

As a long-time fan of Sam Strauss, she is thrilled to have joined See-Saw Films in 2025 to drive the Picking Scabs slate, with an adaptation of Marian Keyes’ novel, Grown Ups, currently in production.