Abhiroop Das
Co-created by Nick Keetch and Ty Freer, ‘Sunny Nights‘ centers itself around the coastal highlights of Sydney, Australia, all the while detailing the gruesome limits humans can reach when in pursuit of something they desire. Siblings Martin and Vicki put their life’s earnings into a brand new spray tan product, cleverly named Tansform. More than its sleek purple bottle and age-restorative properties, however, it is the duo’s viral marketing campaigns, sometimes accidental, that put the product on the map.
With a steady rise in popularity, however, comes a proportionate increase in challenges, and before either sibling realizes it, they find themselves trapped in a criminal maze with no way out. At the heart of it all is an infamous debt collector named Mony, who vows to get what she wants from Martin and Vicki, even if it means shedding blood along the way. Throughout all of this, Tansform remains not just the siblings’ priority, but also a narrative highlight, affecting each and every plot beat by its mere existence.
Tansform is the Fictional USP of Sunny Nights
Tansform is a fictional product around which the entire narrative of ‘Sunny Nights’ centers. Created by writers Nick Keetch and Ty Freer, the story behind the product is loosely inspired by their friends, who reportedly started a spray tan business from scratch in their backyard and built it into a multi-million-dollar empire before selling it. While we don’t know the names of the people described by Keetch and Freer, nor the name of the company, one clue is that the company is based in Los Angeles. La La Land is home to its share of popular spray tan brands like Dolce Glow and Sunless Beauty, neither of which match Keetch and Freer’s description as much as heather® tans, a business started by Heather Shaw in her North Hollywood backyard in LA. However, neither Shaw nor the creators has confirmed this link as of writing, which suggests that this is most likely a coincidence.
While Tansform may be the linchpin of the plot, it is still only one half of ‘Sunny Nights,’ with the other half relating to a criminal underworld that makes Martin and Vicki’s life hell. For the writing team, the idea to blend a spray tan storyline with a criminal conspiracy is all an effort to reimagine classic narrative tropes. In his conversation with Broadcast Now, Keetch explained, “Spray tan felt like a new, compelling and absurd world to juxtapose against Sydney’s criminal underbelly, allowing us to create a high-stakes show.” While Sydney has seen success stories in the spray tan industry with products such as Bondi Sands and Spray Aus, the story crafted around Tansform is rooted in fiction.
It is likely that the creators conducted several deep dives into the beauty and pharma industry to craft a spray tan product that feels real. This can be seen in the show, which spends a lot of time delving into the chemistry of the product, as well as the complexities of how the market works. While that may be the case, a huge reason behind Tansform’s creation is also symbolic in nature. Specifically, it brings forth the show’s metaphor of transformation, both internal and external. Expanding on this concept during the interview, Freer added that the metaphor helped him infuse some social commentary into the story, specifically in how it examines people’s superficial layers and their desire to feel anew. As Tansform is a fictional product, it serves as the perfect vessel to bring out these themes, all the while not breaking immersion.
Read More: Sunny Nights Ending Explained: Are Martin and Vicki Caught?
