In 1988, Serious co-wrote, produced, and directed Young Einstein, an intentionally inaccurate movie portraying Albert Einstein as a young farmer in Tasmania who derives the formula E=mc² while trying to discover a means of creating beer bubbles, splitting the beer atom in the process. After leaving Tasmania for Sydney on the mainland to patent his discovery, he goes on to develop rock music and surfing, romances Marie Curie, and saves Paris from an atomic bomb. The film's popularity propelled Serious to stardom which saw him appear on the cover of Time and Mad magazines, and even get his own primetime slot on MTV. The movie was a success in Australia but a critical and commercial flop in the United States.