Council chips in $20,000 for TV series

BY REBECCA ZHOU
For those young indigenous people looking to get a foot into Australia’s TV industry, the new series My Place may be the way to do it.

The 26-part series, based on the best-selling novel by Nadia Wheatley and Donna Rawlin, unpacks 260 years of history from a single Sydney home through the eyes of generations of children who lived there.

The Light, Camera, Action talent agency that will be used for the casting of the program. The agency is funded by City council and run by Redfern Community Centre. It has more than 150 members and many more people who have found paid work.

‘The show will be an excellent pathway for young indigenous people to gain or develop existing skills,’ said independent councilor Phillip Black.

Penny Chapman, the producer of the series, said: ‘We’ll be on the look out for talented Aboriginal children who may not know yet that they want to act yet. We’ll also be looking for talent from a range of different cultures, mainly Arabic, Greek or Vietnamese.”

The council voted to spend $20,000 on the project in cash plus $10,000 in value-in-kind venue hire for the production, which exempts Ms Chapman productions from location fees.

‘All councillors were very excited by this project and the resolution was passed unanimously,’ said Mr Black.

One of the main benefits will be the opportunities the series offers for Indigenous people.

‘This is a perfect partnership between us and the council. They’ve got such an impressive investment in alerting people to the history of Sydney and improving the lives of Indigenous people,’ said Ms Chapman.

The council has its own historians, two prominent ones being Shirley Fitzgerald and Margo Beasley who coordinate and edit the Dictionary of Sydney, a multi-platform encyclopedia which details every event, personality, place of its history. 

‘What’s particularly interesting about this is that rarely is history ever told from a kid’s point of view,’ says Chapman, ‘Everyone from the Lord Mayor to the chief executive was incredibly excited about the idea. They knew the book, they loved the book and felt that it would be wonderful for the council to be involved in.’

The first episode will be set in 2008 and the show will travel back a decade each episode, spanning over a length of 260 years.

My Place will feature as a multi-platform project, with a website offering historical information and the stories of every child.

Production began in early December and casting wiill start mid-January.