Barrumbi Kids – behind the scenes

Co-writer and co-producer Danielle MacLean talks about the importance of including local communities in the new children's TV series Barrumbi Kids.

Based on the popular children's book, Barrumbi Kids is a new 10-part series following the antics and mischief of two friends – Tomias and Dahlia. Filmed in the Northern Territory, it was important for co-producer and co-writer Danielle MacLean to consult with First Nations communities to get their input on the characters and story.

“We talked to them [the Beswick community] about characters. We talked to them about family relationships, skin names, who could be in the car with who, how that impacted our stories,” MacLean explains. “So there’s just like, lots of layers of different cultural elements that came into creating storylines but also characters.”

In this behind-the-scenes video, MacLean discusses the project’s origins, the use of totems for the main characters and the challenges that come with filming in remote areas.

Barrumbi Kids premieres on November 18 on NITV and will be available to stream on SBS on Demand.