{"id":24646,"date":"2023-02-10T08:49:48","date_gmt":"2023-02-10T13:49:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev2.worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/first-days-firsts\/"},"modified":"2023-03-13T12:23:43","modified_gmt":"2023-03-13T16:23:43","slug":"first-days-firsts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/first-days-firsts\/","title":{"rendered":"First Day\u2019s Firsts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Creator Julie Kalceff and producer Kirsty Stark showcased how the Australian live-action series First Day<\/em> is breaking barriers in its representation of transgender kids at the TV Kids Festival.<\/p>\n

Kalceff and Stark were interviewed by TV Kids<\/em>\u2019 Jamie Stalcup. The session, which you can watch here<\/a><\/strong>, began with a conversation about how First Day<\/em> became a full-fledged series after being conceived as a 20-minute special.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ABC in Australia put out a call for the International Day of the Girl [Child], and they were looking for stand-alone 20-minute episodes focused on a female protagonist and geared toward a female audience,\u201d Kalceff said. \u201cI saw that call and didn\u2019t pay much attention because I hadn\u2019t worked on children\u2019s TV before. But at the same time, a close family member of mine was transitioning, a 6-year-old, and I could see how happy and excited she was to be able to live as her true self. I could also see how difficult it was for her mother to support her\u2014she wanted to support her but didn\u2019t know what that looked like. They didn\u2019t know anyone else who was transgender or the parents of transgender children. So it kind of made sense to put the two of those together. A TV episode about a transgender girl would be great for them to see that they\u2019re not alone and that there might be difficulties, but those difficulties can be overcome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Libbie Doherty, head of children\u2019s content at the Australian pubcaster, \u201csaw the potential in the story right from the beginning,\u201d Stark said. \u201cShe was on the same page in areas like casting\u2014wanting to cast a trans girl in the lead role\u2014and just some of the thoughts we had about bringing the series to life. We brought a lot of other people on board who aligned with the story and understood what we were trying to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kalceff noted that it was vital to place the narrative from the perspective of Hannah. \u201cThere have been adult series with trans characters, and sometimes it feels as though those characters are sidelined and that we see them through other people\u2019s eyes. It was really important for us that Hannah was the center of the narrative, that it\u2019s her story and not just her as a trans person, but as a three-dimensional character. We went to great lengths to make sure that she had interests and hobbies and that the audience could get a sense of her as a person and not just view her through the fact that she\u2019s transgender.\u201d<\/p>\n

The series is set between \u201cthe transition point between a primary school and a high school,\u201d Stark added, \u201cso every kid in the series is going through a transition themselves. Hannah just fits in. She\u2019s got additional difficulties, but everyone has difficulties of some kind making those big life changes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trans actor Evie Macdonald portrays Hannah. \u201cWe were worried about casting Hannah\u2019s character specifically,\u201d Stark noted. \u201cNot that we didn\u2019t think that there would be a trans girl out there who was capable of it. But just because we needed an actor to carry an entire series\u2014they\u2019re in every scene and being so young, to put themselves out there publicly would be a lot of pressure. We wanted to make sure that they had support around them as well. So we put out a casting call, had an amazing group of girls apply, and Julie spoke to each of them and their families individually about what being part of the series might involve. And we narrowed it down to four girls who auditioned, and finding Evie was amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the rest of the cast, \u201cWe wanted the schoolyard to reflect what a schoolyard looks like,\u201d Kalceff added. \u201cAustralia has a very diverse culture, and we wanted to show that diversity.\u201d<\/p>\n

That diversity and authenticity extend off-screen. \u201cFor Julia and me, it\u2019s really important to create opportunities for people,\u201d Stark said. \u201cWe had an amazing female crew for the majority of both of our series, including female cinematographers, and we also created opportunities for trans writers to come through the process with us initially in the writers\u2019 room. We had other opportunities for trans and non-binary crew to be involved in the production process through internships and attachments or set visits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kalceff added: \u201cWe wanted to create an environment on set where Evie wasn\u2019t the only transgender person. If that\u2019s the case, it feels as though she carries the weight of the series. It\u2019s a big enough job for her as an actor to be in every scene and to carry the narrative. We didn\u2019t want her to feel as though she was the only transgender person on set, and any questions about being trans or non-binary would be focused on her. We tried to create an environment where she was one of many and to make it as inclusive as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hulu came on board as a partner on the show\u2019s second season after acquiring season one. \u201cWe found the second series a lot more difficult to finance,\u201d Stark explained. \u201cThere was a sense of, we\u2019ve told this story, one transgender series is enough, now we can move on because Hannah\u2019s out and proud, and everything\u2019s going to be fine. For Julie and I, that was just where the story started. We knew that it wasn\u2019t enough just to tell the coming-out story. We want to show what it\u2019s like to live as a trans girl once you are out. And that story continues. The finance was a lot more difficult within Australia to put together. We approached Hulu, knowing their enthusiasm for the first series, and they were amazingly supportive in putting up part of the financing. We were able to complete production and put the series out to the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

On how trans representation in kids\u2019 media has evolved since the show debuted, Kalceff noted, \u201cI think the conversation has changed. We made that first stand-alone episode five years ago. There\u2019s a much greater awareness around casting authentically. There\u2019s much greater representation. There\u2019s still such a long way to go, but I feel as though there is much more opportunity to have those conversations. Children\u2019s television has such an impact on kids. It\u2019s how they view the world. And if they don\u2019t see themselves on screen, it impacts how they feel about themselves. I felt that growing up, and I think it\u2019s important now that children see themselves on screen. They see that they\u2019re not othered and they\u2019re not ignored. It goes a long way toward creating their self-esteem. We also try to show what a good ally should be and how you should respond and act toward other people. I think children\u2019s television has a great, important role in not only diverse representation, but also representation in a way that creates an environment where people can start conversations and see what best behavior is and how they should be acting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kalceff added: \u201cI\u2019m not a transgender writer, so telling that story meant leaning on the community, working with different people and doing a lot of research. We need to make sure that we\u2019re telling a story that is authentic and that matters.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Creator Julie Kalceff and producer Kirsty Stark showcased how the Australian live-action series First Day is breaking barriers in its representation of transgender kids at the TV Kids Festival.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":24647,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[5525,7095,7096,5723],"class_list":["post-24646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-top-stories","tag-first-day","tag-julie-kalceff","tag-kirsty-stark","tag-tv-kids-festival","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\nFirst Day\u2019s Firsts - TVKIDS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/first-days-firsts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"First Day\u2019s Firsts - TVKIDS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Creator Julie Kalceff and producer Kirsty Stark showcased how the Australian live-action series First Day is breaking barriers in its representation of transgender kids at the TV Kids Festival.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/first-days-firsts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TVKIDS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-02-10T13:49:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-03-13T16:23:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2017\/07\/4-FirstDay-FEB9.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"338\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mansha Daswani\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mansha Daswani\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/first-days-firsts\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/first-days-firsts\/\",\"name\":\"First Day\u2019s Firsts - TVKIDS\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-10T13:49:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-13T16:23:43+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/#\/schema\/person\/83da304c8bad8bfdb3edd7eb47cfe5ad\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/first-days-firsts\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/first-days-firsts\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/first-days-firsts\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"First Day\u2019s Firsts\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/\",\"name\":\"TVKIDS\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/#\/schema\/person\/83da304c8bad8bfdb3edd7eb47cfe5ad\",\"name\":\"Mansha Daswani\",\"description\":\"Mansha Daswani is the editor-in-chief and associate publisher of World Screen. 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