First Day (TV series)

Hannah Bradford is a twelve year old transgender girl beginning her journey towards the end of primary school, and the beginning of high school.[1] She must learn how to navigate her new environment, while also dealing with the social pressures of finding where she belongs while transitioning.[1][2] As she begins high school, she presents herself as female in public for the first time.[2][3] Hannah befriends Olivia, Jasmine and Natalie, who she doesn't immediately disclose her gender identity to. However, she struggles with being bullied by Isabella, a classmate from her primary school, who threatens to reveal her secret, and taunts her with her previous name. Hannah lives with her mother, Amanda; and her father, Steve, who try to protect her from the harm of external situations, which sometimes leads to disagreement and conflict.

First Day was first commissioned in 2017 as a stand-alone episode.[1] The one-off drama was created through Screen Australia and ABC Children's Girls Initiative, which was created as a funding program to strengthen Australian female producers.[5][6] The short film screened as part of International Day of the Girl.[5] Evie MacDonald starred in the special as Hannah Bradford, and became the first transgender actor to star in the lead role of an Australian scripted television drama.[2] MacDonald was eleven years old at the time of filming and had not previously acted.[3][7] Julie Kalceff wrote and directed the project.[6] Kalceff was motivated to increase visibility of the LGBTQIA+ community through telling a story about a transgender teenager.[7] She believed it was important to have a transgender girl play Hannah, which resulted in MacDonald's casting.[7]

In June 2019, a miniseries based on the original short film was ordered by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation to air on ABC Me.[5] The series was financed through the South Australian Film Corporation and the Australian Children's Television Foundation (ACTF).[5] Also titled First Day, MacDonald and the original creative team were named to return to the production, which would be told as a four-part series.[5] Kalceff was attached to the project as the writer and director, along with producers Kirsty Stark, Kate Croser, and co-producer Kate Butler.[5] The series was filmed in Adelaide and led by Kalceff, who served as the writer and director for all episodes.[1] Filming began in July 2019 in South Australia, with a local crew.[8] Kalceff stated she was excited to tell the original story in more detail.[8] The series was produced by Epic Films in association with Kojo Entertainment, and international sales of the series were handled by ACTF.[8] The full series premiered on 30 March 2020 on ABC Me.[1]

In November 2020, the ACTF invested funding in a second series of First Day, to consist of an additional four episodes.[9]

In September 2020, the series began streaming on Hulu in the United States and began airing on children's network CBBC in the United Kingdom.[10][11]

The short film won a diversity award from MIPCOM, who stated that the prize was awarded for "promoting understanding and acceptance" of transgender children who are transitioning, which was depicted through the character of Hannah beginning high school.[2]

Reviewing the full series in 2020, David Knox of TV Tonight described it as "the most inclusive, most authentic kid's drama since Dance Academy".[4] He praised Kalceff for her delicate handling of conflict in the series, as well as MacDonald for the nuance in her performance.[4] Knox stated that he would have liked to see the series explore issues in further detail.[4]

Citations

Bibliography

• Australian Children's Television Foundation (2018). First Day Teaching Toolkit (PDF). Victoria: Australian Children's Television Foundation. Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 April 2020. Retrieved 31 December 2020.

• First Day at IMDb