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Imagine a life where the children act like adults and the adults act like children, sound all too familiar?
Little Acorns is a comedic series about all the laughter, tantrums, tears, endless drama and chaos in a child care centre, but not from who you’d expect.
The Australian made series was written and created by Trudy Hellier, Maria Theodorakis and produced by Eyvonne Carfora, who spoke to MWF about their series and the creative process.
What inspired your web series?
Creators, Maria and Trudy, both had children in childcare and were always talking about what a fantastic environment for comedy it would make. As actresses who craved funny, complex roles, we wanted to write these type of characters for our brilliant and hilarious actress friends.
What are the challenges you came across when making your series and how did you overcome them?
Making Little Acorns was one of the best experiences on set that we have had. And this is the feedback we got from both cast and crew. The challenge was trying to shoot as much as we wanted in the time we had allocated in the budget. We shot 9 Episodes in 6 days, which most will agree is pretty amazing. This required super organisation and focus from everyone involved as well as keeping the fun and silliness alive – which we thankfully did![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” width=”1/4″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][image_with_animation image_url=”9666″ alignment=”” animation=”Fade In” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”][/vc_column][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” width=”3/4″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text]How did you fund your series?
First we made a self-funded teaser. Maria and Trudy funded the teaser along with producers, Eyvonne Carforra and Genevieve Morris. Teaser director, Chris Benz, came on for free, as did all of the actors and many of the crew – basically we were greatly indebted to them.
It was thrilling to be able to pay them (equity minimum!) when we got Screen Australia Multiplatform funding for the web series.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text]Do you have any future plans for this series?
A television series. We have so many more stories to tell in this world with these fabulous and already loved characters, with a ready built audience who want to see more.
What do you want your audience to take away from this series?
A laugh! And particularly for mothers, seeing other women being silly will hopefully allow themselves a break from having to be the ‘perfect’ mum. This applies to non-mums too. We have been thrilled with the different types of people who love Little Acorns. This reinforces the idea that if something is funny, it will cut through to anyone.
What is unique about your series?
To our knowledge we didn’t know of a show that took place in a childcare centre. We also wanted to show women being professional and great at their jobs, but behind the scenes were allowed to express the many failings we have as people – and make it funny, accessible and kind.
Little Acorns being set in a day care meant you worked with lots of young children. What was that like? Did you have to change the way you structured shoots?
Our experience working with children in Little Acorns was wonderful. Many of the children who were in the show were children of friends and not little actors so the primary focus for us was making it as fun as possible. As mothers ourselves we also knew particular ways of optimising the children’s participation. Eg. Shoot in the morning as in the afternoon they get tired. While the ruling for time allowed for children in film and television is 4 hours, we always aimed to get them finished in 2 hours. We would rehearse the scene without the children and only bring them to set when we were absolutely ready to shoot. Our show is not about the children so in many ways they were not expected to act, they were expected to be themselves, which ultimately is what we want for children, on screen and off.
In some ways the adults seem to act like the children and visa versa, is Little Acorns based on some similar experiences you have had with day care workers?
Our experience with the childcare workers who looked after our children was one where we saw committed and caring people taking their job seriously. But the experience of women letting loose and sometimes behaving badly when children were NOT around was totally our own!
What is your background as a web series creator?
We had never made a web series. We both have acting backgrounds and have worked as writers and directors in film and television. Web series may be short form story-telling, but it is still story telling. Our experience of story and character as well as experiencing the many different sets we’d worked on, definitely helped us.
What advice would you give to emerging creators?
Always remember that story is Queen and demand that all your narrative elements are of a high quality. If you are able make a teaser that shows your vision and tone, this will make it easier for funding bodies to understand the series you want to make.
FOLLOW LITTLE ACORNS
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