In November 2018, Sesame Workshop, the non-profit organisation behind Sesame Street, started looking for international partners to help celebrate their 50th anniversary. The concepts were to be around one of a few very specific ‘letter film’ briefs and, from many submitted concepts, Taste Creative’s “‘T’ is for Toys” was commissioned.
Sesame Workshop was keen to work with Taste for our inclusive filmmaking approach, and this was the focus of both the concept and its execution. Our remit was to tell a fun story about Toys, whilst representing a diverse range of kids who all have a unique way of interacting with their toys. We focussed our casting efforts on achieving diverse representation of Australian children on screen, both without disability and with disability, both visible and invisible.
The culture on set was inclusive and the representation amongst the crew was diverse. We had an all-female writing, producing and directing team, with an inclusive crew of people both with and without disabilities helping to make the content.
The result is a lively, bright 60 second piece called “‘T’ is for Toys”, which features 11 Australian children from diverse cultural backgrounds and abilities, modelling inclusive play to Sesame Street’s core audience of pre-schoolers.
The film will play as a part of Sesame Street’s 50 Years Celebrations in 2020!
This project was made inclusively.
The production created opportunities for people living with disability to work in front of, and/or behind the camera, to help develop their experience in the professional creative industry.
