Bringing Culture Into Focus on ‘My Brilliant Career’: First Nations Voices Reshaping Storytelling on Set

Each year during NAIDOC Week, we honour and celebrate the cultures, histories, and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. It’s also a moment to reflect on our ongoing responsibility as storytellers, ensuring that First Nations perspectives are represented not just on screen but in every stage of production.

This year, we’re spotlighting Netflix’s adaptation of Miles Franklin’s Australian novel, My Brilliant Career, currently in production with Jungle Entertainment. We’ve worked with independent experts and First Nations creatives to weave First Nations considerations through every layer of the production process, from casting and script development to set design and crew culture.

To understand the impact of this approach, we spoke with two First Nations creatives on My Brilliant Career: Shari Sebbens (a Bard Jabirr Jabbir woman and Associate Producer and Second Unit Director) and Hannah Belanszky (a Yuwaalaraay woman and Script Coordinator and Additional Writer). Together, they reflect on how culture, collaboration, and care are reshaping the way stories are told.

When asked about their roles on set, both Shari and Hannah describe how deeply their cultural identities influence the way they work. “You always bring yourself into a story,” says Hannah. “It informs the characters and how they see the world. In an adaptation like My Brilliant Career, we knew we needed to pay justice to First Nations stories that were overlooked in the original text, and we’ve been able to bring a new perspective that strengthens the Australian story.”

For Shari, culture is also how you build community on set. “Culture guides how I communicate, collaborate, and pay gratitude to our land and ancestors,” she says. “Because of my Aboriginality, I can positively shape the culture of the space.”

From script to set design, every aspect of the production has been shaped with First Nations input. Executive Producer Chloe Rickard has led employment and strong First Nations representation across the production, and ensured the ongoing support and safety for cast and crew. Hannah reflects on how this has influenced the creative process. “We have such a number of First Nations creatives on set — both in front of and behind the camera — so the culture on set has changed. It just feels different. There’s nothing we can’t say because we feel respected, and we know that the production wants to recognise our culture.”

Those shifts in numbers, openness, and structure have transformed the way My Brilliant Career is being made. “Even the props reflect First Nations influence — the medicine, the food, the basket weaving,” says Shari. “It’s not something that’s tacked on. It’s embedded from the beginning. That’s what representation really looks like: a higher level of detail, care, and the ability to work with complexity.”

Both Shari and Hannah have noticed how this environment has influenced others on set as well, particularly international cast and crew. “They definitely left with more knowledge about First Nations culture than they came with,” says Hannah. Shari explains, “The production has conducted a Welcome to Country each time we’re in a different country. It’s the first time I've experienced it. It makes every Aboriginal person feel safe, but also those who aren’t Aboriginal have a chance to reflect on what the land is giving us, and commit to leaving the place as we found it, if not better.”

Looking ahead, both agree that sustained change will come from building diversity into every department, not as a one-off, but as the industry norm. “No production is going to lose quality by employing more First Nations people,” Shari says. “The quality of the work is only going to be better, the workplace culture is only going to be better. “Every perspective matters. That level of detail we’re seeing now raises the bar for everyone.”

As we celebrate NAIDOC Week, we acknowledge and thank the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists, cultural advisors and leaders who continue to shape the future of screen storytelling — not only through the stories being told, but in how they’re being made.