Series spotlight: First Day

On Hannah Bradford’s first day of high school, she experiences all the usual excitement and fear associated with this transition, but her first day is especially significant: Hannah is transgender, and it’s the first time she will wear a girl’s school uniform and go by her chosen name, rather than the boy’s name she was given at birth.

It was a real-life experience which inspired writer and director Julie Kalceff to create First Day.

“There’s someone very close to me who is transgender who was six years old at the time,” Julie told the ACTF. “I was seeing what she was going through and how her mother really wanted to support her but wasn’t quite sure the best way to do that. I thought at the time, wouldn’t it be great if there was a kids’ TV episode about a transgender girl so that this girl could watch it and could see that there was someone like her on screen? The idea behind making this was so she could see that she wasn’t alone and there were other people like her. And she loved the show and knows it off by heart.”

First Day, produced for the ABC by Epic Films in association with KOJO Entertainment, is a truly ground-breaking and history-making series: Evie MacDonald, who plays Hannah, is the first transgender actor to play a lead role in any Australian program.

Evie was just 12 years old when she began her journey as Hannah Bradford. First Day started as a short standalone film, made in 2017, before being turned into a four-part series, filmed in 2019 when Evie was 14.

Julie says it was important to cast a transgender actor in the role. “When we’re dealing with screen representation, there’s a great deal of misinformation around transgender people, and I think some of that misrepresentation is that being transgender is just about dressing up and pretending to be something you’re not. And I think when you cast a cisgender or a non-transgender actor in that role, then that perpetuates that myth,” Julie says.

“Transgender characters deserve to be represented authentically and deserve to be represented with truth, and that was really important to us.”

Evie agrees. “Bringing in a male to play the role of Hannah – I don’t think that’s right, I don’t think that’s fair. Hannah’s trans, she’s not a male,” she says.

Evie has been a vocal trans activist for several years, first speaking publicly about trans rights at 13, and her role in the making of First Day went far beyond acting.

Says Julie: “I’m not transgender, so I was very much aware – both Kirsty [Stark, producer] and I were from the start – that this wasn’t really our story to tell. But we had the resources and we were in a privileged position and so then once we cast Evie it became our job to empower Evie to tell her story.”

“Some of the stuff that Hannah goes through, I went through,” says Evie. “Having to get changed before going to school, getting dressed into male clothing, it’s heartbreaking – you’re having to pretend to be somebody that you’re not and feeling like you’re just trapped and that you can’t breathe. I felt that, and I felt how Hannah would have felt.”

The authenticity of the series, and of Evie’s performance, has resonated worldwide. First Day has been sold right across the globe, airing in 24 territories across six continents in a dozen different languages. It has won a number of prestigious awards at ceremonies both at home and internationally including the Rockie Awards, Rose d’Or Awards, Kidscreen Awards and the GLAAD Media Awards. It also won the 2021 Best Kids Live-Action International Emmy Award. Its success resulted in a second series, commissioned by Hulu in the USA and ABC Australian, which aired earlier this year. And just recently Season 2 has been nominated for the inaugural Children’s and Family Emmy’s in the US in the Outstanding Young Teen Series category.

“It’s done much more than we ever hoped or dreamed… the response that it’s received and the places that it’s screened has been amazing,” says Julie.

As well as its commercial success, First Day garnered praise and support from LGBTIQ groups, such as GLAAD. Director of Transgender Representation Alex Schmider wrote in 2020: “First Day’s wholesome, age-appropriate story gives viewers true insight into the experiences of trans youth as they balance school, friends, family, and finding their confidence, all at the same time… while the show is targeted at younger viewers, everyone can enjoy watching a series that avoids trans trauma and the tropes and chiches about what it means to be trans. This is especially true during this time in which those who support and affirm transgender youth are under attack from people trying to use trans kids as a wedge in the culture wars.”

Julie believes it’s crucial for young viewers to see diverse characters like Hannah – and like themselves – on screen, both for their sense of belonging and in order to develop a broad and inclusive world view.

“When I was growing up… I didn’t see myself reflected on screen, which was one of the reasons behind making the content that I do,” says Julie. “If we’re able to see ourselves on screen, it makes us feel as though we are accepted and we are part of society, otherwise people start to feel like they’re the other. When we see a range of different experiences, we realise the fundamental human truth – that we’re all the same.”

“I think the majority of people think that trans people are different to everyone else – but we’re not, we’re just like everyone else,” says Evie. “We all go through the same things.”

“I hope First Day made people aware that being transgender is just one aspect of that character, and that’s just one part of who they are,” says Julie.

Dr Joanna McIntyre from the Australian Children’s Television Cultures (ACTC) research group says the significance of First Day cannot be understated.

"First day does invaluable, ground-breaking work reframing how trans children are represented onscreen, and it does so in engaging and age-appropriate ways for child audiences,” she says. “Contrasting the many problematic and negative screen representations of trans characters, First Day’s Hannah is a complex and relatable trans character who is happy and fulfilled.

“Cisgender people playing trans characters can run the risk of implying that being trans is an ‘act’ – which is why it is so important Hannah is played by Evie Macdonald, a trans actress who brings depth and authenticity to the role. First Day contributes to a more understanding and inclusive society through inviting audiences of all ages to see that Hannah is a strong young person who is trans but also that there is much more to her than her gender.”

You can view both series of First Day on iview, or download them to own from the ACTF shop.