Written by and starringThe Feed comedians Jenna Owen and Vic Zerbst and rapper Adam Briggs,the short video features the trio sitting at a pub. Their conversation is about many of the common arguments against the Voice referendum – “It doesn’t go far enough” or “it goes too far” – and was inspired by real conversations those involved have had.
Directed by Australian filmmaker Nash Edgerton,the video is very different from the official advertisements used by the Yes and the No campaigns,and has spread rapidly on social media since being launched on Thursday.
Owen and Zerbst are best known for their comedy work on SBS’sThe Feed and Edgerton comes from Blue-tongue Films,the production house behindAnimal Kingdom andBoy Erased.
The video is the brainchild of Indigenous musician and writer Briggs,who called Edgerton to ask if he would be up for making a short film to counter some of the common concerns about the referendum. Edgerton suggested Owen and Zerbst.
The video wasn’t commissioned by the Yes campaign and no one was paid for their work. Shot in half a day and cut it in less than a week,it was turned around quickly.
From the early stages,all agreed humour was the way to cut through. Owen says the piece was inspired by the conversations the four had been hearing for months.
“[Briggs is] having all these conversations with all different demographics,” she says. “He really helped with trying to make this video answer the questions that are across all different generations. The thing about the misinformation that’s been so sad in[the lead-up to] this referendum is it has infected young people in a way that I,personally,have never seen before.