Seventeen towns, countless stories, and one very big scramble

Some projects stay with you because of the finished product. Others stay with you because of everything it took to get there.

More than a year on, this one still sits firmly in both camps.

When we were engaged by Eastern Riverina Arts on a hidden gems cultural tourism storytelling project, we knew from the outset it was going to be one of those jobs that demanded curiosity, stamina and a willingness to go with the flow.

Across three months, we travelled through eight local government areas, visited 17 towns, stepped inside more than 32 venues and recorded 27 interviews.

It was one of those rare assignments that reminded us how layered this region really is – how much sits quietly behind ordinary facades until someone opens the door and starts asking questions.

We met locals who could have filled volumes. People preserving collections you would never expect to find where they were. People carrying family stories, community stories, odd stories, proud stories. We found obscure corners, beautiful details, unexpected histories and that familiar regional thing where someone says, “Well, while you’re here, you should also go and see…”

The creative brief was about uncovering cultural tourism stories across the Eastern Riverina Arts footprint but what it really became was a moving lesson in how much character lives just beneath the surface of places people often drive past without a second thought.

What stands out just as strongly now, though, is the way the job nearly became something very different.

Before we even started the project, life delivered one of those significant moments that forces an immediate rethink. Plans shifted. Timelines tightened. Our original video and photography arrangement could no longer continue in the way first planned, and suddenly the neat production pathway we had mapped out looked very different.

It could have unravelled the whole thing. Instead, good people stepped in.

Damian from Next in Line Films, Matt from Jellyshots Media, Kylie from Lightbox Imageworks, and Josh from Cut Above Productions each brought their own craft, perspective and creative experience to the table, but just as importantly, a willingness to work inside an established direction while adapting to what had suddenly become a very different brief. That kind of collaboration – where people know when to contribute, when to flex and when to trust the bigger picture – was not something we took for granted.

And that is often the part no polished campaign ever shows – the phone calls, the reshuffling, the weather checks, the changed run sheets, the gear swaps, the kilometres, the “we’ll make this happen” energy that sits behind every clean final frame.

Looking back now, what the team captured was impressive, especially considering what was happening behind the curtain.

And perhaps that is why it still matters to us.

Because yes, the venues were remarkable. But for us it was also the teamwork, the adaptability, the trust, and the reminder that creative work rarely arrives in a straight line.

Sometimes the best projects are held together by people saying yes at exactly the right moment.

And sometimes, months later, we still spot a piece of footage in a reel and remember not just where it was shot but what it took to get there. Regional work has a way of giving you more than the brief asks for.
In this case, it gave us stories worth telling and a strong reminder of what good collaboration looks like.

Peita