The Making of HUMANKIND.
BY: Adam Niven for GOOD.
GOOD’s new original series HumanKind is now streaming on the GOOD app. The series has been met with amazing feedback from audiences and also the charities that feature throughout the 8 episodes. One charity representative said:
“I don’t think any of us expected how it [the episode] moved us. It’s not just about the work you’re doing but the heart in which you are doing it that speaks so loudly.”
And it’s thanks to loyal supporters that GOOD can continue to create and develop positive entertainment like HumanKind – content for an Australian audience, designed to make you feel good and inspire you to do good.
A Seed is Planted
Like any program, it always starts with an idea. In this instance, it was the combination of HumanKind founder Angela Williams and GOOD founder Mike Jeffs crossing paths at Angela’s book launch for Extravagant Life to Extraordinary Love [https://angelawilliams.com.au/]. From that event, a seed was planted that a show focussing on the stories of kindness that exist, but that often get overlooked, would be a great fit for GOOD.
As the conversations developed and others from GOOD and HumanKind became involved, a potential program started to take shape. As the Production Team Manager at GOOD, this is when I became involved as the Creative Producer and Director. The discussion led to the development of a show that would feature and celebrate ordinary people who actively seek to share kindness. And what better way to do that than to highlight a range of volunteers, who carry out simple acts of kindness, that are the lifeblood of so many charities right across Australia.
Shooting a Pilot
With the aim and focus of the series developed, a small production team from GOOD joined with presenters from Humankind in Toowoomba to capture the story of Barbara Blewett who volunteers with YouBelong and helps humanitarian refugees resettle and find belonging. These were the first steps to begin the series. That was in February of 2023 – so what took so long to see the series arrive on GOOD in October of 2024?
The answer is that good TV takes time to develop and produce. After shooting a pilot episode that demonstrated the value of the concept, the next step was to plan how to work towards creating a series. The team reviewed and learnt a lot from the pilot filming and this helped move the creative vision for the series forward. It was time to get busy in series pre-production – an industry term for all the things that needed to happen before we started to pick up cameras to film anything else.
Planning and Research
With a project like Humankind, a big part of this is researching and identifying potential charity partners and volunteers who could feature in each episode. As a series, it was important to find stories that show a breadth of kindness across Australia – both geographically and also across the different areas where kindness is having a transformational impact. So a significant amount of time was dedicated to identifying possible partners and then working in collaboration with them to identify a great volunteer to feature. As well as ensure that the story of each charity also had a chance to shine.
As the episodes started to take shape conceptually and begin to be written, the logistical planning for filming the 8 episodes also had to be locked in. The calendars of the team from HumanKind, GOOD and each charity needed to be overlapped. The show was to be filmed across more than 10 different locations across Australia. Including travel, the shooting schedule was close to 30 days across a 2-month filming window. The production kit needed to be able to create the visual feel developed for the program, but also be compact enough to travel and be set up quickly when there was limited time to film in particular locations. As each shoot approached, scripts were reviewed with table reads by Anglea and Dave who host the show.
Finally – Filming!
Before we knew we were on location and filming. Which is no doubt the part of the project that everyone loves to be involved with. All the hard work planning and preparing starts to pay off. And whilst there are long days and a tight schedule – seeing first-hand the impact that each of the volunteers is having was an encouraging and emotional experience for all involved. The teams all worked together, inspired by the kindness that we were witnessing, to ensure we captured everything we could and ensure kindness shone through. Both in what we were filming and how we worked together.
Once filming had begun, GOOD took on the responsibility for post-production. Another industry term for everything that happens to take what has been filmed and turn it into a show. From logging footage, so an editor can easily find the shots they’re looking for, to editing interviews, crafting interviews into storylines, creating the graphics and credit sequences, adding music and sound effects, colour grading, mixing audio, the list goes on. All of these different steps are the ‘magic’ it takes to condense hours of footage into an episode of HumanKind. A story about ordinary people, like you or I, who are taking active steps to share kindness. And crafting each episode takes hours to complete. This is why, despite starting on this project in early 2023, it only began to arrive on GOOD in October of 2024.
Reception and Feedback
But HumanKind is a project that everyone involved is immensely proud of. We’ve heard from the charities how amazing it is to see their volunteer stories come to life. We are hearing stories of how HumanKind is inspiring viewers to reflect on how they can carry out their own acts of kindness. We’re seeing, through the partnership with Charitabl [https://www.charitabl.org/], viewers get behind and support the featured charities with donations. The ripples have started and we are confident they will continue to grow. All in all, HumanKind is doing what it was hoped it would do – restore faith in the kindness of humanity.
So it’s a great time to add it to your watch list and share it with your family and friends.
Watch HUMANKIND on the GOOD app now.
About the Author: Adam Niven is the Production Team manager at GOOD. In this role, he works as a Creative Producer and Director for GOOD Originals.
Images: BTS Shots from GOOD