The Disposables on ABC to premiere on TikTok

12 September 2023
| Categoty:ABC, News

The Disposables on ABC – When Priya’s dad disappears and is blamed for unleashing a terrifying biological monster, it’s a race against time for her and her best mate Obi to find him and save their community.

61 min TikTok Livestream (9:16 ‘Vertical’)

61 min HD Mini-Feature on ABC iview (16:9)

3 x HD 20 min episodes on ABC ME(16:9)

32 x 2 mins for social media (9:16 ‘Vertical)

SERIES SYNOPSIS/OVERVIEW

When sixteen-year-old refugee Priya’s dad goes missing and is blamed for unleashing a terrifying, mutating plastic-eating beast on the suburbs of Western Sydney, Priya and her best friend Obi must navigate a community in which they are treated as undesirables in order to find her dad, clear his name, destroy the creature plaguing their neighbourhood, and land a visa to stay.

The Disposables is an innovative and thrilling interactive ‘monster’ conspiracy series. In each episode pieces of seized footage progress the story; evidence gathered from social media that viewers are invited to watch, scouring Priya’s social media accounts to investigate and bear witness to her desperate quest to find her father. Priya and Obi’s TikToks, texts, video calls and CCTV will be some of the pieces of the puzzle from which a full picture is formed.

KEY CAST BIOS

PRIYA Sumi Gunaratnam

‘I don’t think the police follow me on social media’

Sumi G is a talent on the rise. A singing, dancing, rapping sensation with an acting spark. Sumi started her training with Priscilla Jackman NIDA Director in 2012 on Stage in Running for Freedom, NSW State Festival.

In 2018, she graduated from the Screenwise acting course and has since worked as a professional actor booking over 20 TVC’s since 2020, appearing in ABC’s THE MESSENGER and landing her first lead role as PRIYA in ABC Me’s THE DISPOSABLES launching in 2023. She continues her training with award winning Scott Sedita, Tony Alcantr and acclaimed LA film director David Rountree.

OBI Lakota Johnson

“What if the creature is feeding on the microplastics inside of us? We’re living, breathing plastic snacks”

Lakota Johnson is an actor living between Queensland and Los Angeles and enjoys entertaining his committed TikTok and insta followers. He has a fun, supporting role in Baz Luhrmann’s ELVIS, starring Austin Butler and Tom Hanks.
He can also be seen in the Peacock series, JOE VS. CAROLE fka JOE EXOTIC and KING KONG VS GODZILLA. Other credits include, DORA THE EXPLORER, YOUNG ROCK and #BLACK-AF.

Lakota recently performed in MAMA MIA! live at the Star Casino in the Gold Coast.

SRI Rajan Velu

“This is our home, we have to do what we can to save our community”

Rajan is a graduate of the Actors Centre in Sydney. His TV credits include SAVAGE RIVER (ABC TV), BORN TO SPY (Aquarius Films), DOCTOR DOCTOR (Nine Network), RFDS (Network 7), DIARY OF AN UBER DRIVER (Revolver Films), REEF BREAK (ABC Studios International), CRIMINAL MINDS: BEYOND BORDERS (CBS), SCANDAL (ABC), BROOKLYN NINE NINE (CBS), CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND (CW) and HOLLYWOOD HEIGHTS (Nickelodeon).

His Theatre credits include COUNTING AND CRACKING (Belvoir/Sydney Festival/Edinburgh Festival), FRIENDS IN TRANSIENT PLACES (Fresh Produce’d, Los Angeles), LOST: THE MUSICAL (Chinless Productions, Los Angeles), THE CHANGELING, HENRY V (Independent Shakespeare Company, Los Angeles), THE LAST HIGHWAY (Urban Theatre Projects, Sydney Festival), FEARLESS N (Theatre Kantanka) and THE DRUM (Sydney Opera House).
Rajan’s film credits include THIS LITTLE LOVE OF MINE, EAT SPIRIT EAT, HONEYGLUE, SUPERMAN RETURNS and the award winning short YOU CAN’T CURRY LOVE.

RAFAEL Jordan Rodrigues

“First rule in science: Don’t be so sure of yourself”

Jordan is a SAG Award and Daytime Emmy Award nominated actor. He will next be seen as series regular, Ethan, in the blockbuster Disney+ television series, NATIONAL TREASURE. In 2020 he reprised his role as Trey Emory in season two of the hit Hulu television series LIGHT AS A FEATHER. He can also be seen as organised crime kingpin Arlo in Jerry Bruckheimer’s Peacock television series, LA’S FINEST opposite Jessica Alba and Gabriele Union.

In 2019 he finished up his four year role as Mat Tan on ABC’s THE FOSTERS, and was fortunate enough to star opposite Saoirse Ronin in the Academy Award nominated and Golden Globe winning feature film, LADY BIRD. Jordan’s other credits include HAWAII FIVE-0, NBC’s CAMP, SBS’s award winning series BETTER MAN, Emmy nominated ABC series, DANCE ACADEMY, MTV’s FAKING IT and BRING IT ON WORLDWIDE.

JOEY Josh Pyman

“All you have to do to get a visa these days is save the world”

Josh most recently shot supporting role in THE DOG DAYS OF CHRISTMAS and one of the lead roles in THE DISPOSABLES. He is most known for his recurring guest star role on the Netflix series TINY PRETTY THINGS. He has also appeared in the CW’s ARROW and was also the lead in a short film PLANTONIC in which he was nominated for a LEO AWARD for Best Leading Male in a short film, his first ever acting credit.

Josh is a graduate of Screen-wise Australia and has also completed several shorts and has been involved in many theatre productions. He is currently based in Australia.

CARINA Legal Aid – Heidi Arena

“I didn’t make up the rules. If he doesn’t show up in 24 hours, I’m obliged to report it to the police”

Since graduating from NIDA in 2002, Heidi Arena has gained a reputation as one of Australia’s most loved and versatile actresses of both theatre and screen.
Heidi’s extensive television credits include, co-creating and appearing in PART-TIME PRIVATE EYES, the Logie and ‘Prix Jeunesse International’ winning LITTLE LUNCH and as a lead cast member in all 4 series of the award-winning THANK GOD YOU’RE HERE.

Heidi received rave reviews for her portrayal of Audrey in AUDREY’S KITCHEN as well as Matchbox’s hugely successful franchise NOWHERE BOYS. She has appeared in JACK IRISH, THE LIBRARIANS, TRUE STORY WITH HAMISH AND ANDY, UPPER MIDDLE BOGAN, THE INBESTIGATORS, MAD AS HELL, IT’S A DATE, GET KRACK!N and many more. More recently Heidi has appeared in SHANTARAM and LOVE ME.

Heidi’s film credits include EMO THE MUSICAL, SPIRIT OF THE GAME (US release), NOW ADD HONEY and NOWHERE BOYS: THE BOOK OF SHADOWS.

LIL CUZ Zara Tate

“We all knew”

At the ripe old age of 8, it’s fair to say Zara has accomplished quite a lot as a performer.

Since she could walk Zara has been putting on daily shows for her family.

During lockdown in 2020 she started creating Lip Sync videos with her dad, Ben (also an actor) to their favourite tunes on TikTok and Instagram. Their renditions of classics such as Aretha Franklins ‘Respect’ and Backstreet Boys ‘I want it that way’ entertained millions all around the globe. Today they now have over 4 million followers across both platforms- where they create their own comedy sketches, dance routines and partner with some of the worlds biggest brands.

2023 is already shaping to be a big year for Zara, unfortunately at time of print we can’t give away too much – so you’ll just have to watch this space.

DR. ABADI Zenia Starr

“If you’re seeing this, I’m probably dead”

Born in India, Zenia speaks fluent Hindi and some Urdu and Punjabi.

Recent screen credits include, the key role of Freya in the Stan Original series, The Gloaming, Imogen in Maziar Lahooti’s debut feature film Below, starring Anthony LaPaglia and Ryan Corr, which premiered at the Melbourne International Film Festival. She also had roles in The Unlisted, for Aquarius Films and The End, by See-Saw Films.

Previous feature films include Hotel Mumbai, directed by Anthony Maras, and The Merger, directed by Mark Grentell. Zenia also appeared in Bollywood thriller My Birthday Song, from director Samir Soni, and Indian suspense thriller Pratichhaya, from director Mukesh Jhadav.

On television, she has starred in Nazeem Hussain’s sketch comedy Orange Is the New Brown, on Channel Seven, and played Sharni in Drop Dead Weird Series 2, from Ambience Entertainment. She was also in the series Deadly Women and web series 600 Bottles of Wine.

Zenia has undertaken training at NIDA Open and The Actors Pulse, where she was able to focus on the Sanford Meisner method as well as principles of Ivana Chubbuck, Stanislavski and Eric Morris, among others.

She has appeared in TVCs for a number of well-known brands including Arnott’s, Toyota, Westpac, Youi and Woolworths. Additionally, Zenia has narrated a number of audiobooks for Penguin Random House and Audible.

OTHER CAST

GRANDMA – Francine Bell

BRUCE CARTERSON – Nic Cassim

FARID – Simon Elrahi

WAREHOUSE SECURITY GUARD – Shaun Martindale

POLICEMAN – Nicholas Ryan

POLICEMAN – Sebastien Fereday

FEISTY JOURNALIST – Remy Nettheim

HOSPITAL SECURITY – Garry Hero

BURLY FED – Gary Bell

BURLY FED – Dorje Michael Swallow

SICK PATIENT – Valerie Williams

NURSE – Katherine Hynes

REPORTER – Emma Nunan

SICK MAN – James Slee

SICK WOMAN – Breanna Hartman

SOLA – Deepka Ratra

AVNEESHA OFFICIAL – Avneesha Martins

PENGO ART – Hannah Pengilly

FATHER OF LIL CUZ – Ben Tate

YOUNG GIRL – Eva Greenwood

TEEN – Jay Patel

OFFICER LIANG – Loretta Kung

LINH – Jasmine Kain

THANH – Allan Lim

FATHER – Ibrahim Conteh

RIGHT WING WOMAN – Katherine Shearer

LOCATIONS

Western Sydney, NSW Australia

Filmed on the Traditional lands of the Wangal, Bidjigal, Cammeraygal, Gadigal and Garigal

KEY CREATIVES

Renny Wijeyamohan

Creator/Writer/Director/Producer

“There’s never been a more important time for stories with meaning. As we enter an era with so many challenges (climate, people movement, tech), we need to celebrate the power of stories to inspire – especially those from unexpected voices and new perspectives – which respond to our changing world.”

Sonia Whiteman

Creator/Writer/Director

“It has been wild to explore the world of quorum sensing amongst the bacteria infested stockpiles of plastic, but what has lit me up most is bringing our characters into this world. Priya and Obi, with all their messiness and joy, strive to fight for a better and more just world. Despite the doom and gloom of our times, teens today are passionate, creative and determined, and I love creating stories with them and for them!”

Karen Radzyner

Creator/Producer

“The Disposables is an action-adventure that aims to reel in teens – and their parents – to the comfort of an armchair (or a bus seat), to escape into a visceral story with larger than life stakes. We dream that when they leave their armchair, they’ll be standing up to take action against the real world monster like racism and climate change.”

Keir Wilkins

Creator/Writer

“I once thought the possibility of writing a complex, long form narrative for TikTok seemed about as likely as a plastic eating bacteria terrorising humanity. But once I realised both things were very much possible, I was all in on bringing this story to life!”

Saman Shad

Writer

“Writing a show for social media allowed us to leap into storytelling techniques that are usually beyond the TV drama scope – and to use a whole new screen grammar derived by young people”

Tom Black – Cinematographer

“Shooting Priya and Obi’s phone POVs to tell this story, very quickly we realised that the camera had become a character too”

PERSONAL CREATIVE STATEMENT from THE CREATORS

Renny Wijeyamohan, Sonia Whiteman, Keir Wilkins, Karen Radzyner

The Disposables is a creature feature generating pivotal story points around the refugee crisis, our undervaluing of our immigrant populations, microplastics within our bodies, warehouses full of forgotten recycling and the betrayal of everyday people doing their best to sort their recycling, to do their bit. Our disposable culture is destroying the planet and diluting our values and our humanity.

We wanted to explore the hot button issues of this culture – the recycling crisis gripping Australia, the country’s immigration policies, our treatment of refugees and asylum seekers, a government’s response in a pandemic… and to inspire positive change by tapping into the equally present groundswell of youth activism. There is a confidence and outrage in Gen Z that is demanding to be heard. We want to hear it.

With teenagers finding their screen entertainment more and more away from television screens, we devised The Disposables in a format that could find them ‘where they live’, on social media and youtube, and tempt them back to watching their own Australian culture on their national broadcaster’s TV screen. Whether they watch it vertically on their devices, or choose to walk over and see if the TV still switches on, we wanted them to be able to find it, love it and be moved by it, to act for their future.

The show is asking young adults to look at the means available to them to use their voice to speak truth to power and hold people accountable.

But more than that, the characters in our world, and hopefully our audience, will come to understand that the conspiracy they are unravelling is a symptom of two much larger problems – ones they have each contributed to.

The problem of “waste” and our single-use, disposable lifestyle. Of governments, corporations and individuals shirking responsibility, passing the buck and fixating on bandaid solutions, trying to “science their way out of” a problem that demands a change in our behaviours and attitudes.

The problem of systemic racism- Australia is tragically renowned globally for our mistreatment of refugees and asylum seekers. As recently as July 2021, Australia was again found to be in contravention of recommendations by the United Nations Human Rights Commission in areas including the limbo of temporary visa holders, the detention of refugees and their sudden deportation.

Sound heavy? Maybe a little… but rest assured, we’re wrapping up these urgent and important discussions in an action adventure that will deliver thrills, chills and laughs to audiences hungry for compelling genre stories delivered in a fresh and exciting format.