In this interview Northern Pictures Executive Producer, Catherine Nebauer, and Head of ABC Children’s, Libbie Doherty, reflect on the key takeaways of making a fun and fast-paced series like Hardball, and share some of the challenges of filming during a pandemic.

When Karina Holden started at the ABC's Natural History Unit she made films about what lives in Australia; the story now is how do we keep what we have left.

Can you cover nature’s wonder as if it was a sporting grand final? The ABC believes so. Broadcast live from multiple sites on the Great Barrier Reef over two December nights, Reef Live is an unprecedented attempt to capture and put into context one of the planet’s most remarkable events: the annual mass coral spawning that literally changes the colour of the ocean as it replenishes the vast reef system.

We are a group of award-winning, successful Australian Children’s Screen Producers who create, finance and produce animated and live action content for children and families in Australia and for export to 180 countries across the globe. We urgently request the Government immediately review their policy announcement and work with us to implement reforms that are workable and sustainable and which allow the sector to continue to access the Government’s much applauded Producer Tax Offsets.

ABC ME series Hardball has won an International Emmy Kids Award celebrating the best children’s content from around the world.

Northern Pictures’ Hardball has been nominated for an International Emmy Kids Award, one of four competing in the Kids: Live Action category.

Netflix’s latest reality effort follows the lives of people on the autism spectrum in detail, with warmth, insight and joy.

Love on the Spectrum is an affecting show that paints telling portraits of human connection that are so lovely, so moving, and so wholly satisfying, it's hard to imagine reality dating being done any other way. Sure, I still want the rose ceremonies, pseudo-social experiments, and chaotic in-fighting in other franchises. But Love on the Spectrum is perfect as is.

Netflix has acquired Northern Pictures’ Love on the Spectrum, the ABC-commissioned docuseries which follows seven young adults on the autism spectrum as they take their first steps into the world of dating. The format’s co-creator, Northern Pictures head of factual Karina Holden, explains how the deal came about, discusses how the company has coped with the COVID-19 disruption and laments the ABC’s cuts to commissioning factual and entertainment shows.

SBS has selected Northern Pictures’ Strong Female Lead as part of its Australia Uncovered partnership with the Documentary Australia Foundation (DAF). Australia Uncovered is a new strand of one-off docs for the broadcaster, with a focus on uncovering unique stories of contemporary Australia, due to air in 2021.

Australian comedy/drama Hardball has taken home the 2020 BANFF World Media Festival Rockie Award in the ‘Children and Youth: Fiction’ category.

Hardball has won the top prize in the 7-10 Fiction Category at Prix Jeunesse! With a healthy number of awards and nominations already attributed to the series, the win at Prix Jeunesse seals Hardball’s reputation as a series full of heart that strikes a chord with audiences all over the world.

While most reality programs go for tears and tantrums, this ABC series – starring people on the autism spectrum – takes a different tack.

“Love on the Spectrum” is a notable moment for mainstream content, as individuals with special needs are rarely represented on TV, especially in the unscripted space, although A&E’s critically-acclaimed “Born This Way,” which followed a group of adults with Down syndrome, was praised for its realistic depiction, winning several Emmys and receiving a Television Academy Honor in 2016.

Foxtel Arts review. This original 8 part series reveals a raft of great Australian inventors who turned game-changing ideas into a reality and forever changed how we live.

Cian O’Clery has won the Australian Director’s Guild Award for Best Direction in a Documentary series for EMPLOYABLE ME.

Northern Pictures’ ABC series Employable Me has won two gold medals at the New York Festivals International TV and Film Awards, which celebrate outstanding screen content from around the world.

Watching Hardball, there's a jump-started narrative more enjoyably brisk than most adult comedies; the show doesn't dilute what works for an adult audience, instead it finds a tempo and tone that zips along for a tween crowd.

One of the most striking aspects of Hardball is that for a comedy, it has a serious edge. Among the fervour and the drama of the handball court, the series puts considerable thought into what it means to be a father today.

As a nature documentary maker, I have spent days staring at a dog dropping. It was in a glass box. A multi-award-winning cinematographer sat beside me, macro lens trained on the scene, as we watched and waited for a swarm of blowflies to descend.