How Do You Make a Funny Show About Council Housing That Isn’t Poverty Porn?

Nestled amongst the trendy wine bars, restaurants and boutiques of Brunswick Street, Melbourne, sits a towering block of beige council flats. 

Built in the 1960s by the Housing Commission of Victoria, the brutalist buildings line the city. One particular block straddles the neighbouring suburbs of Fitzroy and Collingwood. Two of Melbourne’s most gentrified areas. 

This specific block is the inspiration behind Flats, a web series written and directed by locals Darren L Downs and Will Weatheritt.  

The 2022 six-episode series tells the story of 27-year-old Joey (played by Weatheritt himself) who’s just been released from prison. 

He returns home to the Fitzroy housing commission in which he was raised and tries to improve his relationship with the young son he’s never met. All while avoiding the temptations of his former life of drugs and crime.

It’s a heartwarming and funny portrayal of life in council housing with a strong protagonist whom you quickly begin to root for.

But, how do you make a dramedy series about poor people without turning it into poverty porn?

What’s unique to this series is the medley of “non-actors” that Downs and Weatheritt cast as supporting characters. “Non-actors” who actually live in the Fitzroy housing commission. 

“Will had this connection with a lot of the non-actors through the shop he worked at in Collingwood,” Downs told VICE Australia.

It was through the setting of the Fitzroy flats, and his connection to the people living in them, that formed the storyline. 

“I started with the ingredients of the setting, some of the supporting cast and trying to find a vehicle that would kind of glue everything together, but retain authenticity,” says Weatheritt. 

“It was very important that we had our cast on board in helping to create these characters, and giving them the platform to use their voices.”

During production and filming, Weatheritt and Downs consistently asked themselves whether they were laughing with, or at, the characters and their lifestyles. 

“That was part of our compass. We developed a trust, and we continue that trust now,” says Weatheritt. 

“There were times where we did sort of go, ‘Are we setting them up to do this stuff, and we're just sitting back and laughing at them?’” says Downs. 

It was through Weatheritt’s strong friendship, mutual respect and trusting collaboration with the residents that helped the duo ensure they weren’t speaking down to community housing residents.

And, through funding from Screen Australia, and with help from Princess Pictures, Downs and Weatherwitt were able to pay the “non-actors” an award wage.

“There were times when our development was kind of dragging on. And I was like, ‘I don't know if I can do this.’ But Jesse Pulis [who plays Joey’s Aunt Sabrina] and Jeff McNair [who plays Joey’s mate Terry] would almost take the mantle and say, ‘We're gonna make this’, and that would encourage us to do it for them, so that they could see it through as well,” Weatheritt shares.  

While you may think that showcasing first-time actors would create a cringeworthy, unwatchable, university film assignment vibe, Flats is an endearing watch.

Jessie Pulis, a Fitzroy housing resident who lives with a disability and portrays Joey’s former guardian, is a true highlight. She now even gets recognised around Brunswick Street for her acting work. 

Considering the ongoing societal judgement that is cast on council housing residents, including the traumatic impacts still felt from the Victorian government’s draconian snap COVID-19 lockdown of nine public housing towers, Flats (and its endearing characters) is something we should be seeing much more of in Australian media. 

Watch Flats for free on PEDESTRIAN TELEVISION, Sundays at 6:30pm AEDT or stream on demand.