HOW BENJAMIN LAW CHANGED MY TRAVEL PLANS

By Samuel Leighton-Dore

Moisten your TV tastebuds, because if the series previews and early reviews are anything to go by, it looks like Aussie television is about to get served a walloping dose of oriental fruitiness – courtesy of one Benjamin Law with his new 6-part SBS comedy series The Family Law. Despite being celebrated for “putting so many Asian faces on screen”, Law says the series is about an Australian family going through divorce. But it’s going to be funny.

I’m just going to say it: as far as careers go, Benjamin Law has me emerald with envy. Not in the typical “Iggy Azaelea’s an untalented whore” Australian tall poppy syndrome way, either. More in an “aw shit, good for him” kind of way. Okay, maybe I’m not envious. Maybe I’m just a tad inspired.

Truth be told, as an emerging writer/director with a stubborn disposition for queer storytelling, I’ve always assumed I’d one day have to pack up and move to the United States. The subject wasn’t really up for debate. The idea that a young gay dude from suburban Sydney could stumble ungraciously through High School, skimp out on his communications degree at UTS, start writing for a few independent publications with no work experience, and go on to publish books and develop scripts for film and television… It quite simply fell beyond my perceived realm of possibility in Australia.

I also felt this weird ongoing pressure to define myself in a way that felt forced or uncomfortable, something I was convinced Brooklyn-based serial-slashie creatives wouldn’t do. I felt like the whack of all trades and the master of some – and the US drew me in like a magnet would a mangled paper clip. That was where real stories were told, where funding risks were taken on emerging artists, where I’d need to be to have my voice heard.

Then again, this was back when the closest we had to LGBTQI representation on Australian telly screens was Sky Mangel’s headline-grabbing lesbian pash on Neighbours and a denim-vesting Anthony Callea butchering Christina Aguilera’s “Car Wash” on Australian Idol. Not exactly career-inspiring stuff.

Okay, now back to B-Law (is that a thing yet?). I remember first discovering Benjamin Law’s column in Frankie Magazine (in those far-gone days when Frankie Magazine had actual living humans on the cover) and being immediately aroused (not sexually, I don’t think) by his use of language. I was around 15-years-old and figured such casual progressiveness belonged in the dusty sealed section of some European cult mag, not in the arts-and-craft magazine I picked up each month from the Chinese news agency in Burwood on my way to another glamorous day at Homebush Boys High.

“Dear Future Daughter/Son/Non-Specific-Gender-Identifying Trans Child,” he opened with in this particular column.

That was enough. One line. My heart skipped a beat. What the fuck was a non-specific-gender-identifying trans child? It was simply beyond the comprehension of my still-closeted mind. And gay men could have kids?

Aside from the fact that I’d always harboured the strange desire to have children (before the age of five I used to name my shits), I distinctly recall having one of those rare u-huh! moments upon finishing the piece. I soon started writing more frequently about things I’d never considered writing about (namely the fact my mum’s an over-sharing sexuality counsellor – along with my own weird experiences with sexuality); turning articles into poorly formed scripts and poorly formed scripts into no-budget short films for YouTube. Sure, nobody watched them. But I loved it – and have continued ever since.

In the meantime, Law’s gone on to release several well-received books: Gaysia, Shit Asian Mothers Say and his memoir The Family Law, which, as I mentioned, has excitingly been adapted for television by Law himself. Truth be told, I really couldn’t be any fucking happier to see it come into fruition. His successes, along with those of Einstein-haired comedian Joshua Thomas with his series Please Like Me, have reassured me that you don’t need to be a Lena Dunham of the world to hit the relative big time; you know, harvesting HBO deals from a lush field of nepotism, fertilised with some genuine talent and Judd Apatow’s contact number/possible semen.

Now, some ten years, one independently published kids book, a mildly successful short film and longtime gym reception job later, as I exchange sordid emails with an immigration lawyer in New York and contemplate the possibility of a future life overhaul, I find myself thinking it might be worth sticking it out here first.

Whatever “it” is.

If anything, the flourishing careers of Law and Thomas have served as timely reminders that moving to New York, LA or London should no longer be the knee-jerk right of passage for promising young Australian creatives. Not when it seems their stories might finally be given the attention they deserve, right here on home soil. Don’t get me wrong. There’s still HEAPS more that needs to be done to reinvigorate the flailing emerging sectors in film, television and publishing, particularly when it comes to discovering authentic and diverse LGBTQI and multicultural stories. The recent budget cuts and closure of Metro Screen have certainly been crushing blows. But from where I’m sitting, there’s a promising yellow brick road being quietly paved in the background, brick by fabulous brick; providing invaluable references for those super awkward “creative career goal” conversations you find yourself recurrently trapped in with relatives at family barbecues.

Personally, I think it’s really exciting to know that Australian audiences, networks, executives and funding bodies are discovering the immense value in the myriad stories our country has to offer. Gay, Straight, Trans, Indigenous, Asian – and everything in between. I also think it’s something I’d really love to be a part of one day.

So set yourself an iPhone reminder: Episode 1 of The Family Law will premiere on the SBS Australia Facebook page for one weekend only from TONIGHT before debuting on SBS January 14th. Melbournites will also be able to see the first two episodes on the big screen at Cinema Nova on Tuesday January 12, followed by a Q & A.

If it’s anything like the original book, it’ll be a refreshing and richly colourful representation of both a culturally and sexually diverse Australian family life.

And it’s important that we all fucking dig it.