A queer coming of age sitcom from the creative minds of Queensland husbands Samuel Leighton-Dore and Bradley Tennant is generating international buzz and it hasn’t even been picked up yet.
The animated series, Willy, is currently in development with Ludo Studio, the Brisbane-based production powerhouse behind the globally adored Bluey.
The creators are now taking their proof-of-concept trailer to the prestigious Annecy International Animation Film Festival and Market in France, hoping to secure international backing.
Set in the sticky, sun drenched tropics of Far North Queensland during the early 2000s dial-up internet era, Willy follows Wilbur “Willy” Davis, a queer teen trying to find himself on his family’s struggling banana farm.
Isolated and imaginative, Willy’s world bursts into colour through a cast of outlandish imaginary friends, each representing different facets of his identity and inner turmoil.
Among them is Beverley Leslie — a sardonic, middle-aged gay man reincarnated as a desexed housecat voiced by cabaret star Reuben Kaye; an assertive portrait of the Virgin Mary voiced by comedian Judith Lucy; and Tiny, a bronze football trophy figurine with delusions of grandeur.
The characters are meant to reflect the young protagonist’s confusion around masculinity, sexuality, and religion — often hilariously and at times, heartbreakingly.
“Willy is a love letter to the off-beat charm of rural Australia and the inner lives of queer kids growing up in places where queerness isn’t always visible,” said Leighton-Dore, who is also a published author and artist known for exploring queer identity in regional settings.
“It’s about how we find ways to understand ourselves when there’s no one around who looks like us.”
The creators deliberately chose a pre-social media setting to evoke the sense of isolation that many queer young people in rural areas continue to experience.
Joining Kaye and Lucy on the voice cast are Aussie comedians Anne Edmonds and Danielle Walker, bringing even more bite to this uniquely Australian story.
If picked up, Willy promises to blend irreverent humour with heartfelt storytelling, shining a long-overdue spotlight on queer experiences in regional Australia with all their complexity, absurdity, and charm.
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