Lisa Cox had always wanted to try her hand at drama. The former Canberra Times journalist had studied screen-writing at university and an informal catch up with an old friend, where they tossed around some ideas, has led to that very thing.
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This week Sunshine, a four-part television series, will premiere on SBS.
The crime drama, set in Melbourne's outer-west suburb of Sunshine, follows South Sudanese-Australian basketball player Jacob Garang, played by Wally Elnour, whose dreams of making it into the American National Basketball Association hang in the balance when he's drawn into a criminal investigation.
Airing over two weeks, Sunshine explores the hopes and heartbreak felt by those forging a new life in a foreign land.
Along with a South Sudanese Australian cast, the show also features Anthony LaPaglia and Melanie Lynskey along with a range of experienced Australian actors. Sunshine is directed by Daina Reid and was written by Matt Cameron and Elise McCredie. Ms Cox is listed as a co-creator along with Rachael Turk and Ian Collie. Ez Eldin Deng was brought on as a cultural consultant and assisted with both the writing and directing.
Ms Cox said the series explores the hopes, successes and challenges of this young community.
"But it also goes into classic issues that any teenager or parent would recognise," she says.
"Finding your way, belonging, working out who you are in the world and they're themes that are universal."
She said part of the purpose of Sunshine was that there was an untold story about the Australian South Sudanese community.
"We tried to go beyond the headlines that have kind of singled out portions of that community out over the past year or two," she says.
"Drama can be a good way to break down barriers and build understanding."
Ms Cox started working for The Canberra Times in 2012, before heading up to the parliamentary press gallery for Fairfax in 2014, where she was in the bureau until the end of 2015. She had previously worked at the Central Western Daily in Orange from 2009 to 2011.
She's now working as a freelance writer and researcher, currently consulting to SBS Scripted for the development of new drama series
After she left Fairfax, she met with Ms Turk, who gave Ms Cox her first internship, before she started her journalism career, when she was at university.
"It was in that meeting she asked if I had any ideas for a multicultural series," Ms Cox said.
She said she had been speaking to various people for different stories and one of those was about looking into a community with an African background. From there they started looking into the South Sudanese community in Melbourne.
Once the concept was approved, Ms Cox was involved in the research for the program to ensure the South Sudanese community was portrayed realistically.
Sunshine premieres at 8.30pm on Wednesday, October 18 on SBS.
