Cruisin for a Bruisin’ is a high-octane eight-part web series blending contemporary dance, a bogan soundtrack, regional rivalry and a gloriously unhinged dose of Australian absurdity. Set in and around Killarney, Queensland, the series follows sworn enemies Brett and Trey, two rival panel beaters whose ongoing feud spills into every corner of their lives alongside their powerhouse girlfriends Britt and Tracey, identical twin sisters both played by Full Flower Moon Band’s Kate Dillon. Narrated by God, portrayed by TikTok creator Taron Geyl, the series tears through hotted-up cars, greyhounds, backyard BBQs, creekside camping, punch-ons and hospitals before arriving somewhere between cult comedy, dance film and contemporary Australian mythology.
Part contemporary dance work, part bogan musical and part regional adventure movie, Cruisin for a Bruisin’ celebrates the strange, funny and deeply familiar corners of Australian life. At its heart, Cruisin for a Bruisin’ is about mate-ship and culture. Rather than parodying regional Australia, it embraces its contradictions and eccentricities, finding joy in the people, places and communities that continue to shape contemporary Australian identity. Created by Queensland filmmaker Ryan Renshaw and produced by Sara Taghaode, the series draws inspiration from the characters, rituals and landscapes of regional Queensland, bringing together contemporary dance, original music, digital storytelling and screen production in a work that refuses to sit comfortably within any one genre.
As Crusin’ For a Bruisin’ prepares to release on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube on Wednesday July 29, Nick L’Barrow sat down with Ryan Renshaw and Sara Taghaode to discuss where the idea for a bogan musical first came from, and how they pitched their idea to government funding bodies.
Nick: Is there no better marketing for your series than having a Barnaby Joyce character in the show, and then for the real Barnaby Joyce to be making headlines for shouting at his dog on ABC News Live this week? Was this all orchestrated by you guys?
Sara Taghaode: [laughs] Yeah, I can’t help but feel that simply the inclusion of all of those figures that Ryan put in… inevitably somebody will do something! And we will use that!
Ryan Renshaw: The sad thing with those guys, I mean, is that you don’t have to orchestrate anything! They orchestrate it all by themselves [laughs].
Nick: One of my favourite quotes from Stephen Sondheim is, “When you can’t say your feelings, sing them. And when you can’t sing them, dance them.” At what point did the idea to explore the tension between two Aussie bogans through the form of interpretive dance?
RR: I mean, we’ve been making films that involve dance for quite a number of years, and over that time we’ve kind of become part of this international dance community. Personally, I’m not a dancer unless I’m drunk and it’s 2am! But, this is something that we do take seriously. I don’t necessarily understand dance, but I’ve tried to learn film and TV my whole adult life. And dance in film is entirely a genre itself. We have the likes of Busby Berkeley that really are at the heart of cinema, and I think we have kind of forgotten that. So, then it became about looking at the challenges that haven’t been explored yet as filmmakers. How do we tell new narratives? How do you keep people engaged in a world where we have three seconds of attention span? How do we keep them hooked on something that might make them want to poke their eyes out in boredom? It’s a new kind of dance movie to watch.
Nick: There is something very “new age media” about this project. What excited and concerned you about pursuing this idea, Sara?
ST: I think there is so much noise in the same things that just rolls out across content now. But particularly in that algorithmic space, this project was about throwing it all at the wall and bringing a lot of different things together to make something fresh. The watchability of that feels important and feels like it is needed to give this a chance to find its audience and get some traction. There’s a magic in bringing different worlds together and collaborating together, which is something, as a producer, I really enjoy. The area we filmed this project is actually a community I live in. So, bringing a contemporary dance, bogan musical that we were shooting at the local pub felt really good. I’m really curious to see how that translates, and how this release finds its audience.
Nick: What was the process, and also the reaction, of Screen Queensland when you pitched this project? And what do you hope comes from their willingness to back more up and coming creatives who have ideas outside of the more traditional outlets?
ST: My experience with SQ, in the online funding side of things, is brilliant. It strikes me that there is such a focus and energy within that department to take risks and allow filmmakers to take risks. We initially pitched this project in 2024, and it has taken us quite a long time to get all of the parties together, but they provided so much flexibility for us to get through that process. When we pitched the film, we didn’t actually pitch that it was a bogan musical [laughs]. In fact, it wasn’t even exactly that idea at that point. But they’ve been so excited to see what it became, and I can say that it was a different experience compared to other funding bodies.
RR: To Sara’s point, they’re coming around to the face that we have to search harder to fill a void. This isn’t just about funding another feature film or TV series. At the moment, we consume media in two ways. Either we’re flipping through our phone for a few seconds, or we’re binge watching something in bed for six hours. And I think there is a middle ground that needs to be addressed in some way, and I think it’s wonderful that they’re looking at that and how we can create those opportunities.
ST: I feel like we are in this time where it’s a democratisation of filmmaking, too. It’s so much easier – well, it’s becoming easier for people to make films less cost prohibitive with technology changes. It’s theoretically easier to reach an audience. Once upon a time, you couldn’t get to an audience without a distribution deal. And even though it may seem with algorithms that it’s not easy to control how you reach an audience, it is a lot more accessible than it was. To just put something on Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube, speaking to what you want to communicate and finding that audience globally is incredible. I think that it is going to be a really exciting time for every facet of visual communication – whether it’s a film, TV, or a short form web series. We can make stuff and not have to worry about gatekeepers.
Nick: I love that you filmed this in truly authentic locations. And I believe you really capture this Australian spirit of being able to “take the piss out of ourselves”. Do you believe you kind of have to love the quirks and oddities that make us Aussie in order to make fun of them too?
ST: One thing I was nervous about when making this film, and something I talked with Ryan about, was that I didn’t want to be laughing at this community because not only does it feel wrong, but I have to come back here! But Ryan would say that he wanted to just present all of this with real honesty. Of course, it’s very funny, and we do take the piss. But we’re just presenting everything for what it is. We didn’t dress up a lot of the locations. We didn’t really have to put people in costumes outside of the core cast. One big aspect was whether or not we should have done the dog racing scene. And Ryan kept coming back to the idea that we’re holding a mirror and reflecting this part of life. We weren’t trying to make something that wasn’t true.
RR: Honestly, I think there is a little bit of bogan in all of us, you know? I like the Broncos as much as anyone else. But unfortunately it seems like it’s become a part of our society that we’re ashamed of. I mean, we have our Barnaby Joyce’s and Pauline [Hanson]’s and so on. But they’re kind of as funny and beautiful as they are tragic. I think anywhere in the world you’ll find these people, and they’re kind of in me as well.
Nick: I’d love to know what the collaboration was also like with the cast of this project, and what they were able to bring in terms of their own understanding of internet culture and algorithmic based content?
ST: I think what drew everyone to this project was a real curiosity to see what the finished project would be like. I think that excited everyone from a creative lens. Even Kate Dillon, who plays Britt and Tracey, she’s a musician and has done a bit of acting, but she’s a creative that wants to work with a team in this way.
RR: With dance also being this ultimate ephemeral art form, these guys would rehearse for weeks and months for a show that maybe only a few hundred people get to see. So there is also something that the dancers see in this about legacy in film. This is also something people can continue to consume in the long term. But this was also a different way for them to approach dance. Our experience making this was things being invented on the fly, and changing things because of what a camera can do. It was exciting. And I love watching things where I am kind left thinking, “What the fuck am I looking at?”
Thank you to Sara and Ryan for their time, and to M4M Agency for organising the interview. Crusin’ For a Bruisin’ releases on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube on Wednesday July 29.
