By KATRINA BRANDON
LIGHTS, camera and action!
Channel Nine’s Postcards found its way to Mirboo North and released an episode highlighting local businesses on April 21.
Only 11 minutes into episode 12, presenter Brodie Harper made her way through Mirboo North, stopping at local businesses Lamezleighs Coffee House & Eatery, Artspace, and Jacican. While the clip is only four minutes long, Ms Harper explained that filming took a whole day.
“It takes around seven to eight hours for a four-and-a-half-minute story. It is a whole day for a whole Postcard story. There is a lot involved. There are many overlay shots, food, main shots of the street, walking shots, behind the scenes shots,” she said.
Jaci Hicken, owner of cooking school and food studio Jacican, told the Express her and Ms Harper made vanilla slice on the show.
Ms Hicken, a Mirboo North resident for 16 years, has ran a cooking school. Like many businesses, hers was dormant due to the pandemic.
“Now that it is 2024, everything is back to normal. We thought it was time to do a publicity push,” she said.
“My husband has been supplying engineering services to commercial television broadcasters. We sent word to one of his co-workers, who then was passed on to one of the producers at Postcards.
“A couple of weeks later, the production assistant rang up and said we are coming to Mirboo North. We are going to Artspace, which I had put into the little email; we have coffee shops, modern and trendy, homestyle cafes, art spaces, a hotel, a brewery and many things in a brief line.”
Before COVID, Ms Hicken applied for Mirboo North to be a part of fellow Nine show Getaway.
According to Ms Hicken, the Postcards interactions were somewhat scripted, with the host learning about the business and following instructions from the director. However, the experience was whack-and-go, with the crew spending about an hour at the school with pre-prepared props.
“From my experience in cooking classes, I have been working in and out of media for a long time. I had all of the components of the vanilla slice put together. So, I had pre-made ones, the pastry, the cream, and the pastry for her to roll out that wasn’t cooked yet. We had it all set up. The biggest problem was that they would be here at 1.45pm. They were 45 minutes early! I hadn’t put my face on properly yet!” she said.
Overall, Ms Hicken said the show presented Mirboo North well.
Alongside Ms Hicken’s glee, Ms Harper enjoyed the Mirboo North experience. She even went as far as to say that she couldn’t choose a favourite as everything was so unique, adding their special touches to the town.
“The Artspace was so beautiful to see because I have a very artistic and very creative daughter. I’m not very artistic myself. So, I really enjoyed seeing how people create. I’m the worst baker in the world, so seeing them learn a vanilla slice and eat what we had made was really cool because I would never have been able to do that in my kitchen,” she said.
“Sometimes, I could say that this was my favourite, but this particular time, everything was so different. I loved each thing for what it was.
“It’s just the sweetest little town. Everybody was just so friendly. When I finished at the end of the day, I went into the Foodworks, and even there, I was chatting to the lady who worked there for another 10 minutes because she was so sweet.
“I didn’t expect that because that was on a different level of sweet people. The quality and amount of things you could do there surprised me at the cooking school. I would have never thought that you could go all the way to Mirboo North to do a cooking school. It is a day’s drive from its destination.”
To view the episode, go to 9now.com.au/postcards/season-2024/episode-12
