Totem Global moves into original self-funded content with Aussie bushcraft series Outback Boys

Outback Boys began as a YouTube series called Black As

Australian digital-first media company Totem Global has shifted into original production with the launch of its first fully funded and developed series, Outback Boys.

The factual series, aimed at online audiences globally, features Joe and Chico and their community in the remote Arnhem Land region as they merge old-school bushcraft with cutting-edge technology. Each episode showcases the transformation of scavenged items, from scrap metal and driftwood to crocodile teeth, into survival tools.

Steve Crombie

Steve Crombie, founding CEO of Totem, created the project as writer, executive producer and director. He also self-funded the series, which is Totem’s first move into original end-to-end content production, with Screen Australia support.

The company will deliver original Outback Boys content year-round, launching fortnightly episodes on YouTube and TikTok supplemented by content across Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook.

This month, Totem revealed it had appointed former Matchbox, Netflix, Freemantle and ABC content executive Chris Oliver-Taylor as global director of strategic partnerships in a consulting capacity.

Crombie told C21 the company was looking to develop more original content in the near future, using the opportunities, reach and audience analysis that digital platforms support and enable.

“We are looking to develop other things. What we’re really interested in is world building. By that I mean we take Outback Boys – it’s something we might do on YouTube, TikTok and other platforms such as Facebook and Snapchat – and build a global audience and then look to build something bigger, perhaps with a Netflix or an Amazon,” he said.

“It’s a new world order. In this day and age, you need to be able to find other ways to produce and get your ideas out there. We have so many amazing producers in Australia [and] around the world, and a lot of people who are losing their jobs at the moment and don’t know where to go, but they’re still brilliant at creating content. They still have brilliant ideas. By doing this, we can show others that this is a risk worth taking, and this is a reliable pathway with the right approach.”