Aussie industry, ‘a dud’ – and so is its media coverage

I love it when people who don’t bother to see Australian films tell me how bad they all are. Thanks, Sally Morrell! I think it’s great you’re able to publish a piece like this without feeling like you’re embarrassing your entire profession.

So two Murdoch rags slagging off Aussie film within a week?
What DO we think Uncle Rupert is up to?

Basically, reiterating what Lee said: It’s always hilarious when people talk about how bad Australian cinema is and yet admit to never even watching any of it. This Sally Morrell (working a newspaper that sponsors the AFI Awards) actually sounds like she’s gloating about how little she cares about the culture of this country.

What a horrible woman.

Hmmmm…. I think it’s a bit more complex than this.

Complaining about the quality of aussie film after seeing only 2 in a year certainly damages her credibility. However, there is a broader issue of the “Australian Movie” brand to be addressed. No industry in the world gets away with blaming their customers for their problems. If an industry doesn’t like how its being perceived, then the onus of shifting that impression is on them and them alone – whether they are responsible for the perception in the first place or not.

There is a tendancy within the australian film industry for filmmakers and industry types to have a sense of entitlement about what kind of audience and coverage that they deserve. That they are somehow entitled to be ‘supported’.

Sorry gang, its not the case. Every other media form (television, radio, magazines, online) have to contend with a robust critical analysis, opinion pieces, bitchy tweets and yes the difficulties of funding (commercial, public etc etc). It’s all part and parcel of putting your endeavour in the public. Deal with it. If you dont like the perception, the responsibility is on you: filmmakers, funding assessors, critics, publicists, actors, magazine editors to shift perception using your output…

While I don;t agree with Sally Morrell’s article, I do agree with her about Somersault. Easily, the worst film ever to win the AFI award for Best Picture. Sheeesh, what a turkey!!!

I think the problem with Australian cinema is that people tend to only grade the films against other Australian films – so of course some are going to be classed as ‘good’ in comparison to others – but when you hold them up against cinema from around the globe they just don’t rank.

I mean Sally Morell you are in the employ of Rupert Murdoch…where do I start? he’s nearly finished trashing the culture of the USA, now he can start taking some heavy dumps in his own backyard. What drives an old man to wreck culture? I’d love to know…why wreck everything that isn’t you..why be devisive..well its obvious..THERE”S A BUCK IN IT!!! Sally Morrell might start with you handing in your licence to be a journalist..if that’s what you call yourself these days.
I propose this Sally Morell and to every other Journalist in this country that loves to swing the bat at Australian Film. TV land you can have this one for free, god knows you’ve stolen everything else.. We can turn a buck on this..make a reality TV show out of it..all these peanut brained Journalists can compete against each other and try and be producers/screenwriters/directors for as long as it takes for one of these hacks to get funding for a production of a feature film. they must run the maze and live the life, they can work across any genre, but they must sip from the llaced cup of the Australian Film Industry…multiple times DRINK IT UP…AND ALL THE DRAINNNNNAGE!!!..they must in short live a life filled with passion and madness, peppered with anxiety that equates to breathing air. Filmmakers can swap and be journalists, they must be cynical, sensationlists and feel comfortable when writing in a High-Visiblity jacket / vest or singlet. They must not offer anything other than reinforcing cynical, ill informed opinions about anything beyond what the normal Joe-Blow could think up between munching on a pie, sucking on a ciggie, leaning on a shovel or swiping a credit card while buying a third Plasma Screen for his/her laundry. They must offer no alternatives to that said opinion..and when they arrive home they must tune into at least three hours of mindless twaddle that is currently passing itself off as Australian TV, and at night they must dream of a culture where people who don’t think like them, people who might hope for a better sense of understanding with regard to the Human Condition are treated with sneering disdain as they conspire to erode the foundations of culture
to the point all culture seems like an endless land of banal monochrome.
Nice one Sally…I hope this is all your every dreamed of being…especially when you were growing up. What an unoriginal moron

How can Rabbit Hole, starring Nicole Kidman, Aaron Eckhart and Dianne Wiest be made for US$4m and we have dud films made for over $5m? Says a lot, really!

Marc, you’re comment is the most sensible thing I have seen in this entire conversation! If you have time, can you pop by the thread on ‘The real ugly truth’… Entitlement about what sort of media coverage film makers believe they should unfailingly receive is reaching fever pitch over there. Your comment has just restored my faith in the quality of this whole debate

But, Jack, I know I routinely have 2 Aussie films on my Top Ten list of every year. Not because I’m trying to be patriotic, but because I genuinely think they’re great. This year alone I would rank “The Tree” and “Animal Kingdom” amongst the best. Last year there was “Three Blind Mice”, “Bright Star” and “Samson & Delilah”. All movies that have screened at international festivals, won awards here and overseas (TBM won the FIPRESCI prize for crying out loud!)

Actaully Ryan I welcome all this negative coverage, but you yourself have not offered one possible alternative with regard to development funding or how to fix what is obviously broken. I think if you were a filmmaker you would understand that comment and critique are welcome aspects of the creative process. BRING IT ON…but wait lets look closer..lets look at who’s throwing stones…Oh its the Australian Media…the same people who make enormous captial from the dark bleak underbelly of Australian Culture. Ryan don’t pick and pinpoint what you like and don’t.. actually throw something that might resemble a passionate opinion that doesn’t equate to some snivelling orange boy standing on the side lines of the great game being waged mumbling to yourself “When I get my chance to play…I’ll win this great game” Early on I was agreeing with you…now you’re sounding like a hand puppet…think harder…the problem is bigger than you think. Marty to your very valid “Rabbit Hole” question…you’re answer is this

Star Power attached
x
Script development funding at least 10 drafts needed, maybe more
x
Marketing budget probably the same as production budget maybe more
= better film

We don’t have the writing talent here, because what we are seeing is the result of ten to fifteen years of neglect with regard to script funding..soak it up..and think of change and how to execute it.

Ryan think harder, I know it hurts but think harder..I know you can

Marc—I don’t think any Australian Filmmaker worth his salt is blaming the audience, nobody I talk to. I remember when this debate got going around 2004-2005, jim Schembri wrote avery inspired piece in The Age, got me fired up..so much it inspired me to get off my ass and start taking writing seriously. I was working in production on films, but I was on the out looking in at the creative side, thinking thats where I wanted to be. I applied for screenwriting school and got accepted with a script that was then produced…my first script produced and shown on TV, not once but twice. I went from knowing nobody to being somebody. How..it started with an idea…that was followed with passion and then relentless cunning.. since then its been a hard and steady slog, but slowly things change. All along I read and researched, not just on a national level but on a global level, what audiences think of films, what people were buying. Read a truckload of scripts. Change is afoot and filmmakers want to make films that will enage the audience, regretfully we are still waiting to clear away the dead wood. Its a matter of ADAPT IMPROVISE…AND OVERCOME. I suggest to all, if you don’t like Australian cinema start penning the films you want to make..and get passionate…because its the passion that gets you over the line. not sitting behind your desk bitching about an industry that won’t let you in or doesn’t seem to listen..start small…think big…create your own industry with your own ideas…

Why not actually give the Australian public the opportunity to see Australian films? Maybe they’re not seeing the films because they are only released on a few screens for a very short period of time… and tickets are expensive! Let’s screen every ozzy film ever made on ABC2, in prime time in a regular slot. The tax payers own these films… they should have the right to see them on TV.

Jim, I want you to run for Entertainment minister! Seriously. Ryan, stop reading this on the toilet. Take a side and make a valid point. You do seem to be looking at the coach who has asked you to sit on the sidelines until you’re big enough.

Firstly, how does she feel that she’s qualified to write about Australian film having only seen two Aussie films in the past six years? Fine, if she does, she obviously has an inflated sense of self worth. But how can the Herald Sun publish the article knowing this? FFS. Yes, it’s the Herald Sun… but my god.

When talking about Aussie movies, why does no one ever acknowledge the fabulous Getting Square? Starring Sam Worthington, David Wenham and Timothy Spall, this understated Aussie flick is definitely one of my all-time favourites, Aussie or otherwise.

Thanks Matt, as much as I’d like to become entertainment minister and actually implement some radical change, I think my sordid past might catch up with me, so I’ll give that one a miss. I wrote another piece that I posted on “the real ugly truth” that actually outlined some possible ways Australian audiences could actually begin to effect some change in an industry that drastically needs it, but thanks to Ryan’s plea for encore to “grow some balls” that comment has been moderated and.. well I have no idea where it is…..encore don’t stoop to the level of “The Daily Telegraph” or “The Herald Sun” and begin moderating these discussions…passionate and robust discussion is part of the creative process, start moderating…and well…I don’t know, the world won’t end but I might finish some scripts I suppose, actually yeah moderate me…actually Ryan you can write on my behalf, you seem to have all the answers. I’ll pass the crown of A.F.I Blog nutter to you…I don’t think anything I have said needs to be censured..I was chatting to the head of a major film distributor yesterday…out popped the comment ” I don’t think Australian film is beyond repair, it needs a tweak and a cull and some fresh passionate ideas…its Australian culture that needs to step up to the plate..its simply sitting idle”…now if a major film distributor thinks that our problems can be fixed and I passionately think they can..and we all agree that well informed/ researched journalism that makes accurate comments about an industry that is failing to connect with its local audiences is a good thing, followed by a caring ear for audience feedback/involvement and ideas…what the hell are waiting for and why do I have to name myself after a sheep that was cloned?

Aussie news networks are driven by the corporations that own them.
They report on what drives up their $$ in their other commercial interests …

Notably sport.

I’m sure there’s a really good reason why we dedicate as much as 20minutes of the news hour to sport, while only 20 seconds to Aussie cultural content.
(International cultural gets a whopping 3-5 on a good day, but only one or two days a week, in a good month when a celeb happens to be in town).

I know European networks will run a good 15min each nite relating a new local film, theatre or music show. There’s a solid mix between what’s commercial and what’s creative.

I find it ironic that we as filmmakers must comply with “significant Australian content” which has a “cultural test” (making it so much more difficult to make our stories internationally attractive for financing), …

…when the NEWS has no “quotas” on what they present.

I’m sure if Mr Murdoch and others were forced to contribute 15minutes of free advertising time to “screen culture” then it would be more likely to be in their commercial interests to have a stake in that screen culture.

Food for thought.

It is nonetheless interesting when one sees what happens in other “cultured cultures” 😉

Thanks Miguel…I really should ditch that hip flask of tequila…. if I received the same thing I’d detect myself as spam as well.

Murdoch would never do such a thing. He wants this Industry to do two main things

1) Spend more money marketing films with his media empire

2) Spend more taxpayer money making lavish films that will utilize his studios

neither of these are negatives for the industry at all

But does he have to smash what little is remaining of an under performing brand to achieve the above? Not at all, the total reverse actually. So why editors allow hack journalism to find a voice…and what purpose it serves beyond the cynical and ill considered is hard to find.

I agree with Miguel that there are problems with the Australian film industry ‘Brand’. No question about it.
But I happen to completely agree with Sally that Australians don’t want to see home grown movies. And its not that their perceptions are so heavily influenced by opinion leaders, its that 9 out of 10 Australian movies must strongly adhere to conventional plots and methods to pass through the bureaucracy of Australian financing; as a result, the films become straight up boring because you are no longer letting organic art or innovation pass through the system. That’s why Australians don’t see them. Because they walk out of the cinema bored and uninspired.
Beneath Hill 60, with all due respect to the makers, and whom would have worked very hard, is so completely boring. Are you industry people seeing things so narrowly that you actually believe the only story Australian’s will be interested in is a
true-event heroic drama? People can watch the News to see that. Its feels sycophantic and patronizing.
If you don’t show us, the Australian audience, that you are taking a chance, that you have some guts; we are not going to show up to the movies.
When you compare Aussie films to those from around the world, they do not rank, as one other person commented. Now, if people have all the movies to watch from around the world – thousands per year – why are they going to spend money on below-par Aussie films? The answer is they won’t. Because people barely have enough time to pay their bills these days.
Producers in Australia rule their industry with an iron-fist and an entourage of cliques. There is only one problem with this approach: you should not be allowed to do it if you make bad movies. Doesn’t that make sense to anyone? If someone is at the top of their game, they make the best movies etc etc, then they deserve their time at the top. But if you make movies that fail in almost every sense of the word, how can you justify iron-fisted control. Its means you’re a dictator, and that you don’t believe in democracy or innovation. My answer to this is a revolution, the same method humans have used to remove all dictators for the past 10,000 years. Throw them out!

I wish people would just stop bagging the industry (which is very fragile as it is) and just get on with producing good work.

I manage to see most every Australian film produced each year despite living in the US and I love many of them (and am appalled at regular intervals too), but a failure to recognise the perception that the Oz movie brand sucks for multiple, fairly obvious reasons, is strangling the poor bastard to death.

Having said that, don’t blame the ‘mainstream’ media. Whether we like it or not, for the most part, it’s just a mirror of what most people think — in fact Ms Morrell’s opinion that Sam Worthington’s nakedness has been a rare highlight is, whether we like or not, an opinion shared by many Australians.

At the same time, there’s many people within ‘mainstream media’ who do have great empathy and admiration for Oz film. Give them a reason to offer pieces that fly in the face of conventional wisdom rather than expecting the apparently innate quality of the Australian film to be enough to generate news and change opinion.

Everybody who cares about filmmaking seems to have a different idea about why the biz is in the hole it is .. but a few things are pretty conspicuous: the writing is often shoddy, the thematic tone is regularly unappealing, the ability (and willingness) to expose the films to potentially suitable audiences is minimal.

There will always be infuriatingly simplistic opinion pieces about the complex, creative business people on this site love, but it’s not a conspiracy and it’s not necessarily a uniquely Australian problem.

Oz has oodles of talent — perhaps wasting in too many ill conceived and poorly executed projects in recent years has made the industry defensive and the public unduly dismissive.

Seems working to correct a few core problems most of us can agree on might be a step in the right direction.

the big problem with the australian film industry is miles of sticky red tape. get rid of wasteful government subsidies and greedy tax incentives, stop paying stupid executives to be movie producers, and make people accountable for the money they spend… for goodness sake, barry humphries has more artistic/commercial sense in his glass monocle that tony ginnane ever had or will in his small pea brain.. need i say more? enough of this tall poppy cultural cringe. that was old news back in the 1970s., and they made better movies then! OMG didn’t we learn anything? fast forward three decades: where is the next crocodile dundee? start making films for an international market: james bond, harry potter. we dont care about his majesty’s prisons and outback explorers anymore. get my point? fantasy, science fiction and action is what the public wants to see, not depressing dramas about suicide and incest. dont believe me? then go to the video store and rent a dvd!

Just went and saw Blue Valentine…strange little film, not sure if I enjoyed it or hated it..but it did leave and impression, my partner hated it..said it was a real downer. I turned around in the cinema at one stage to check out the attendance..totally packed..maybe three or four spare seats. The end of this film was far from uplifting, actually noting good happens for any of the main characters..but the film is a hit and did have some great acting by the main leads. Could easily have been an Australian film..but it wasn’t..if it had’ve been the media would have crucified it. The sad thing is we , as a nation have come to hate ourselves and our image of ourselves. As much as we would like to believe that the vast majority of Australian resembles something off the “Sunrise show”, in reality the vast majority of Australians and people across the planet live lives of quiet desperation…is this film worthy? Maybe, but not with public funds…unless its ultra low budget.

fabulous Getting Square?

HaaaaaaaaaaHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAA HaaaaaaaaaaaaahahhaHHAHAA

that comment just made my day Susannah 14 Dec 10 4:12 PM

I am starting my journey down the lonely path of screen writing. One thing I have noticed since i’ve decided to write is that just about any information i can gather on the subject does not relate to Australia, and a large portion of the Australian source material says to look abroad for inspiration and opportunities. The AFI is completely invisible to anyone outside the industry and will remain so until an effort is made to establish it as relevant in Australian culture.

When did it become ‘cool’ for critics to bag the Aussie film industry and comparatively low budget (vs. Hollywood) Aussie films and call for an end to funding? It’s probably the ONLY industry in Australia that guarantees government money will actually be 100% spent in this country. Not funding asylum seekers, not bailing out foreign owned banks and automotive companies and the like, just employing thousands of hard working Aussie taxpayers who then go on to face a constant barrage of criticism for their effort. With critics, twits and bloggers seemingly hell bent on damning everything that is produced here, it’s no wonder our talent goes offshore, and look back with embarrassment.

Writers, producers, actors, in fact everyone involved in our film industry knows its impossible to get private funding – hardly surprising when the industry and its product is given such a bad wrap and a single Google query will confirm that. With Hollywood spending $5 mill plus just to develop the script, here in Oz we spend $5mill to make the whole film! its a miracle we make any films at all! Each and every one of them is a gem which should be applauded, each and every ‘appalling’ reviewer/commenter should be ashamed. How very un-Australian.

The only ‘…problem with the Australian Film Industry…’ is what is constantly written about it. Have yet to see anything good written about a $5mill budget USA film probably because they never make it to Oz. But Aussie films are never compared to those! We are compared to the latest $50mill slate. So before you damn the entire Australian film industry, be careful what you write, the world is watching (and laughing) at YOUR contribution to a dying industry, thus ensuring they continue to reap the rewards of the highly prized Aussie talent leaving our shores.

I’m not sure why we should praise a film just because it’s Australian.

The problem the local industry has to face is that for some years most of the films that have been produced are ones no one wants to see, regardless of quality. An ‘Australian’ film is currently box office poison and the ‘good’ commercial films that somehow get made are unfortunately caught up in the perception that an Aussie film = crap.

Why would anyone in the private sector invest in an Aussie movie in this environment?

Until the government funding agencies switch to an industry/investment mindset instead of handing out charitable donations to make films obviously doomed to failure, I do not see a very bright future.

No one can guarantee box office success, but we seem to have mastered the art of failure.

Agree, we do seem to be masters of failure. But while we KEEP telling Aussies that Aussie films are crap and not to bother going to see them or even buy/rent the DVD, the perception “that an Aussie film = crap” will NEVER change. Thus = poor box office = no returns = no private investment.

And when we keep telling investors that Aussie films are crap, the only funding source will remain government. Otherwise = no Aussie films.

What I’m NOT saying is that we should praise every Aussie film. What I AM saying is that a little encouragement to go see an Aussie film, rather than damning them left right and center from the get go – would go a long way to getting more and better films, more funding, more development and a better industry all round.

Why should the audience, or investors, support our film industry when even the Aussie film industry itself won’t support the Aussie film industry?

I agree with giseppi. If we want our film product to do better at the box office we need to change people’s perceptions. Winning awards at overseas festivals or winning AFI’s is not marketing the film effectively to the general Australian public .
We need to get the public into the cinema to see our films. How do we get Sally Morrell to change her perception that all Aussie films can be tarred with the same brush? This is a common perception and it’s a perception we need to change. If one American blockbuster film is vacuous and boring we don’t stop going to see the next blockbuster do we?…so there is something quite deep seated about the public’s perception of Aussie films. I think a branding exercise for the whole industry sounds like a very good idea. Count me in to buy the T-shirt!!

The perception – and I’ve talked to a lot of people – is that by sitting through an Australian film you are going to be confronted by gritty social realism and come out of the cinema seriously contemplating suicide.

A wide variety of movies are made here, but we don’t make the feel-good films people want to see in large numbers. Our dramas are very dark, our comedies often address serious issues, our endings are downbeat. We have the same attitude to formula as Basil Faulty has to his hotel business. “Everything would be fine if not for the bloody audience.”

It may be an outlandish theory, but I believe the key to getting people to change their perception of Australian films and actually go and see them is to give them what they want.

Giseppi- you’ve made some really valid points here..but encouraging audiences in this modern age to go and see an Aussie film, is a bit like saying we should bring back that “We’re the bloody Hell are you” tourism campaign. It won’t work..and will probably do more damage than any kind of good. The real problem lies in the script writing, people just aren’t writing the screenplays and something has really gone wrong here in this area of development, as a creative nation we need to be honest about this and give writers the incentives to write quality scripts…as its stands, writing screenplays is a marathon, with no end in sight…the talented give up, there’s simply no money in it. Some hang on.. they usually make a living in TV…which doesn’t really foster the same kind of dramatic narrative tricks needed to write a film. This is the real problem…and we aren’t doing anything about rectifying it…and I find that very sad indeed..quality screenplays will save the day..they’re just really hard to write effectively

And another thing- There are some valid points being thrown around in some recent blogs here, but the fact remains that writing screenplays is very very hard work and most writers work for years on one idea, not 10 or 15 and this really is the root cause of the problem with our industry. The scripts just aren’t out there or being written at a level to compete in the global market place with an audience swamped with content…from TV, Internet and the cinema. Years of social realist bollocks being wheeled out over the years has done serious damage to the OZ film brand, followed by a string of horror films, which have a broad market, but maybe not here. The Animal Kingdom showed that audiences will respond to quality screenplays by ambitious Directors looking to add to a genre…but that’s maybe one Director in ten years…that ain’t an industry.
I think TV lets us down woefully..what should be a training ground is just a cheap and nasty mess, run by people with little interest in drama or comedy..just crass, underdeveloped slop from the commercial networks. Hopefully the ABC or SBS can link a string of quality productions together and start to build from there. And lets not forget that the $ for funding films around the $5-10 million mark have vanished in our post GFC world. In chaotic times like these people want escapism..everybody knows the world is a mess..the financial institutions are infested with greedy shits and very little faith can be found in anything. So if you have that razor sharp social realist script waiting to blossom, go and shoot it on DSLR on your weekends and stop clogging the industry funding channels with it.
I was at a screenwriting workshop recently…one after the other…writers polishing their social realist turds…most of these “screenwriters” having evolved into the craft after years of driving a desk as a corporate, having now jumped into the cottage industry with the naive glee of a hobby farmer. I ask Screen Australia…how is a writer to develop a career in this industry..a sustainable career? They can’t…so if they can’t, how are we going to develop engaging content? Via looking for the next generation of filmmakers on Youtube? Gimme a break…SA..maybe go and take a look at Vimeo and whats going on over there..Youtube ain’t where its at..Vimeo is where the filmmakers of tomorrow showcase their work and you have no presence on that platform at all…nice social media advice you’re getting there, worth every penny…MAP my summer…map my finger, its pointing right at you.

Certainly this thread has a longer life than most Australian films.
It’s the brand erosion. And it’s the writing.
There’s lots of good, recent signs with the content, not so much with the establishment/marketing.
I suspect the best Oz work has always been done by enthusiastic collectives — collaboration rather than creative isolation is the way to go, especially in a business that’s not going to provide you with an adequate pay-cheque.
There’s this daft concept built up by all the film biz courses etc. that if you’re talented you’re gonna succeed. So off you go and gaze at your navel until it finally, inevitably happens.
Crap. Make a bunch of friends: smart, critical, funny, film-lovin’, emotional friends who will tell you to get your hands out of your pants when it’s appropriate and make a shitty movie with them for no money. Then make a second not so shitty movie with em for a bit more money. Then the writers who ARE out there will somehow (creepily) ooze their way into the gig.

Most writers know that if a film fails they will cop every inch of the blame (despite the vast amount of collaboration that goes into the making) and if successful the director will get all the credit. Sometimes correct – sometimes not. Why on earth you would want to write for the Aussie film market is beyond me when we damn every film that gets produced.

In terms of changing perceptions I think that film and industry critics have a lot to answer for. Telling us to not go see a poor $50m USA film doesn’t bother the USA studios (Australia? Where?) but has an ENORMOUS impact on a lowly $1million Aussie film.

Maybe people like Sally Morell and the various film reviewers don’t think they are in any part responsible, they’re not part of the idustry right? In fact they are a LARGE part of the problem and I think that threads like this point that out blatantly.

As to making the feel-good films – we do that – but they seem to cop it worse than the deeply depressing ones. As Animal Kingdom (a very credible film) has just been awarded just about every trophy by the Australian Film Critics Association, if I was a writer I’d be setting out to write the next deeply depressing hit – looking forward to 10 more years of these sorts of Aussie films – not! I think I’ll just go a gouge my eyes out right now.

And if you want more proof – check out Leigh Paatch’s (Herald Sun) reviews of all three Aussie films opening just this week alone. These have been syndicated all around the country today. Not a drug addict in sight in any of these and all damned. Perception = don’t go see the Aussie films.

Yep we killed the “where bloody hell are you” campaign, rightly so. But where is our Oprah? This industry – and the public – deserves what it gets.

Greg and Giseppi…that’s exactly it…couldn’t agree more. But we also need to look at whats going on in Australian culture and how this lack of empathy for the Australian film brand is being driven by a dysfunctional TV industry (a dumping ground for American slop television to some degree) combined with twenty something years or arrogant film education…yes VCA and AFTRS I mean you…the kind of education that fostered a total and utter lack of respect for the screenwriting craft, something that AFTRS acknowledged and is now “trying” to fix this craft oversight. We need to rid ourselves of this smug belief that TV is this country is somehow a great training ground for talent…it might be for acting (very dubious on this) and other areas…but it most definitely isn’t for screenwriting. Until we fix this entrenched problem in the narrative factory, we will continue to churn out films that don’t connect and rely on the ten year cycle of raw talent leaping out from the cultural void.

Here’s some radical suggestions.

1. We pass legislation that Oz cinemas, tv stations and paytv channels be required to air a % of Aussie films, as was done for TV when it was on life support. Put high risk $$$ in front of those executives and I bet there would be a MONUMENTALLY sudden change in “perception” as Rupert and Jamie own most of them. Never again would syndicated critics be allowed to burn an Aussie film. Not to mention we’d see a sudden rush of money into the industry, thus creating more jobs for actors and crew, opportunities and funding for writers, directors & producers and maybe some incentive for our talent to stay in this country – let alone better talent (TV and film) arising from more competition. Now wouldn’t that be something!

At the moment there is some commercially vested interest in the death of both our film and TV industries with America pretty much dumping their old content (I absolutley agree with Dollly), bottom picking our talent and laughing at us… on a leisurely stroll to the bank.

2. Stop spending buckets on the futile aim of stopping piracy (possibly the only avenue of distribution for Aussie films) and put ALL of our so called “dud” content on the net for download and let the actual public decide if it’s crap or not.

3. Applaud the funding bodies for actually keeping the industry alive instead of the old chestnut of blaming them for what we “perceive” (Pavlov’s Dog) to be a crap slate. Maybe they would be more interested in consulting with the industry if they know they’re not going to be beaten with big stick.

4. Cancel all press screenings and make it mandatory for film critics to actually go to see an Aussie film (and pay $13 bucks like the rest of us). AND prevent them from using everyone else’s reviews as the basis for their own – I know many film critics trawl google to meet their deadlines before they race out to the latest champagne and canape industry sponsored event. As long as they’re saying what everyone else is saying, who knows the difference?

5. Get the various film schools to hire real people with real experience and work with the industry to develop talent instead of being an enclave for mediocrity. The film industry has been saying for years “we need better content and development”. Have you been listening? Are you living in a cave?

6. Push these sorts of discussions to higher levels and give them some prominence on the various industry forums. (That almost sounds like a dare…)

Stop the rot and BRING IT ON I say.

Okay…there’s a few problems with this Gispeppi and sorry to say I don’t agree with a lot of it

The problem isn’t so much the bashing of Aussie films by the press, that said there has been some good films that have been unfairly tarnished with the dark bleak brush and the whole industry has been given a flogging, some of it justified and some of it very unjustified, mainly this unjustified criticism comes from lazy journalism that seems horrified that Australian Film doesn’t resemble something that looks like the cast of the “Sunrise” morning show..an enormous amount of pot stirring journalism is simply lazy and trying to meet a deadline, so when they finish chewing on a doughnut and picking their nose they scan across something they did or didn’t do on the weekend and take a spray at something they find mildly annoying. I mean Leigh Paatsch..who’d friggin listen to a word he said or wrote about anything..especially film?

I simply believe that if the powers that be at the funding bodies actually understood what it takes to write great scripts and developed a range of ambitious scriptwriting programs to help writers write…and the WHOLE INDUSTRY got rid of the childish view that writers are lesser filmmakers and somehow tolerated eccentrics to be feared and humored until they hand over 120 pages of outline to be chopped and molded by real talent (ie: The Director and The Producer)…yes this practice happens and is basically encouraged at all our film schools…thats if they even teach screenwriting and a major one doesn’t…we might make some progress.

Screenwriting isn’t an art, it is an invitation to collaborate to create a piece of art, but the collaboration seems to have become perverted along the way and we simply don’t place much trust in writers because we don’t think that we have many good ones hanging around, and twenty good years of neglect by funding agencies, film schools etc has done real and lasting damage to this important craft, combined with the rise of the Writer/Director…so we don’t really invest in development because we see it as a bottomless pit that just is..”paying writers to sit in rooms and write”..to quote Ruth Harley CEO of Screen Australia..even this comment has a derogatory hint about it..sneering at those weirdo’s who sit in rooms on their own and create.

http://vimeo.com/7318151

I mean we hold up Stuart Beattie as a success story, but even he saw the writing on the wall (skewse the pun), you can’t make a go of it here as a writer, so he pissed off. So if you can’t make a go of it here, and most writers quit the impossible marathon of trying to write features and get them up…which is impossible…what are we doing as an industry? Holding onto a handful of writers and hoping that they have this infinite pool of genius that will just spit out screenplay after screenplay? What a sad delusional joke on us all..what hope has say a young writer who might have written something brilliant, of getting past the phalanx of indifference that meets all writers when they are starting out…and trying to get his/her screenplay onto the already full slate of the handful of Producers that can get anything done?

That is a heroes journey in itself…and an impossible one at that. the generation who built this industry has also killed it. Radical ideas will breed radical change and it won’t start by trying to “map your summer” on Youtube.

Could not agree with you MORE on all points Dolly. The vimeo link is a stunning indictment of no matter how much we talk about how bad things are, that we still can’t move forward. I think most of the panelists phoned it in and the more public ones have made no changes at all since that video was made, mostly speaking their own BS. (except maybe Rachel Ward and Troy Lum).

Amazing to think that the “head” of the industry Ruth Hurley (could not find her on imdb so predicatbly no experience) thinks it’s okay for writers to work at McDonalds but not to eat McDonalds!

The film industry is subject to the same basic economic principle as any other – demand and supply. If we can’t do anything on the supply side then we need to address the demand side and I’m afraid that has to start at the top, ie Screen Australia. And their answer is Map Your Summer? OMG….

I think Troy Lum was the only person who spoke any sense on that panel and seemed to have his finger on the pulse…when he did speak it was specific and to the point, he also said its the lack of quality screenplays..Tony Ginnane seemed like an air traffic controller on crack…very unsure of how to apply a remedy to what is so bleeding obvious…write better films…make better films..ain’t that hard to see it…very hard but not impossible to put into practice. Radical solutions breeds radical ideas

Interesting debate going on at SMH this morning on an uncredited article. Note that SMH are vetting the comments too.

http://www.smh.com.au/entertai.....6#comments

Are they just gathering data for a bigger and much worse story on the Australian film industry?

What a mess we’re in…just when we thought things might be turning around along comes A Heartbeat Away. The mind boggles…$7 million????

We start off with this….

http://www.encoremagazine.com......-date-4497

“Hoyts Distribution has announced that A Heartbeat Away will have a wide release on March 3, 2011.

“Hoyts Distribution and we filmmakers see A Heartbeat Away as a multiplex film, ” producer Chris Fitchett told Encore in February.

A Heartbeat Away is theatre director Gale Edwards’ first film. It was shot in Brisbane and financed by Screen Australia, Screen Queensland, Cutting Edge and UK’s Quickfire Films.

Chris Fitchett produces, alongside executive producers Chris Brown (Pictures in Paradise), John Lee (Cutting Edge), Gary Hamilton and James Atherton (Arclight Films).

The story is about an aspiring rock guitarist who is forced to take over the musical direction of his father’s marching band just weeks before a major competition. The cast includes Isabel Lucas, Sebastian Gregory, Williams Zappa, Tammy Macintosh and Colin Friels.

And we end up with this….
http://www.smh.com.au/entertai.....1c0ad.html
Oh no. The very last thing the Australian film industry’s fragile recovery needs right now is another unspeakably bad film – but here it is. A garage band teenager in a small coastal town takes charge of the local brass band as the community fights evil developers. Directed with incalculable ineptitude by first-timer Gale Edwards from a screenplay by fellow first-timer Julie Kincade, A Heartbeat Away is precisely the kind of unfocused, atonal narrative mess we were supposed to have consigned to our cinema’s past. This film will do nobody any good and should not have been released.

Really..
If this doesn’t trigger some kind of Senate inquiry into what the friggin hell is going on in the reading rooms at Screen Australia..or why a first time film director is given $7million to cut her teeth on…I don’t know what will enforce change, transparency, accountability. I mean you can’t blame SA for everything, or the media, if a film is a turkey, it’s a turkey, maybe it’ll work overseas.. but the script sounds like its a movie of the week deal for TV not a cinematic release. $7 million could have fed a lot of writers writing innovative work, could have kick started the careers of a lot of other filmmakers trying to make features, shorts, web series, documentaries etc etc..
Its really is outrageous that this film was given this kind of budget…did we learn nothing form the Tender Hook?
We need to think harder and we need radical ideas, radical writing programs, radical ways for Producers to discover writers with solid scripts and ideas, not the other way around. Writer writes something and begs Producer to read it. Social Media can play a huge role in this. We can’t keep wheeling out the same old tired ideas, which really at the heart of it.. is just cynical film making wrapped in the blind narrative of optimistic feel good bollocks (Brassed Off worked!! Bran Nui Dae worked!! lets make something like that…I mean come on..we can be better than that). The audience is willing to take a chance, and as filmmakers so should we..enough is enough..the audience and the film making community of this country deserve better. RESPECT and SUPPORT is all we’re asking for…can’t blame the media on this one.
I don’t want to see a generation of talent drift by undiscovered…do you?

Giseppi, that article was written by Jim Schembri
http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/blog/cinetopia

$7 million…wow..can’t blame the media coverage on this one..who makes these decisions? There has to be a paper trail leading to somebody who pressed the greenlight. Whats the target market for making this tosh? $7 million, that could have fed a lot of screenwriters to stay behind keyboards and write. Whats the rationale behind this cynical film making..and it is cynical if you look at it closely enough..
$7 million…and a review that simply says this film should never have been made…don’t blame the reviewer, blame the Producers for swindling us out of funds that could have been spent writing 100+ screenplays…everybody will run away from this and shrug their shoulders..”Sorry we got it wrong”

As everyone seems to be feeling pretty negative about the Australian film industry at the moment, go check out “100 Best Australian movies according to Youtube”. It does the heart good…although somebody needs to update it…..
I don’t think there is a cure-all answer as to why Australian films are not as sophisticated or as successful as American films but I don’t think you can blame the writers or the producers or the directors or the screen bodies.
Film making is a collaborative artistic pursuit in Australia. It’s not a studio driven model. We don’t have the money that the studios have to throw at script development, production or marketing. If we did we could make lots of “Australia’s” and everyone would be happy.
Screen Australia has researched the question over the years of how to help the industry to do better because it has its heart in wanting to make good films – we all do – but there are no easy answers because if there were the industry would have found them by now.
We’ve tried making low budgets, that didn’t work, we’ve tried making genre and to be honest I think that’s starting to work, and we’ve tried art films, and sometimes that works. Overall I think we are moving in the right direction.

“There is a certain ugliness out there in some of the internet comments, as the industry critics have another self-hating Australian moment. People whose idea of personal risk is to write anonymous insults on the web rush to peck at the eyes of the fallen hero in the arena.”

The March Weekend from Hell: some sad reflections, and a large lump of weird humour
by: David Tiley

Screen Hub
Thursday 24 March, 2011

And I feel there is an even greater ugliness in an Ex Ceo of the Australian Film Commission being given $7 Million, with no real track record of success in actually producing successful films with a first time Director..ugly nepotism at its worst.

Doug,
Are you saying people who work at Screen Australia are not entitled to be funded?
We want film producers not bureaucrats to work in the film bodies so they can make more informed decisions so how do you make that work? Do you tell producers that if they work in the screen bodies they won’t be allowed to develop and make any more films?
it’s not nepotism. It’s funding people who have made films and who have done the work …people who have spent years developing scripts, and people who get out there, and who take enormous personal financial risks to keep producing Australian films.
And the bottom line is that nobody knows whether a film is going to be good until it is made….ask any distributor……… Our track record in making successful independent films is on par with the rest of the world so I don’t think you can’t judge the whole industry by one film that you don’t like.

Anon, firstly use your actual name!! Secondly, what a bleak and utter rubbish response you give.

YOU SAY:

“Screen Australia has researched the question over the years of how to help the industry to do better because it has its heart in wanting to make good films – we all do – but there are no easy answers because if there were the industry would have found them by now.”

Its almost like you work there Anon??? Screen Australia has never asked FILMMAKERS on how to help the Film Industry. They choose who they want to listen to. That is not what I would call sensible, do you?

You say that Screen Australia has their heart in it for making good films? Are you on crack. Firstly, Screen Australia don’t have a heart, they have shovels. Why, because when they choose to keep out of actual FILM BUSINESS they grab their appointed shovels and start burring the truth, facts and issues of the day.

What film industry have you committed your life and finances too Anon? Can’t possibly be OUR industry?

The Aussie industry is laughed at in the U.S. All our actors and filmmakers that are making it in the ROW are making it not from Australia but once they move overseas. You should try talking to a distributor O.S about placing an Aussie film in their catalog. It’s like asking them to swap spit in the shower. They quickly pretend that you didn’t just ask them to support an Aussie film.

The reality is that our funding bodies could actually make the Aussie film industry the best in the World but instead have chosen to degrade it, stand on its head, share it with their hired goblins and then shit it out for others to take the scraps. The industry isn’t worth saving with these people in charge. Hand it over to the people that work day and night for the betterment of Australian film.

Australia has a very nice supply of great writers, great directors, great producers and great crews. At the end of the day the great writers, directors and producers can only take work if they kill themselves to make it themselves. Actors and crew rock up on set and do the job. Writers, directors and producers slave for YEARS only to find out that they have no chance to get something funded because the people who are meant to do their job are all part of a vicious system that choose not to be transparent.

Democracy is dead when it comes to Australian film. Just ask the filmmakers!!!

hey, I saw 2 great Aussie films this year.

Cedar Boys and Animal Kingdom.

I am not in the ‘film industry’ but thought these were great stories, good films.

They looked like they both had big budgets?

Anon…

“We want film producers not bureaucrats to work in the film bodies so they can make more informed decisions so how do you make that work?”

I’m not saying Producers shouldn’t work for funding bodies, make a few contacts and get their films up…no way, who am I to say that a system built around that approach isn’t filled with Neoptism and conflicts of interest…bureaucrats are well known for working in departments like..say..Defense..and then they go and work in the private sector and score government contracts..and yes that’s right they have government inquiries into this kind of ‘informed decision making”..why? Well it isn’t fair for one and loses faith in the private sector in terms of the ability for fair competition to flourish etc..so the shit hits the fan. This is called “networking” in our industry…the kind that leads you down the path to “Informed Decision Making” (am I the only person who see’s the humor in this?)

And while we are on the topic of “Faith”, for this industry to thrive we need faith in our appointed funding bodies to make the kind of “Informed Decisions” you’re talking about..now when those informed decisions are so shockingly bad..and to the tune of $7Million big ones..I have heard $8Million but hey whats a lazy Million amongst friends..anyway this faith informed decision making..well it has to be sustainable…so when the ex-CEO of the AFC makes the kind of film that people are calling a “failed rip-off” and should “Never have been made”..where does that renewed wellspring of faith come from?..it doesn’t.. its been evaporated…because the people making those “Informed Decisions” are shown to have utterly no clue..whatsoever. And if they were working for a studio they’d be strolling through the carpark holding a box with a framed photo of their cat inside while a security guard escorts them off the lot.

“And the bottom line is that nobody knows whether a film is going to be good until it is made….ask any distributor…”

Funny enough I did ask a distributor about this the other day and the answer was
“If they came to me with that.. my answer would have been..no way thank you”

To suggest you can’t somehow pick a turkey from the pack is a ridiculous, you can limit the expose to failure by producing something that’s innovative not derivative…something that tries to break new ground and in doing so you might discover a bunch of filmmakers that could make $7million split across a variety of productions..the kind of filmmakers that are out there..yeah their the one’s who have lost total and utter faith in a system that looks after those in the know making “Informed Decisions”. Don’t you smell that level of disconnect, its nearly at the gates?

“It’s funding people who have made films and who have done the work …people who have spent years developing scripts, and people who get out there”

Irrespective of the fact that they could make a string of substandard work…as long as they are getting out there..okay..I get it. This answers the question that many people would like an answer to “How can you string average films together and still get funding?”…get some experience at a funding agency…learn the secret handshake and keep coming back to the trough. Okay thanks for that.. myth busted.

We all want to create and make a sustainable industry, but if you’re going to keep handing out large sums of money to people who have cynical derivative filmmaking at their core…then I’m sorry but you are going to continue to produce flop after flop…you need a radical overhaul of your screenwriting program, until that happens. The narrative drought and level of disconnect from the film industry will continue to worsen…And another thing…we all know how collaborative filmmaking is..we make them, we beg borrow and struggle to make them. You fund them…so stop with the “collaborative lecture” and get behind a camera and away from that desk and understand how tough it is trying scale the Australian funding cliffs of nepotism and “informed decision” making.

I’m with Doug, the level of disconnect between what the funding bodies see as “informed decision making” and what the industry perceives to be the same is astonishing. Anon how can you write this?

“It’s funding people who have made films and who have done the work …people who have spent years developing scripts, and people who get out there, and who take enormous personal financial risks to keep producing Australian films.
And the bottom line is that nobody knows whether a film is going to be good until it is made….ask any distributor…”

And actually expect anybody working in this industry not to astonished by that comment. You obviously work at a funding body..and to say nobody knows whether a film is going to be good until it is made…ask any distributor…well I’m sure I could ask the guys at Madman what they thought of the chances of A Hearbeat Away being a success with an intended target market of 12-70 and they would have simply have laughed at you…we aren’t talking one film here we are talking a repetition of bad informed decisions , nepotism, and a level of disconnect devoid of transparency and accountability. I think the industry has had a total and utter gut full of this arrogance and its time something radical was done to improve an industry in deep crisis. We can make good films year in and year out…but if the funding bodies aren’t prepared to begin radical reform and dispense with this notion of informed decision making…then we are simply going to watch to talent move overseas or give up. Whats the answer Ruth Harley? Engage with the community, explain how we got it so wrong with A Heartbeat Away be accountable and transparent and claw back some respect.

Sorry to disappoint you but no, I don’t work at a funding body. I am simply someone who has worked in the industry a long time.

Correct me if I’m wrong but I think that a script doesn’t get funded unless a distributor puts up a distribution guarantee which as you know is a vote of confidence to Screen Australia that there is an audience for an intended film.

Does it follow do you think that perhaps nobody knows all of the time?

A script doesn’t get funded unless a distributor puts up a distribution guarantee which as you know is a vote of confidence to Screen Australia that there is an audience for an intended film…

This is correct, but if this is the system we have been using for some time and its not working, is there another approach? How much is the distributor putting up, what’s their risk against the taxpayer? A distribution guarantee is just that, an agreement to distribute, if the film bombs, pull it form the screens and fill it will the infinite supply of American content. Who takes the majority of the risk? We do…its our money down the toilet.

Does it follow do you think that audience tastes in cinema are changing rapidly and that wheeling out films that are so derided is a massive wake up call for an industry crying out for radical change while being met with a usual wall of mute silence. This is a moment to seriously reflect on change, point out the flaws and improvise change..not shrug our shoulders and say “Who Knew we bombed, oh well, you can’t know everything?” Well the truth is we can know a lot and do.. the culture of appraisal and development needs changing. Its funny, no matter how much people who really care about this industry and want to inject change speak up, they are met with this wall of labels: negative, cynical, haters, cowards..etc etc…its the twisted presumption that by speaking up and saying “This is the wrong way, we need change” that you are somehow not part of the tribe, you’re not going along with the insanity of a flawed system..that you’re a negative hater..I feel that if more people in development said “This just isn’t working, we need to listen to the people and change and roll out more radical programs that sow seeds at the grassroots all the way to the top”…how is that negative? It beats repeating the same flawed system over and over again which really is the sign of insanity…the courage to change is whats needed…now more than ever.

You are right Doug. It makes good sense to reassess. And I agree the key does lie in more innovative script development processes. Is there some way we could develop scripts similar to the way the studios work. I’ve heard for example that a writer can be brought in to write one line in a script…because that’s what they are good at….one liners…such as “I’ll be Back”….
I recall reading that the writer of “Gorillas in the Mist” said she wanted the following on her gravestone: “Finally a plot”.
She didn’t have any issues about saying she had problems with script plotting. So I keep wondering why we all assume that all scriptwriters are good at everything in writing…..and maybe combined strengths of more than one writer might yield something new and different……eg. “The Castle”.
Would it be a good idea for all scripts to be sent out to well established directors for assessment in terms of the craft….can the director visualize the script? Is it working on that level and will it work on screen?
Not sure whether this kind of thing has already been tried as a method of developing scripts….?

Anon-..finally a Plot! Look we all want the same thing, a sustainable industry producing films that are diverse and entertaining, not all will succeed, but we can narrow the gap. Currently, if you’re looking to forge a career as screenwriter, the first step is to set up a good relationship with Centrelink, now this isn’t the answer. We need to look to private industry and the public purse and set up programs that can keep writers writing. The kind of writing that is tiered to a budget, innovative narratives that utilize the full spectrum of the talent pool we have here in Production and especially Post Production. The current system is a wall of criteria that most people just can’t access and there isn’t enough producers in this country who can actually develop anything. As outlined continuously on this blog, nepotism is alive and well in our funding agencies and is doing serious and lasting damage to our industry, shame on all of you who knowingly engage in it, you have eroded faith in this great creative industry to record levels. Its the kind of nepotism that is somehow dodging the serious questions that need to be answered…those questions aren’t being met with robust debate and films are going into production half cooked and not engaging with audiences. And now brand OZ Film is seen as a basket case by the very public who fund it. Its a crisis situation and we need to reverse it, by saying its not, is just madness. Yes Ruth Harley this is happening on your watch and you need to get courageous. Only a series of quality films spread across half a decade at least could reverse this.
The writing talent pool is too small. So we need to think radically to increase this, whats the answer? There must be many, we need to attract those people who can help begin these innovative programs and attract the private sponsors. Anything is better than the growing divide between funding bodies and industry professionals.

@ Doug.

Respected Industry source once confided – “its the stories stupid”.
Private industry comment interesting? Always maintained only model that will deliver a viable & competitive industry (jobs) is the free market private enterprise one. In 2010 local producers took 4.5% of our (their) own $2.6 billion market? Often wondered how this was possible – how could so many self proclaimed creatives get it so wrong so often? Then I met some – & from what I can accertain apart from being innately arrogant & stupid concerning commercial film – their merely following official current “politically correct” mantra which is “tell our stories – myths – don’t rock the creative status quo boat”. Incidentals such as entertainment – profit etc just don’t enter into it. As for Dr. Ruth Harley’s watch – personal experience is she & that idiot IT chairman who’s incapable of sending an email don’t give jack shit about people such as us – even less about change – formers getting the big reddies – latter publicity & prestige.
Several months back asked former – ” in your capacity as a free enterprise practitioner do you consider 4.5% market share acceptable? Still waithing for reply? There must be change because what their currently doing simply isn’t working (no jobs) – hasn’t for a long time. Then again – not holding breath – but still writing stories.

Lately the AFIs are always embarassing, regardless of the films awarded. Too much like the damn logies!

Yesterday I was writing about exactly that topic. Personally I don’t think our films are ‘duds’ but most of them have not been genre material.
Aside from Animal Kingdom, there is growing evidence that the Australian film industry can evolved for the best but it will depend on the type of film we make and the attitude we have. You can find my article here:
http://teranga-and-sun.blogspo.....uture.html

The problem is as plain as the nose on anyone’s face. We talk about “The Industry” we review “Aussie films” we play the same old game we have played for 50 years.

We try to give the impression that we don’t blow our own trumpets in Australia, yet we froth at the mouth and shout aussie aussie assie oy oy oy every time we manage to get some images to celluloid and into the hands of a distributor.

We report every non negative word that the Americans or any other “world class” country has to say, we give out our own awards for excellence and cluck like broody hens about the latest Aussie blockbuster, we idolise mediocre stars and sound off about our top actors and directors abroad, which is where they are and where they stay, to make films for others.

Stop talking waffle and sweet crap and START MAKING FILMS. You do not need a multi million dollar budget to make films, you do not need a blockbuster or an award winner to make films, just start giving due reverence to script and story and plot and actors and directors and cinematographers. I have talked to drama directors in this great nation of ours, who have never set a foot inside a theatre or read Shakespeare or even seen or heard a Shakespeare play in their lives.

I have spoken to script writers who have never read the classics, who have no idea who Victorien Sardue was or what he might have done for a living, one guy , who had the gall to tell me that Lee J Cobb was the biggest Ham actor who ever lived, didn’t know who Paddy Chayefsky was. Its time we grew up, stopped calling for hand outs to make winners and blockbusters, stopped financing careers that fly offshore and still call Australia by phone and stop bullshitting ourselves and the populous about the brilliance of Aussie films.

Organise and communicate and consolidate and share and learn and above all, start making good cheap films. It all starts with one meeting and a group of like minded talented people, make films, let the blockbusters and the awards come as they will and when they are due. If a film is good, say so, if it’s lousy say so. it is more important to weed out the stinkers than it is to inflate the nearly jobs to a hot air high.

Concentrate the talent, concentrate the funding and start making films.

Isaac

To whom are your suggestions here being addressed? To your fellow filmmakers? To film bureaucrats? More importantly, what impact do you think that this little lecture will have on either filmmakers or bureaucrats? Don’t get me wrong, I happen to agree with most of what you write. I just don’t understand what you hope to achieve by writing anonymously. Indeed I don’t understand what anyone who writes anonymously here @ Encore hopes to achieve other than to let off steam and preach to the converted. Unless talk leads to action, no matter how fine the talk, how noble the sentiments, how good the ideas expressed, it is all just so much hot air. The blogosphere is awash with strongly held opinions and beliefs, articulately expressed, but in the real world it is only when a group of people get together and formulate a plan of action and are prepared to fight out in the open for what they believe that meaningful change is possible. (Regime change didn’t occur in Egypt and Tunisia until the people took to the streets.)

At present what we have, in our industry, insofar as these Encore debates are representative of its sentiments, are numerous lone wolf howling in the wilderness – Dean, Doug, Dolly, yourself and many others who remain anonymous out of fear, presumably (?) of bureaucratic retribution. Is this fear justified or is it paranoia? Yes, nepotism is rife within our industry but does it necessarily follow that good ideas for screenplays do not get funding because their writers are critics of the powers-that-be? I think not? Do good film projects die within funding bodies when they apply for production investment because the producer, director or screenwriter has said unkind things about film bureaucrats online? I think not.

Yes, bad films such as ‘A Heartbeat Away’ raise serious questions about the judgement of all involved in greenlighting such projects but I doubt very much that the powers-that-be would say no to a clearly very good project simply because a key person involved in it had made critical observations about them @ Encore under their own names.

Okay, lets just presume that I am suggesting here about bureaucratic retribution is wrong, naïve; that it does occur. What impact do all these anonymous comments have in changing the status quo? None that I can see. If I were a senior film bureaucrat intent on instilling fear of retribution in the film community and quelling any rebellion that might occur I would read these angry Encore comments and say to myself, “Thank God they all let off their steam individually and don’t get together and form a powerful lobby group that it would be much harder for us to ignore.” But hang on, isn’t this what the Australian Director’s Guild and the Screenwriter’s Guild are supposed to do? Lobby on behalf of their members? Where do either of these bodies stand on the questions raised online here @Encore? I have no idea. Can someone enlighten me? Why weren’t representatives of either body present at the Industry Briefing last week?

If the ADG and the AWG believe that everything is just fine with the industry as it is and that no radical change is necessary perhaps it is time for there to be a new group of filmmakers (producers, directors screenwriter and others) which, once it has reached a critical mass, cannot be ignored by the powers-that-be in the way that all the lone wolves out there in the Encore blogosphere can be? Yes, the interests of producers, directors and screenwriters and others are often quite different but in those areas where our interests overlap we need, I believe, to work together to present the powers-that-be with viable alternatives to a status quo that may well serve their needs well but do not serve those of ether the industry or culture of Australian film – suggestions such as those made by you, Isaac,by Dean, Doug, Dolly and others.

jamesricketson@gmail.com

That’s all very well and good James but you don’t factor in what is being done away from this blog and in the industry. I think I’m one of many who chooses to remain anonymous for a myriad of reasons. The recent NSW industry briefing has shown that the powers that be, have nothing but contempt for these kinds of blogs or open debates, thought venting etc..that’s fine it doesn’t surprise me actually, change is coming irrespective of whether the industry wants to adapt to it or not. The old solidified way of producing and making content is slowly being replaced, you can’t fight the natural evolution of ideas and how to execute and produce these ideas. I firmly believe that we are moving into a new generation of storytelling based around the quality of the idea and the creative team behind it. The old fossils that have made a nice career out of the old system are just staring at the headlights as rapid progress and technology make the current system a more level playing field. People of real creative talent will rise and social media will play a large part in how productions are crewed and developed..it already does and will grow at an even more rapid rate. Keep writing, keep making films and above all foster a healthy level of self criticism, if you don’t get funding that’s just one door closed that will eventually lead to a new path. Now more than ever you need passion and you need to build creative relationships. If I was a smart Producer, I’d be trying to make as many strong creative relationships as a I could with the next generation of unknown and very talented creatives. If I was a funding body I’d be building effective social media platforms and sponsoring more functions and avenues for industry networking that actually produce results and increasing the range of funding like ambitious programs like the All Media fund, which says to me that funding bodies are listening and they are “slowly preparing” for what is coming down the pipe. Creativity and the ability for an idea to succeed, favours the connected mind.

When the CEO of SA says Sleeping Beauty was a great film and that being accepted into Canne is success enough, and when an ex CEO of the AFC makes A Heartbeat Away..I mean that’s our industry right there in a nut shut shell. They could care less about public opinion and even less about whether or not Australian connect with their cinema brand…here’s a man who had had enough and this is what he went and did about it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iAVyZv3gMA.
I was talking to this Producer the other day and I realized he’d built quiet a successful career on making crap..some of the best crap this country has produced. You can make some real crap in this industry and have a very successful career. That’s what I thought as I watched him drive away in his brand new BMW.

Dolly, regardless of what you and others are doing behind the scenes, nothing is changing – at least not at a rate that I can discern or that is resulting in nearly enough exciting screenplays being written or films made.

My guess is that you and I are roughly of the same generation, so can remember a time when it was possible for filmmakers with widely divergent views and ideas to stand up in public and make their thoughts known without fear of much more than ruffling a few feathers in the short term. We were all part of the same industry.There3 was no us-versus-them.

My concern (one of my concerns) is that we now have a situation in which anonymous commentators attack and heap abuse of film bureaucrats in such a way as to make them, understandably, wary and perhaps a little paranoid. “Is this person smiling at me one of those Encore bloggers who has been abusing me anonymously this past couple of years?”

Anonymity feed into the us-versus-them dynamic in a way that is, I think,counter-productive. And, it could be argued, those who demand transparency and accountability in film bureaucrats and film bureaucracies should also be transparent and accountable for the opinions they express in a public place – here @ Encore.

No I’m a bit younger than you James, but I see what you’re saying. I’ve never thought film bureaucrats get it all wrong and I’ve always thought that most try to do the best job they can and I do see change on the horizon. I think we are living in strange conservative times wrapped in the cloak of rapid change. There’s something happening to us on a cultural level, I’m not 100% sure what it is, but it is worrying and intriguing. I am old enough to have seen some of the devastation shocking acts of nepotism has and still continues to do to this industry over the years. I’ve also seen the reverse, I’d like to see more of it. I think over the last few years I have noticed a bit of a shift happening on a global level and have actually slowly given up worrying about our cottage industry so much..we are slow on the uptake and recalcitrant by nature..we don’t see the inherent talent in our backyard and that is to our detriment. Generational cynicism is still putting up a struggle but I feel that we are nearing the tipping point and I do see signs that funding bodies want to embrace this shift, but they need to be quicker and they need to be more courageous, the old ways of appraisal still linger and we need to think harder about what we are going to do with our money and why? Ruth Harley says we are in the culture business…I agree so lets get more ambitious about the diversity and expression of this strange culture of ours. Put a $1-2million on the table and give it out to 10-20 filmmakers with challenging feature scripts that provoke the audience and make them think(remember what that felt like?)..if the screenplays submitted aren’t challenging enough and the voice isn’t unique enough the funds are withheld, the challenge should be to make a film that is accepted into a major festival..maybe even get some distribution. Where are the funding programs like this? And why aren’t they being rolled out?

James Ricketson, thank you very much for your kind and intelligent reply.
I was particularly happy to note that you agree with , at least, some of my views and I take your point very well about speaking out from an anonymous platform; hiding behind a screen and slinging rough objects is more related to my frustration with an art form that has been abused and neglected by Australians, who choose to point the finger at those who threatened our industry in its infancy when we had one to threaten. I spent some time in Italy in the late 70s and I spoke to film makers who told me that their industry had been squashed by the US and those who claimed that it had been hijacked by the French. Some admitted that the smaller film makers had sold out to US and other interests by making westerns and soft porn.

Our industry has never grown beyond its infancy, because there are too many greedy players and too many protectionist players and too little reverence given to the art form, just look what happened with the Tax incentive, all manner of dross made by art baggers and greedy of shore money stackers.
We must also learn how to script edit, just about every script that makes it to the screen is over written, we must learn to get rid of the irrelevant, the old adage about drama being life with the boring bits cut out, is true.

the “Carry On” films are awful in just about every way imaginable, every way but box office and longevity that is; there are people who enjoy them and there have been such people (audiences) for many many years. They are part of the British film industry, just as Norman Wisdom and Charlie Drake movies were a part, they didn’t stop Jack Clayton, Carol Reed, David Lean, Richard Attenburough, Geoffrey Unsworth, Olivier, Coward and etc from forging ahead.

We must become less precious and start making films, we must forget about the industry and the wine and roses and start making films. Independent films, little stories shot on video, small budget (forget the catering and hotel bills) films, co -operative films, direct sale DVD films, mini movies for mobile phones, whatever can pass the artistic muster and satisfy an audience, must be made, made with love and devotion and a pride in the art form, the Industry will grow to adulthood before we know it. I started working in this art form aged 18 years, I am now 61years, I have heard talk and heated words and grim determination, I have seen governments “knee jerk” a plan to help the industry which the television channels quickly circumvented and destroyed Australian drama content, I have seen tax schemes similarly abused, I have listened to battlers and would be tycoons, I have attended secret meetings in back rooms with “like minded” industry heavyweights, who swore allegiance to a cause and later bailed when their ship came in. Forget ME and start making films my friends, form an Australian version of Republic Pictures and do what John Wayne did……what? Oh, he made cheap films that people wanted to watch….not a bad idea eh?

I’ve made a few films in the last couple of years. No one’s seen them, much, but I made them. I think I’m right in saying it is the distribution people who need to get some imagination and open their doors to us. Making a low budget digital film is not a problem, getting it to an audience is the trick.

The new future of digital distribution http://www.filmmakermagazine.c.....on-sondhi/

Adrian Sherlock, You make a good point, but why did you make films if you didn’t expect anyone to watch them?

This is my very point, the distributors , like publishers, have carved out a protectionist little hollow for themselves. Make a trailer DVD and use Youtube or a website or twitter , facebook , you name it and get it talked about, form a group and rent an old cinema, start a regular film festival for independent low budget films, bring the distributors out of their ivory towers and down onto the street, have them make an appointment with you, how does this sound? impossible? then stop making films and get a job in a hardware store.

We are artists, we are film makers, we are blowing glass objects for the public to look at in amaze, to hold in their hands and hold up to the light. What are distributors, when they are not carting the goods of others to market?

Oh, well, the answer to why I make them is hope springs eternal. I had 250,000 hits on YouTube and became a YouTube Partner this year, all from film making, not from the usual YouTuber thing of vlogging and skits and parodies. But in one of life’s great annoying ironies, the YouTube people now refuse to believe I produced my films legitimately and so I have had to remove them all till I can some how prove that I own the rights to the intellectual property. No one is claiming copyright violation, but they seem to want rights and clearances scanned and sent.

I’m currently trying to submit my latest no budget indie film to Sundance, but I seem to be running into problems there, too. This is where people like Film Vic could be of use. Instead of filling out applications for funding, what if we could call them and Film Vic and the others would simply do something helpful, like assisting film makers in getting their submissions organised, setting up meetings between film makers and distributors, etc? There are ways we could be assisted without it costing the government money.

It could be as simple as the Film Vic, Screen Australia and other people who are on a government wage actually assisting, helping and supporting us. I recently asked one of the agencies for some information and got an email back and was stunned to find they thought my name was something else…I didn’t know what to do…I felt too embarrassed to write back and say “Er…thanks but my name is actually Adrian…it was on the email I sent you…”

They said they had funding available for some stuff if I wanted to apply but it was like my accountant talking to me about tax…as soon as they start with applications and forms, my brain goes numb. Just…help me…in a practical way…please! I don’t want your money…just real, useful support. You know? Support. Another example of what I mean is, a few years ago, I contacted one of the government agencies and said I was making stuff and people seemed to like them and I was hoping to release a DVD and I needed help with distribution. I got a response of “there’s a list of distributors on our web site”. I mean, I can look up distributors in the phone book, but that doesn’t mean they’ll actually distribute my stuff. I might need to reshoot on a higher definition guage, I might need to do post at a more pro level, these are things where these film bodies could get involved. But there was zero opening for “involvement”, there was just “take a look at our website” and you’re back on your own. That’s what I cannot stand…the isolated feeling of being on my own…I’d love to say I am good at everything, but honestly, I could do with some help at times with some aspects. Without needing to fill in a form and wait for some panel to vote on it first, please.

Anybody seen films in the Dungog/Australian Film Festival/Undergound Film Fests graveyards?

There’s a very good reason why the vast majority of these films don’t get picked up by distributors…

But good on them for getting their films into those festivals, right Bobby?

To be honest Colin, those festivals are pretty much where bad films go to die..

Bobby, Bad films deserve to die, we need to co-operate with the right people and start making films that people want to watch. The general public does not go to festivals to see films, in the old days they went to the cinema, today they sit at home and flick a switch. Free to air not only has the platform, it drastically needs good drama and comedy to fill it out. Most free to air is now 85% amateur time.

Television drama production has slipped into imitating the film world and trying to be light entertainment, drama and comedy all at once. Ideas come and go with each new series, without commitment to good ideas ever getting a chance.

Maybe these films wouldn’t be so bad if the people who are paid by our tax dollars to support film would actually weigh in and become executive producers and mentors, guiding and assisting, rather than funding a select few and leaving the rest utterly to their own devices. We already have the agencies who are paid to support the film makers, it is merely the approach that is out of touch with the realities and challenges of the situation. Film makers need to be worked with, they need to be supported and their projects need to be nurtured. I think that whole concept is alien to them. I’ve just made a digital microbudget film.

Could I, for example, call up Film Vic on the phone and say “I’ll send you a DVD of it…take a look, tell me what you think…then give me some money to do a few things on it that are outside my current resources so I can make it better, more marketable…maybe get a couple of well known actors to do some small roles so it’s more appealling to a distributor?” Would they say “Yeah, sure, that sounds great, we’d love to see it, I’m sure we can help.”?

I very much doubt that they would Adrian, as I am sure you do. However, if you were a member of a co-operative group of film makers, you might have a better chance of kicking about ideas and of finding private funding. The funding bodies don’t have a clue generally, they all look to what has been successful in the past, or, as y0u have hinted yourself, who is going to star in this.
Remember Shine? there were producers who didn’t want to go ahead with the project because it had some unknown actor (in the film world) playing the lead.
I spoke to an old editor from London years ago, who told me that the producers of Brief Encounter wanted to pull the plug and bury the project because they were embarrassed by the what they considered an absolute failure in the making! Brief Encounter, a masterpiece in more ways than one. So what do these , so called money people know? sometimes a lot, but more often than not, nothing worth a damn. Resting upon the public awareness of a few actors and a few directors has caused more trouble than a little. We need to cast a wider net, we need to embrace a wider range of ideas and personal input.

I will never mention names here, but we have at least a dozen well known actors in Australia who (with the exception of one I can think of) can act and do a magnificent job, but they are often cast beyond their compass, used because they are, rather than for what they can give. We have a clutch of directors who understand the language of film, but have no idea what to do with actors. This is the only place on earth that I know of, where, just before shooting a scene, the director asks for a run, just to see that everyone knows their lines! Oh boy! I can shoot this in 48 seconds because everyone knows their lines. The look and the language of film must be understood and captured, but so must the text and the plot and the magic that comes from the moment.

Puccini, when overseeing rehearsals in New York for his opera Tosca, stood in horror as the baritone manhandled Maria Jeritza (the soprano lead) just a little too manfully and sent her crashing to the stage right at the moment of her show stopping aria Vissi D Arte. rather than break the dramatic moment, Jeritza sang the aria from where she had landed, flat out on the stage.
when she had given the final note, Puccini leapt from his seat in the darkened auditorium and shouted “It is from God!” “Never let it be sung any other way”
Of course it was sung in other ways and continues to be staged in various ways to this day, however, this is drama, this is theatre, this is the opposite tack to checking a line run to be sure everyone will run smoothly through the take.

Be guided and assisted by those around you who know the art, not by money people who have been responsible for some great successes, but have also killed greatness in its infancy and thrown out many babies as they discarded the dirty bath water.

I’m sorry, most Australian films do suck. (Note that i said most, not all)

Same tired old faces, same old filmmakers. Same old self-absorbed storylines *yawn*.

@Dolly I agree – it’s starts with the script and high concept. Maybe writers should be paid a lot more for inspiration (pipe dream)

Yes Rhett, but is it a matter of money? The opportunity to write often and upon diverse themes is better for writers than almost anything. Yes writers should be paid, but we need good seasoned writers worth the pay, not a lot of well paid spin drifters.

My current project is not like anything I’v done before, I began with no script, simply a concept and a list of sequences I wanted to shoot and no ending. I found the ending, I let it come to me organically out of the process. Part of the exploratory and improvisational approach came from something I read about Kubrick, how he would shoot something, watch it and think about how to make it better and then reshoot it later. I wanted to try that. I now feel I’m developing a unique project, very different from most Australian films. So I think it is very possible to get out of the rut, as it were, by adopting some new approaches and some outside the box kind of thinking, I feel I’ve proven that to myself. I’d really like to prove it to others, too!

Adrian, this is fine and sounds very interesting, I would be interested in a discussion upon just this approach. It is certainly a great feeling to be creating something and capturing it as it grows. This changes when you involve actors, because they then become a part of your creative process also, unless you want to be the evil puppet master, who pulls the strings to suit his own will.
Great things? Yes, but all mine, mine mine. The great danger is introspective self indulgence; beware of the horrors of incest and masturbation, after all, we are striving to make the audience feel the benefit of this art also, not just ourselves.

I understand the importance of the Kubrick approach, as you outline it, but this technique can grow into dependence, and is also very close to artistic cheating.

I take your point. But I do work with others, I often call in actors I know from shows I’ve been in or directed in local theatre, people who can contribute ideas and be creative but who are also not so determined to prove something that they want to take over. I do think we should avoid it becoming all about the director, I agree a good director should instead harness the creative contributions of others. But having said that, I also think this means we expect script writers to lay it all out for us when in fact, they are a contributor to a creative process and should be invited to work with the team and add shape and sharpness and form to ideas as they come up. The idea of the script as a prescriptive plan or road map the cast and director slavishly follows leads to the stale, dry, repetitive stuff we get now. A writer should come up with something, sure, but when director and cast add their ideas, he should be on hand to mix them in and help the project grow and improve. We might laugh at Jack Nicholson on the set of The Shining when he said “this is film making…we just make it up as we go along” but what he was talking about was the free and explorative manner in which the film grew as it went, rising above a simple act of craftsmanship to become a much more organic thing which still breathes and lives when you watch it today. This takes the pressure off the writer to come up with the so-called great script from his lonely basement office and makes him simply one of the creative minds who feed ideas into a work of cinematic art. And when we have video cameras we can practice and develop with before we need to start shooting with a crew, then there are no reasons not to do this.

Yes, I agree with you . We must always keep a perspective that includes others rather than shutting them out.
Having said this, there is always a problem with writers and the creative process of film or legitimate theatre. It is often very hard for a writer to let a scene go or a line, even a word sometimes. It is a difficult thing for some writers to lose a line they so well remember sweating over to create. Even the spoken word is sometimes too sudden to quickly over for the long suffering writer. This is why the reader aloud of his/her own poetry, tends to drag and over emote the line, the word; they remember too well, the agony of its creation. A support to my opinion here, is the average audience member who says “Saw the film, loved it, but it wasn’t a patch on the book.”

Each book reader has a cinematographer and an art director working in his/her brain.
They see the scenes they (visually) cast the characters, they set the action according to the map before them. When they go to the cinema this illusion is smashed . The same applies to those long suffering writers, they see every character, every location, every set.

I listened to Ernest Borgnine recently talking about his audition for Marty, it seems that Chayefsky was dubious about his look, he didn’t recognise as we so clearly do, that he was in the presence of the archetypal Marty.

Chayefsky was clever though, so was Pinter. the former bowled so many dramatic hard balls at you in rapid succession within the script, that you didn’t have room for expansion and the later just locked you in a corner and made you totally dependent upon the script to get yourself through the exercise; attempting to cut or rewrite Pinter is worse than breaking into St Paul’s and attempting to rewrite the bible.

I always found it ironic that Stephen King espouses on free exploration of situations in writing rather than being restricted by a pre-planned plotline, yet when it came to his work being adapted to the screen, he was appalled when directors wanted the same freedom, preferring them to slavishly follow his book as the presciption for the film. A wise director stays away from scenes that wont work effectively on screen and some of King’s ideas were not always going to come up well or believable in the visual medium.

Writers often call it “killing babies” when they cut their favourite lines. I’ve been quite ruthless editing other people’s scripts in the past, but I think if you know your stuff, it’s all done for the right reasons. A film of a book or play should be, in my opinion, a separate but equally worthwhile exploration of the same basic ideas and situations, but maybe in a different direction. So the book and film end up as two works, like twins, who lead parallel, but different, lives. Films as “illustrated, animated novels” seems to me to a useless waste of film as a medium. Words are one form of communication, image and sound are another.

Aussie film shold use the availabel science and make commerclaly successful / marketable outside australia films. Then and only then can we have the luxury of making a crop of arthouse crapfests noby wants to see. It’s not that there are no good aussie films at all (Catle is a personal fave) its just that they are relatively in the almost non-existant minority compared with all the rubish nobody wants to watch. Lot to be said for “show them on the ABC” post above. Wish i’d thunk of that myself in fact.

All the comments on this page stopped me writing my latest screenplay! Both negative and positive comments are worthwhile and glad I stopped 2 hours to read the real truth of what’s going on out there and what’s not.
I love the idea of taking over an old cinema and forming a “collaboration” of the skills needed and the team it takes to actually get a script to screen. What a lot we could all learn about “How To” as well as “How Not to” develop scripts. Where is the nearest “old cinema”? I would pay a fee to participate in a venture like this. Maybe we’d get somewhere as well as giving experience to a whole crew of beginners as well as Professionals to volunteer time & skills to give us what we lack: experience . Next best thing I’ve heard of is a “Script Dating Service (timed like a Pitch, I suppose) Val