Opinion
- A night at the unintentionally amusing AACTAs
  
  Encore managing editor Brooke Hemphill attends the inaugural AACTA awards and comes away cringing.
  
  Last night the inaugural Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts awards were held at Sydney’s Opera House as the Australian film and television community gathered to celebrate the achievements of the past 12 months and those who went along for the ride left vaguely amused, with little thanks to the event’s producers. Read more »
  
  Titan View is looking for a Junior Coordinator – Film Distribution
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- Knocking the summer television model of old
  
  This year’s non-ratings period could signal the dawning of a new era. Steve Molk considers the It’s a Knockout model.
  
  Normally the minute the ratings period ends, viewers switch off the television in droves. There’s usually naught on they’ve not already seen, or some extremely poor sitcom from the US. But this year, Ten have been trying a different approach as they revive a retro favourite. Welcome back It’s A Knockout.
  
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  Network Ten is looking for a Senior Broadcast Control Operator
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- Niche versus mass market: big just isn’t better at the cinema
  
  Chris Murray laments the demise of independent cinemas and the rise of generic shopping centre multiplexes with their get ‘em in, bang ‘em out culture.
  
  Punters visit the cinema for an exciting communal experience, not the ease of parking.
  As the multiplex struggles to keep the candy bar traffic flowing, automated cogs pump out digital images and the passionate few who strive to make their independent exhibition houses a cultural beacon (The Ritz, The Astor, Chauvel and so on) face impending doom. It’s an education problem, to be honest. Read more »
  
  Network Ten is looking for a Senior Broadcast Control Operator
  Looking for a job? Got a position to fill? Check out the Job Board.
- Confessions of a two screening tragic
  
  For today’s TV viewer, one screen isn’t enough. Steve Molk tells us why networks need to take notice of two screening.
  
  My name is Steve Molk and I like to live tweet television shows. A lot. I get a kick from connecting with people who watch the same programs I do and together we discuss, joke, and in the blood sport that is ABC1’s Q&A, compete to see our tweets on screen. Read more »
  
  Roadshow Films Pty Ltd is looking for a Publicity Assistant
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- A sexy funding solution for an age-old problem
  
  Chris Murray proposes an ingenious plan to help fund local screen productions with the naughty dollar.
  
  It has recently come to light that the Hungarian government has some innovative ideas for supporting their local film industry. By introducing three different taxes, our European friends plan to channel funds into local productions and ailing art house cinemas.
  
  The first tax would apply to local porn websites; another, a three per cent tax on multiplex tickets, to funnel into art house exhibition; and finally a general 20 per cent tax break on foreign productions.
  
  According to Variety, the latter has so far generated a US$98 million injection into the local economy via the miniseries World Without End, The Borgias and feature film 47 Ronin starring Keanu Reeves. This is on top of income from Brad Pitt’s US$125m budgeted zombie flick World War Z which is currently shooting in the Hungarian capital, Budapest. Read more »
  
  Cockatoo Film is looking for a Cockatoo Film Internship Opportunity - General Film, Marketing/PR, Events, Accounting and Admin
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- No dramas, sadly
  
  If there’s a time that Foxtel’s marketing machine outdoes itself, it’s when it comes to reveal its future year’s programming.
  
  Last night Foxtel made the most of having its hands on the Sydney Opera House for the Australia’s Next Top Model final and announced its plans for 2012 too.
  
  It was a glitzy upfront, attended by media agencies and trade journalists, plus plenty of Foxtel personalities.
  
  But comparing it to last year’s affair, the emphasis appears to have shifted away from local drama. Read more »
  
  EP is looking for a PUBLICITY AND PROMOTIONS MANAGER
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- Want more Swamp People? Then drop the local content quota
  
  The short-sighted idea of dropping TV networks’ local content quota obligations was put back on the agenda today with ad agency CEO Mat Baxter claiming the safety net can now be removed, because we’re all loving local content.
  
  But Australian programs rating well, and the Australian TV industry thriving are completely different.
  
  Despite the high ratings of Packed to the Rafters and The X Factor, what is the likelihood commercial programmers would keep investing in Australian shows? Slim, Read more »
  
  Network Ten is looking for a Digital Content Editor
  Looking for a job? Got a position to fill? Check out the Job Board.
- Fox Studios comes out of hibernation as the bustling screen hub we want to see
  
  A few months back I visited Fox Studios in Sydney to view the filming of a commercial for Earth Hour.
  
  The main thing that struck me (apart from the massively rude security guy on the gate) was how depressingly empty most of the place was.
  
  It was desolate. It had the atmosphere of a business district on a Sunday afternoon rather than the film hub of one of the world’s great cities.
  
  Today though, the feeling is very different. Read more »
  
  Kick Kick Punch Productions/Play It Safe is looking for a Feature Film Editor
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- If scripts could talk
  
  This week the Screen Producers Association of Australia presented its list of seven projects that it will be putting in the shop window at its conference. But the SPAAmart list omitted the names of the script writers. A member of the Australian Writers Guild offers this alternative version of events.
  
  Trouble is brewing over this year’s SPAA conference, with the scripts selected for the feature film shop window staging a sit-in at SPAA head office.
  
  Wake Up Dead, a particularly fat script, blocked the door of the SPAA lunchroom just before lunch yesterday while other scripts phoned media outlets with a list of demands.
  
  Sci-fi thriller The Room was clearly angry, “I mean, we all wrote ourselves, didn’t we? Read more »
  
  Network Ten is looking for a Call for Senior Producers/Producers in Sydney and Melbourne Metro Areas
  Looking for a job? Got a position to fill? Check out the Job Board.
- The screen industry should run on ingenuity, not politics
  
  Popcorn Taxi’s Chris Murray suggests a taxi service and pie van could keep the industry moving – an industry that should be founded on ingenuity and creativity rather than politics.
  
  It would seem, based on serial offenders to the numerous blogs in and around the Australian Film Industry, that as a generalisation, filmmakers have a lot of time on their hands.
  
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  The Conscience Organisation is looking for a Senior Producer
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Aussie posters at the Movie Convention

A number of Australian films and projects starring/involving Australians decorate the walls at Jupiters Hotel and Casino on the Gold Coast, during the 65^th Australian International Movie Convention.

Anybody who wants to have lunch and visit the trade show will be greeted by The Loved Ones (release late October).

(Note from the Editor: All images from Sanctum and The Thing have been removed by request of Universal Pictures Australia, and observing the embargo placed on distributors’ presentations at the Australian International Movie Convention. We apologise for the inconvenience.)

Tomorrow, When the War Began had its Queensland premiere last night at the AIMC. Its stars are featured predominantly in the convention area.

Griff The Invisible, starring Ryan Kwanten, will be released in 2011.

If you’re at the AIMC, make sure you visit the Encore booth, located next to the Coca-Cola Beverage Lounge. Get your copy of the magazine and perhaps even a DVD or Blu-ray!