Eight years ago Barrett stayed at the first cast concrete lighthouse in Australia, Green Cape, in southern NSW – it now provides accommodation for visitors. She was there doing research for a film she had written, about whaling in the early 1900s. Eventually Barrett came to the conclusion that it was unlikely that the project would ever be made, due to its cost and the VFX it required.   Barrett then started reading copies of the lighthouse log book, which described local shipwrecks and how homing pigeons were so well fed and lovingly tended to that, when they were required to fly home, they simply refused to do it. Barrett had found a new idea for a film. 

 “A small group of people who have to live together in an isolated environment is interesting dramatically from a writer’s perspective, and I thought it would be fairly affordable to make,” said Barrett, who started researching life on Tasmanian  ighthouses such as Maatsuyker, Tasman and Deal Islands. She was particularly interested in the time before radio communications, when staff lived in very isolated conditions. 

 Barret conceived South Solitary as the story of an unmarried 35-year old woman, Meredith (Miranda Otto), who arrives at a remote lighthouse island to assist her strict uncle (Barry Otto), the recentlly-appointed keeper planning on bringing some discipline to the operation. An error of judgement leaves Meredith with a withdrawn assistant (Marton Csokas) as her only companion. 

 Barrett admits she was embarrassed about “how pedestrian” her first draft was, because the characters were not “right”, particularly the protagonist. When she finally gave Meredith her fighting spirit and had a script she was happy with, Barrett took it to producer Marian Macgowan. 

 “We started looking at locations the minute we acquired the option in late 2005. Before we could cast or budget we had to know where and how we were going to shoot it,” explained Macgowan. “Shirley was very keen to shoot it on the islands that she’d written about, at Maatsuyker, but I could tell already that there would be logistical problems.” 

 YOU CAN’T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT 

 The film was originally budgeted at $19m, which would allow them to shoot at Maatsuyker Island, a location only accessible by helicopter that would require cast and crew to be accommodated on a ship that would sit off the coast. The shoot would also be longer due to the poor weather conditions. At that stage, South Solitary was structured as a co-production. 

 “That higher budget was cast-dependent, and getting cast attached to films is extremely difficult. We had high profile actors [Maggie Gyllenhaal and Paul Bettany], and it’s not that they were better [than the final cast]; it would have simply been a different interpretation, a different film,” explained Macgowan. “In my time I’ve learned that, in a sense, it always works out for the best, or what you think will be impossible to deal with always has a solution. There’s always an outcome; all you can do is  make the best decisions at the time with the resources you have available.” 

 When Macgowan found they would not be able to raise $19m, she reduced the budget to $10m, but further adjustments were required. 

 “We restructured the financing in the middle of 2009, and we needed to cut $3-4m out of the budget. The cash budget was around $6.5m, but the actual budget was a bit higher,” she explained. The project was funded by Screen Australia, Film Victoria, Screen NSW, Omnilab Media, an advance from distributor Icon Film for Australasia, and private investment. 

 With a much more modest budget, Barrett had to make concessions and shoot on the mainland, not far from Portland, Victoria. 

 “I was pretty broken-hearted about that at first, but when I got to Cape Nelson and saw what it offered us, it became really exciting because it was down to our craft to get it to feel like an island,” admitted Barrett. 

 Barrett had lost her dream location, but the new one provided something she did not expect: an original haulage mechanism that was used to ship supplies up the cliff. It was intact and very close to the lighthouse. 

 “It was a gift from the gods. I can’t tell you how fortunate we were,” said Barrett. 

 The fact that it was a period film was not a crippling cost, because the production didn’t have to dress up streets or lots of extras due to the story’s isolated setting.  

 “There are no cars in our world; it’s a fairly straightforward process. The cottages were built in the 1800s, and they are the same now they were then,” said Macgowan. 

 The film was shot entirely on location, combining the Cape Nelson lighthouse cottage with the interior of the Cape Otway lighthouse. 

 “The only elements we built were the pigeon house and the outhouse, everything else was there. We just had to create the broken-down world around us,” explained Barrett. 

 According to the director, production designer Paul Heath and costume designer Edie Kurzer were able to create a low cost look which was authentic and rich in domestic detail. 

 “My main fear with the visuals was that it would start looking like a glossy 1920s pastiche, which I certainly didn’t want. I wanted it to feel real. I didn’t want everyone to have the latest couture; I wanted it to feel like Meredith sewed her own clothes. 

 “It was about conveying how difficult it was to live there and the interior of the cottages had to be like the most austere kind of rental locations, with only a kitchen table and a few other things. The challenge I love in period films, especially this one, is researching the details of domestic life and the lighthouse operation. I found that fascinating and luckily so did my team,” explained Barrett. 

 Barrett and DOP Anna Howard looked at the possibility of using the Red One camera, but ultimately felt that film possessed a “subtle quality” that lent itself to a story that’s set in another time. 

 “We shot on Super 16 and it’s been blown up to 35mm. It was the right decision, and it also gave us the chance to use small cameras, which was really helpful, being in such confined spaces. 

 “The film acquired its look without us deliberately going for it. Anna and I didn’t want it to look like it had been treated to get that old film feel, but because we shot on Super 16, we had to go through a process of reducing the grain before we blew it up to 35mm. That process in itself softened the tones a little more. It evolved on its own to look like that,” said Barrett. 

 There is a climatic violent storm in South Solitary; a combination of practical and CGI effects. That part of the shoot was frustrating for Barrett, not only due to the unseasonably good weather, but also because the area surrounding the lighthouse was so barren that there were no elements – such as trees – to visually show the strength of the wind. 

 “We didn’t have a big budget and we had to be sparing in our use of CGI. Most of the storm is conveyed with sound, and I believe the combination of real effects, CGI and sound has been really effective,” said Barrett. 

 The Lab’s VFX supervisor Soren Jensen led the team that created the CG elements of the storm, including debris and the hail that hits the lighthouse window, in addition to rough seas, a steam ship and antique lighthouse lamps. The Lab was also in charge of the grading, done by Al Hansen with help from Vincent Taylor. 

AN EXPERIENCED AUDIENCE 

 South Solitary opened this year’s Sydney Film Festival, an honour that was double-edged for Barrett. 

 “It’s not the paciest film in the world; it takes its time to unfold and that might be hard on an audience which has already sat down through a few speeches. I felt very honoured, but in some ways it was a tough opening,” admitted the director. 

 Macgowan says the film’s core audience is women over 35, “a demographic that responds very well to our cast.” When asked about its audience, Barrett hesitated for a moment. 

 “I always feel a little disappointed when a love story, which is all about longing and a slow burn is resolved too neatly and too completely. I wanted to torture the audience a little, but still give them a little hope. It’s a film that’s satisfying to a female audience, but there are a lot of men that responded well to it too. It is also a film that a slightly older audience would respond to, because you must have a few years on you and a few disappointments in life to get the full measure of the feeling of this film,” argued Barrett. 

 The film’s sales agent is E1 Entertainment, but Macgowan declined to comment on international sales. It will be released in Australia on July 29.

The vision for the South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC) as stated in their Strategic Plan for 2012 is to have SA ‘recognised globally as the most dynamic screen industry in Australia’, with measurable targets such as doubling the state’s feature production by 2014 and increasing the number of credited producers and writers in the state.

This year has seen the features Swerve (dir. Craig Lahiff, prod. Helen Leake), The Place Between (dir. Beck Cole, prod. Kath Shelper) and Red Dog (dir. Kriv Stenders, prod. Nelson Woss and Julie Ryan – a South Australia/Western Australia collaboration) shot in the state, and the past year has seen a slew of new programs and strategies initiated by the State government and the SAFC including FilmLab, the producer equity scheme and the construction of the new Film and Screen Centre in Adelaide.
“The government is committed to the future of filmmaking in South Australia and every investment and initiative will have flow-on benefits and strengthen the sector as a whole,” SA Premier and Minister of the
Arts Mike Rann said recently.
After the first year of operation for these new programs and strategies, it’s safe to say that the decision makers in the state’s film industry have certainly put their money where their mouth is as South Australian production looks at a bright future.
THE NEXT LEVEL
The FilmLab initiative, which opened for submissions in March 2009, has undergone its first year in operation.
SA Premier Mike Rann and the SAFC launched the $4.2 million initiative to provide a development opportunity for new filmmakers. The scheme offers successful candidates a $350,000 budget and mentoring opportunities from a slate of professional advisors with Philip Noyce as FilmLab’s patron and Rolf de Heer, Greg McLean and more key industry players running workshops and advisory sessions.
An ideal long-term aim for the scheme would be an increase in feature film production, as well as a strengthening of the key creative base.
“It was done in response to the fact that, while SA has developed a number of filmmakers who are at a certain level of success, it has been less successful at nurturing the next generation of filmmaking talent,” Chief Executive Officer of the SAFC, Richard Harris told Encore.
“The lab was a direct intervention to move filmmakers from one particular level and graduate them to a higher level and longer form projects.
“We identified that there was talent who were just not quite able to crack the market in order to make feature films,” he explained.
“It’s a really great initiative’, added Adelaide Film Festival director Katrina Sedgwick. “It really supports the stated vision of the SAFC, which is to try and make SA a very attractive place for independent artists and
filmmakers to work.”
The program certainly sounds good on paper, but how has it done in its first year in action?
“We’ve found the FilmLab process to be a real eyeopener,” said Hugh Nguyen, participant of the scheme and head of development at the People’s Republic of Animation (PRA). “FilmLab’s best resource has been
the mentoring provided by Stephen Cleary and his experienced team, who have taught us all a lot about script development.”

The PRA may be the best indication of the program’s success. Selected as part of the scheme with their live action/animation project Bear Hug Storm Punch, the film has ‘graduated to a higher level’.
“Through the FilmLab process, our project has evolved into a film that we believe isn’t viable for production on a $350,000 budget,” explained Nguyen. “We’ve also received strong market interest in the project. Therefore, we recently made the decision to graduate it from the FilmLab funding strand to pursue market interest and raise more finance. This is an unexpected but very positive outcome for the project.”
While it may be too early to speak of any commercial success, the scheme has produced a very positive sign of strengthening the creative base and positioning independent production teams at an advantage to crack the market.
“Not enough projects developed in SA end up reaching their full potential,” explained Nguyen. “Lately there seems to be a push for increased focus on script development across all the screen agencies, which will
hopefully lead to higher quality projects and more of them. That would be a great outcome for the screen industry as a whole.”
IT’S BUSINESS TIME
Looking to the business sector of the industry, the government has been working to create an environment where production companies can not only remain sustainable, but also achieve certain levels
of success to keep the prospect of future production well and truly open.
The Producer Equity Scheme was launched in February last year with the backing of the South Australian government. The initiative introduced first dollar returns straight to the producer rather than delaying the recoupment process until after the funding body has made its money back.
“Until we start really finding ways to get producers to have the opportunities to share in those successes, then the industry will continue to be on a drip feed and I don’t think that’s a positive thing,” argued Harris.
The scheme was an industry first and has since received positive feedback from the rest of the industry both in and outside SA.
“The Producer Equity Scheme is one particularly attractive policy the SAFC has introduced that’s made a difference,” said managing director of Kojo Pictures Kent Smith. ”You really start seeing people taking notice of SA and a lot of interest in doing a project here.”

It is also an important initiative if we are to see South Australian producers broaden their business prospects interstate, or even international, a direction that Richard Harris agrees is a turn for the better.
“We’re aware that it’s unlikely that all SA producers will be able to make films here permanently as sole operators, and co-productions is going to be the way forward in many cases, both with international and
interstate partners,” said Harris. “If we give producers something that they can have as part of their negotiation, it would make it a very attractive reason to do business with a South Australian producer.”
A recent example is AMPCO’s partnership with Beijing-based ROSAT to create the $20m coproduction The Last Dragon. Kojo Pictures was also involved in a co-production, with Kent Smith as executive producer of The Tree, which closed the Cannes Film Festival and had its Australian premiere at last month’s Sydney Film Festival.
“Those productions are bringing business into SA, skilling up key creators but also providing work, economic activity and job opportunities for local crew and cast,” said Kristian Moliere, of Smoking Gun Productions and head of the South Australian chapter of SPAA.
On a similar note, changes to the Post, Digital and Visual Effects (PDV) rebate spells good news for one of Australia’s leading VFX and post production houses Rising Sun Pictures, the bells and whistles behind blockbusters such as Harry Potter, X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Terminator: Salvation, based in SA.
The rebate, which has lowered the threshold from $5m to $500,000, has seen an influx of opportunities for local VFX artists.

“The reduction of the threshold has caused a stir,” Rising Sun executive producer James Whitlam told Encore. “It’s definitely got people to take notice and we’ve started to see big packages from studios that
over the past 12-24 months have been telling us that the threshold is too high for that kind of work.”
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Announced in 2008, the Adelaide Film and Screen Centre has since been undergoing construction in the inner suburb of Glenside. The $43m project is on schedule to be completed by the middle of next year.
“We’ve been screaming out for something like this for a long time,” said Moliere. “The fact that the SAFC, local producers and a few other bodies will all be housed in the same centre is a terrific thing and will
allow for greater collaboration.”
“We’re building significant infrastructure for the industry,” explained Harris, “including a tenancy hub as well as new, custom-built facilities such as sound stages, a Dolby premier accredited mixing room, a series of
production rooms, make-up rooms and so on’.
At press time, the SAFC were screening potential tenants for the centre with demand exceeding supply.

“We’ll be looking at an independent process, which will involve a third party coming in to help us work out a transparent process to properly determine the right tenancy mix,” Harris told Encore.
The completion of the Adelaide Film and Screen Centre will look to sharply increase the level of collaboration and centralise the South Australian industry in a very important way.
“The infrastructure will underpin the ability for development and attract production to the state,” Richard Harris confidently stated.

NEXT STEP, THE SMALL SCREEN
While the state government and the SAFC are taking many and varied initiatives to improve the film industry, being a producer situated in South Australia still has its drawbacks.
“We’re a long way from Sydney and Melbourne, which means we don’t see the decision makers in film and television as much as we would like,” explained Kristian Moliere.
Being situated out of the major markets in NSW and Victoria may mean missed opportunities, a likely explanation for South Australia’s comparatively smaller television production record. After the successful
McLeod’s Daughters wrapped production in 2008, South Australia’s slate of television production is limited.
“It’s very difficult for SA key creatives to develop television concepts because we haven’t really worked on a lot of TV,” added Moliere.
The TV sector provides invaluable, ongoing production work that keeps the NSW and Victorian screen industries alive, so cracking the television market is the next step for the industry.
“We are punching above our weight in features in the lower to mid-budget range, but television since McLeod’s Daughters has dropped away and I’d really like to see more documentaries and dramas being
shot here.”

While television production is centred on the eastern seaboard, with the opening of the Adelaide Film and Screen centre in 2011, the potential of attracting television production is certainly there.

“We may have the opportunity to join forces with Melbourne and Sydney to do some work in a co-production sense,” said Kojo’s Kent Smith.

CONTINUITY GUARANTEED
While the South Australian film industry has started to thrive with a slate of new initiatives, most programs have been guided under the influential hand of the state’s Premier and Arts Minister, Mike Rann. So would
the industry be thriving in the same way had the Liberals won the state election?
“It’s hard to know,” said Harris. “There’s no doubt that Mike Rann has been a huge supporter and the fact that the government is spending $43 million on new infrastructure is clearly an indication.”
But were the opposition against it? Not particularly.

While the construction of the new Film and Screen Centre was a Labour initiative, the opposition showed support for it as well.
“This state has had a long established support for film,” said Harris. “And the SAFC is now the longest single running agency left in Australia. So they’re very aware and proud of that fact.”
In the turmoil of shifting government, key industry players show little concern for the future of production in the state, including AFF’s Sedgwick.

“Nothing is guaranteed but the film festival has carved out a niche, both with the national industry and, more importantly, with the South Australian community. I feel confident that the film festival will be
around.”
“What we have generally is a very positive bipartisan approach in the state, but augmented by the fact that we have a film champion in Mike Rann which makes it all the more positive,” said Harris.
South Australia is then open for business with initiatives that aim to strengthen the local production sector as well as attract attention from beyond the state’s borders.
So how well on their way is SA to becoming ‘the most dynamic screen industry in Australia’?

“Obviously we don’t have the stages to compete with Fox Studios,” said Rising Sun’s Whitlam. “But the new stages will really capture that part of the market which seems to be alive and kicking at the moment,
and we’ve seen a wide interest from the US and global production companies in accessing the Producer Offset by getting into business with us.”
It’s still early days, but the signs are definitely positive and a good indication that perhaps we should all start looking down south.

It’s no secret that television has become a segmented market where audiences are no longer limited by the offerings of the five networks that for years were Australia’s preferred source of entertainment and information. It is a world of multi-channels, pay TV, IPTV, games and an explosion of local and international content available at home or on the go. All of these options are competing for the same viewers so, more than ever, broadcasters must remain visible and attractive.

“Marketing is really under the pump to make whatever it is we are selling unique, make it stand out amongst so many offerings from so many other people. And in the future, there’s only going to be more platforms and more channels,” ABC TV’s outgoing head of marketing Sue Lester told Encore.

SBS group marketing manager Katherine Raskob agrees, because with the arrival of the digital multichannels and a more aggressive competition for audiences, “we all have to get really smarter at thinking
about where the audiences are, and targeting them more effectively – not just advertising everywhere.”
For broadcasters, their most valuable promotional medium is their own channels, an advantage that other sectors of the screen industry don’t have.
“We own the platform and we can communicate with our viewers on a minute-by-minute basis, whereas the film industry doesn’t have a luxury,” said Ten’s head of programming Beverley McGarvey.
Yet on-air promotion is not enough; any good marketer knows that they have to go where their audience is, and that means broadcasters must look beyond their own screens. They’re now exploring online and social networks as an essential part of their strategies to target mainly a younger demographic.
“That’s the biggest change in the last few years, the move to online promotion,” said Lester.

It’s not just paid advertising, but also promotional efforts using the free services of Facebook, Twitter and other technologies. These are allowing the networks to connect directly with their audiences at a level that
seemed impossible only a few years ago, and people are responding in droves. For example, Nine’s Hey Hey It’s Saturday has 449,951 Facebook fans, and Underbelly, 274,241.

“We don’t have control of social networks, and we know that… we don’t want control. It’s about engaging with fans of the shows to give them more of what they want. They want to know what’s coming, they want to be excited, and we want to feed them exactly that. We’re investigating social media so we’re moving with the times, or even better, ahead of the times,” said Andrew Peace, creative director at the Nine Network.
While online is an area of growth that can represent more innovative marketing opportunities, it’s not going to replace other promotional avenues; it will become another tool that is integrated into the media mix.
The rise of online has diverted advertising dollars from more traditional media, but that doesn’t mean that old-fashioned efforts are being abandoned; newspapers, magazines and radio remain important allies, and the commercial networks are utilising their synergies with sister companies to remain relevant everywhere – Seven with Yahoo!7 and Pacific Magazines, Nine with ninemsn and ACP, and Ten with the external advertising supplier EYE.
This kind of presence has delivered great results for Ten with shows like MasterChef and the US comedy Modern Family.
“We have a significant presence,” said McGarvey. “In addition to on-air we do quite a lot of print, targeted at specific demographics. We also do outside advertising; billboards make a big splash, and people see street
furniture every day – it’s all over the place. We spent a lot of money on trains, trams and buses.”
Hit programs such as Underbelly and key sporting events also represent an opportunity for the networks to connect with new viewers.
“We’re very aware that with Underbelly or State of Origin, we’re getting people who are not regular Nine viewers,” said Peace. “That’s why we use those spaces to promote our premium products, and the shows that are coming to our channel.”
While different marketing teams take different approaches to promote their programs, the consensus is that success is a combination of frequency and creativity – just like with any other kind of advertising.
“Everybody knows that to sell Toyota cars, you need more than one spot. You need repetition before there is a real reach, before enough people have seen it to be interested in it,” said Lester.
“You need both,” added McGarvey. “People need to be reminded of the message a number of times, but you don’t want to bore them with the same execution.”

According to Travis Conneeley, creative director of the Foxtel owned and operated channels – and a man who last year was included in The Hollywood Reporter’s Next Generation of International Television list of people who are “redefining television internationally” -, good creative is the one that will stand out from the clutter: “There are so many choices and messages out there that you need to find an emotional connection.  The repetition of a bad product won’t do anything but annoy people”.
To succeed, a good promo must meet its brief, whether it is to reinforce a program’s concept, storyline, or more practical details such as day and time. It is important, however, to stick to single messages.

“People get bombarded with a lot of advertising, and you want them to remember one thing and take something away with them,” argued McGarvey.
As audiences become savvier, broadcasters must ensure they don’t make false promises about their content.
“If you have integrity, your audience tends to trust you more, so we try not to over-promise. In years gone by that was probably not the case in this industry, but now you can only make claims which are true,” said
McGarvey.
According to Conneelley, the trend is to do less hard sell, unlike the style of the1990s and early 2000s: “It used to be ‘This is new, you have to watch it!’ but now you have to be more genuine because people can smell bullshit a lot more. You can’t get away with it as much as you used to.”
This includes cross-promotion, particularly across news and current affairs. To succeed, it needs to be executed in a way that doesn’t alienate audiences.
“The public can lose trust in broadcasters very quickly. Nobody cares when you’re cross-promoting something that is relevant to the show, but when you start doing it through the news, most people are a bit
jaded by that,” he argued.

A globalised world also means that marketing teams have to be more careful about the work they present to their audiences. Last month, it was reported that a new promo for Nine’s drama Rescue Special
Ops was an almost frame-by-frame recreation of a UK promo for Discovery.
“We’ve recognised that was inspiration,” explained Peace. “It’s just one element of a much larger campaign, and it’s in recognition of great work. We’re always inspired by creative work throughout the world,
and that will never go away.”

And has anyone in the world been ‘inspired’ the same way by Nine’s original work?

“I’d be very excited if they had,” said Peace.

PUBLIC PAINS
If the commercial networks struggle to successfully promote their content, it’s easy to imagine how much harder it is for the public broadcasters.
“I’m always whinging that we don’t’ have an advertising budget at all,” admitted ABC TV’s Lester, who will retire this month.
“From time to time, and for very special projects, the managing director will give us some advertising dollars but by and large, there’s been virtually no advertising for ABC TV for the last four years.”
ABC3 was one such exception, and although it did have a paid promotional campaign for its launch last year, it was still under $100,000. According to Lester, the absence of an advertising budget is not driven
by the public broadcaster’s charter, but by an overall lack of funds. Understandably, the broadcaster has to prioritise production over promotion.
“When I started 20 years ago I had a substantial advertising budget, but over time it shrunk and we ended up with nothing. The money has to be put into production,” she said.
“Going forward, the ABC has to address that in a fractured marketplace, if we want to retain visibility, we have to be seen by those viewers who don’t watch us on air; we have to be seen where they are. A budget
has to be found.” In the meantime, ABC TV has to rely on off-air publicity work with radio, print media and, increasingly, online.
The broadcaster is continuously promoting one-off programs – documentaries, short-run series – so even if the marketing area received a funding boost, the budget would still have to serve priorities such as
promoting drama and children’s content.
“On-air promotion helps the commercial broadcasters. If I’m watching MasterChef – and there’s 1.6m people like me – and I see a promo for Modern Family, that’s a pretty nice little promotion just there.
“We try to be as strategic as they are, but we don’t have commercial breaks so we can only promote our content at the top and tail of our programs,” she lamented. “And we also have to be constantly thinking

about our charter; we’re not able to do the same things that the commercials do. That, however, is not restrictive. It’s a good framework for us to be working in marketing, because it makes us more rigorous
about getting things right.”
Another area where the ABC suffers is its ability to act quickly. According to Lester, the commercial networks have a higher promo production volume due to their larger infrastructure and staff, and they can also react quickly to the ratings and be more flexible.
She’s quite right; Andrew Peace says that Nine can produce up to 1,000 promos per week, including regional variations and minor variations for each day – ‘Wednesday at 8:30’ becomes ‘Tomorrow at 8:30’ and so on.
The precarious situation is not entirely different at SBS. Katherine Raskob does have a marketing budget, which she chose not to disclose but described it as “very small”.
The broadcaster works closely with external consultants Razor Group to develop its strategy, media planning and creative.
Although the bulk of SBS’s communication efforts is done through on-air promos, the multicultural broadcaster occasionally supports its programs with print and outdoor advertising – recent examples include last year’s Ashes coverage, or the Russian doll campaign for the latest series of Who Do You Think You Are.

“Sometimes we need to reinforce our on-air message and get more scope and scale,” said Raskob. Money can still be found for certain events. The 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa required a greater promotional commitment and had its own special budget; a necessity that arose from SBS’s status as the official broadcaster of such a popular event.
“It’s an opportunity for SBS to showcase its talent in delivering a multi-cultural campaign, which emphasised the fact that it is a world game. We wanted people to hear and see the stories of the biggest and best fans
around the world,” said Raskob.

To support its normal activities, SBS recently restructured its marketing department, appointing new marketing managers for core audience segments.
Former Westfield executive Ola Kay will oversee the groups the broadcaster has identified as ‘Cultural Information Seekers’ and ‘World Sports Fans’, while Nicki Martin will look at the younger audience segments ‘Entertain Me’s’ and ‘Cult Lads’. Both will report to Raskob. The initiative was introduced because SBS believes it can magnify its results if it has a presence in the right places, more often and more regularly, which can be achieved by targeting niche audiences.
“We want to think about our audiences as groups of people and learn what they want from SBS instead on focusing on everybody. By focusing on these segments and communicating effectively with them as opposed to a scattered approach where we try to talk to everybody, we can make sure that people know about our offer,” explained Raskob. “It’s quite an innovative way of approaching marketing and we are really proud of that.”

WHERE’S THE INNOVATION?
Agencies like Tactic have the chance to work with both FTA and pay TV networks (Movie Network channels, ABC3 and others), and according to creative director Diana Constantini – who will take over Sue Lester’s role as head of marketing at the ABC this month – it is in the subscription environment that marketing efforts are more innovative.
“I don’t think the FTAs have changed their approach in creative; it’s pretty much the way they’ve always done it except there seems to be less of it. Their creative is pretty simple, particularly for acquired programs; they get great key art from the distributors and then it’s just about adding time, day and branding. They have the infrastructure in place, so it’s easier for them to do it in-house,” said Constantini.
The main reason behind this seemingly less risky approach is that FTAs are general entertainment channels that have to appeal to a broader audience, as opposed to the niche channels on subscription platforms.
“In pay TV you get an opportunity to be very specific in terms of your design and creative. If you  look at some of the channels, the branding that lives in them could never live in the FTA world,” she explained.
Another major difference is that the FTAs are spending less time on branding than their subscription counterparts, mainly because of time constrains.

“Their strategy is to get straight into the next  program; they might have a five-second bumper and that’s it. A long promo or interstitial during a break is the equivalent of holding up a sign that says ‘change
the channel now’.

“That’s why you always have to strive to make it as entertaining as possible, as well as do a good branding job so you get a double whammy result.”

Nine’s Peace agrees with Constantinit about the branding trend: “We sell the show rather than the Nine brand. People may have their preferred channel, but really, it’s the specific product that people seek
out. The exception is when we get access to talent, particularly from US-acquired programs, which is a great opportunity to grow our ‘Welcome Home’ branding campaign.”
According to Constantini, one thing that is unfortunately common to both FTA and pay TV is a noticeable decrease in budgets.

“We’d love to get our hands on a Nine Network kind of budget, because in the subscription world people want spend a little bit less and put it into digital, but that’s something we have to work with,” Constantini
lamented.
Tactic’s work received 21 nominations at the World Promax/BDA Awards, organised by the international body for promotion and marketing professionals working in electronic and broadcast media. The
current chair for Australia and New Zealand is Foxtel’s Conneeley.
Wearing his Promax hat, Conneeley admits that although FTA efforts can be “a little bit bland” due to their need to please all, they are good at leveraging their sheer overall channel power, with Ten being an
outstanding example, particularly in the last year.

“They’re doing a fantastic job, with MasterChef, Modern Family. Their short and sharp promos are very effective and prove that it doesn’t necessarily have to be an expensive high-end spot to do the job, and it
can be done in a simple, straightforward manner,” he said. As for pay-TV, Conneeley believes that although their audiences may be smaller, they can innovate by using interactive services.
Both FTA and subscription worlds will be represented at the local Promax conference, which will take place in Sydney in September and will focus on education of the sector.
“We want to inspire our members with great ideas so they cut through the clutter; to make sure they understand their competitors and the different media, and that it isn’t just on-air anymore. They have to
be well-versed in lots of different areas,” explained Conneeley.
“People have to think about the environment in which people will click on those online elements, the same way they have to think about where an on-air promo sits in a commercial break and how the person
at home will react to it. It’s exactly the same.”

The same, but not quite. That is the paradox that the television industry will have to face to make sure all eyes are on them.

The digitisation of television and other forms of visual/screen-based entertainment is at the epicentre of a wave of change in viewer behaviour. An ever-broadening range of digital viewing options—including internet downloads, cable TV, direct-to-home (DTH) satellite, IPTV, terrestrial television and mobile TV—are vying for viewer attention, presenting both challenges and opportunities for industry stakeholders.

Modern consumers, particularly the youth market, demand a different viewing experience all together from the passive armchair TV viewing of their forebears. The twin progeny of digitisation—personalisation and interactivity—have created an entirely new viewing dimension, where content is actively sought across multiple platforms. It is no longer viable for content to be available from one source only. Where once a program might have been broadcast at a set time and on a set channel, it now needs to be available online for catch-up viewing, plus often on a mobile TV service as well.

Popular consumer devices such as smartphones and media tablets are driving consumer expectation for portability—access to all multimedia and entertainment services from just about anywhere. Mirroring this phenomenal growth of mobile wireless broadband services, the future of television viewing also looks likely to incorporate an expanding range of portable and mobile devices such as netbooks, high-tech phones and a new breed of low cost portable TVs.

Thus the viewer is untethered from the living room—a distinct cultural shift. This is the foundation of the so-called ‘lean forward’ viewing behaviour, where content is tailored and enjoyed across multiple platforms. As a result, consumers are devouring more content than ever before. Moreover, choices in viewing platform are driving Australian television networks to release international content (television programs from the USA, for example) almost immediately after it is first aired, while many cinema-release films are available on DVD within mere months.

The switch to DTV

Terrestrial television services are nevertheless holding firm amid this banquet of options, and remain the dominant platform for transmitting free-to-air content to the vast majority of the Australian population. It is almost a decade since the first digital terrestrial services were broadcast on 1 January 2001, and a subsequent progressive roll-out has resulted in near-national coverage. Although public adoption of digital television was initially slow, the more recent introduction of new digital-only services—such as One, Go!, Seven Two and several from ABC and SBS—has caused take-up in homes to accelerate significantly in the past year.

The next milestone in the life of Australian free-to-air television will be the switch-off and decommissioning of analogue television services. This is intended to take place over three and a half years, during which period many hundreds of analogue television services will be shutdown across the country. Mildura will be the first on 30 June, and a useful test case; December will then see sites in regional South Australia (plus Broken Hill) switched over to digital-only, followed by regional Victoria in the first half of 2011, and so on until the last analogue services in Australia are turned off in December 2013.

In conjunction with this closure of analogue services and the associated ‘digital switchover’ (DSO), the government and broadcasters alike are making sure that digital coverage is extended into all areas that are known to be digital ‘black spots’. As their name suggests, black spots are coverage gaps in the digital signal due to various factors, among them spectrum scarcity and the well-documented cliff effect exhibited by digital signals. These coverage issues are being addressed using a mix of Free TV satellite and terrestrial services, thereby ensuring that all regional, rural and remote viewers will have access to similar free-to-air digital content as metropolitan viewers.

The online experience

While terrestrial platforms continue to underpin television in Australia, there is little doubt that broadband internet is delivering some exciting complementary services. More than 70 per cent of Australians have access to some form of broadband internet, with media viewing and downloads one of the highest growth areas in terms of usage. Online advertising spend is correspondingly on the rise, with a predicted growth of 10 to 15 per cent per year for the next five years—at this rate, it will overtake free-to-air advertising spend by about 2013.

To leverage these new trends, most television networks are investing heavily in their online presence, offering highly functional web sites that provide complete episodes for viewing—in some cases before they have aired free-to-air—and a host of additional ancillary information to complement the television viewing experience.

A case in point is the website for Network Ten’s MasterChef. This immensely popular reality TV show is supported by a dedicated web site that receives thousands of hits a day by viewers seeking more information about the show—whether recipes, full episode views, episode summaries, outgoing contestant video-interviews, episode video-snippets, blogs, discussion forums and more. Unlike some sites, where full episodes are available for only a limited time after the original air date, the MasterChef site supports a vast array of video content indefinitely.

The MasterChef online experience exemplifies the levels of personalisation and interactivity sought by the new generation of television consumers—but it is by no means unique. Complementary online services for popular shows are increasing and will soon be the norm. Sport enthusiasts are another group that are increasingly seeking online viewing of games. In view of this, SBS supported its free-to-air coverage of the FIFA World Cup with a fully interactive web site that provides video coverage of news items, interviews, game highlights—and will include full matches once the tournament commences.

Hybrid TV

Broadband internet is forging an even closer relationship with terrestrial television through the new generation of hybrid digital video recorders and terrestrial TV set top boxes (STB), which look certain to become commonplace in homes. Here, in-built IP connectivity—either wired or wireless—provides an in-built backchannel that facilitates a different kind of interactive and personalised viewing experience to complement terrestrial TV.

Such functionality could be used in the future for directly interacting with live-to-air television—for example, reality show voting or home shopping—although the business case for this is still to be proved. In the here and now, however, it permits video downloads over the internet direct to the hard drive of the STB. Many online service providers are already offering video-on-demand in this way, providing the so-called ‘long tail’ content, while mass content is delivered via free-to-air terrestrial broadcasts.

The Government’s proposed National Broadband Network (NBN) is another factor to be considered here. Some have speculated it will provide a new option for delivery of television content. However, on balance there does not appear to be any desire or justification on the part of either broadcasters or consumers to pay new costs for a blanket NBN-delivered broadcast service, particularly given the existing terrestrial infrastructure and its ‘free’ viewing status. Instead, the NBN is more likely to support the dual-platform hybrid approach, underpinning complementary IP-based ‘new media’ services—on-demand niche content such as catch-up TV, video-on-demand, and subscription IPTV.

This is all good news for broadcasters, who can hope to grow audiences and establish new revenue streams through charging for some of these services. Additionally, the introduction of new channels—perhaps even containing themed programming—can attract more advertising dollar. By exploring the delivery of new types of services and embracing innovation, broadcasters can enhance their relationship with viewers.

The 3D phenomenon

In such an environment, terrestrial broadcast platforms need to continue evolving to ensure they remain competitive against other delivery platforms. Viewers are demanding higher quality services and the choice of more channels—plus increasingly the ability to receive broadcast television on mobile handsets. And now there is 3D TV, the latest phenomenon to burst onto the scene. Several trials of 3D TV technology have been announced globally, including the Australian trial surrounding State of Origin rugby league matches and the FIFA World Cup.

The Australian 3D TV trial was launched on 19 May, and broadcast the world’s first 3D TV signals terrestrially over the air. It will continue until around mid-July this year, by which time it will have broadcast three State of Origin rugby league matches between NSW and Queensland, and up to 15 World Cup soccer matches. It comes at a time when there is enormous interest in 3D TV on the heels of Avatar, and seeks to demonstrate the demand for 3D TV live over the air into the living room.

Although it is still early days for the technology, the indicators of demand are certainly present. It may be that 3D Blu-Ray discs drive consumer purchase of compatible televisions, but it is unlikely to be long before early adopters call for free-to-air 3D content—particularly once it is widely available on other platforms (such as video gaming). Sport, once again, is expected to be a significant driver for the widespread take-up of 3D TV services. As the dominant mass market platform, terrestrial television will also need to take this step into the 3D future.

New technologies are necessarily emerging to sustain emerging terrestrial broadcast platforms such as 3D TV. One such is the second-generation digital video broadcasting – terrestrial (DVB-T2) standard, which offers a dramatically improved capacity over DVB-T, along with increased robustness of the signal. Moreover, with MPEG-4 video compression thrown into the mix, the resultant capacity improvements are even more dramatic.

These promise greater options for broadcasters, as they stand to make 3D TV and even high-definition television (HDTV) broadcasting a more viable option for terrestrial broadcasters—not to mention providing more flexibility to support multi-channelling and other ancillary services.

Digital dividend

In the end, however, it invariably comes down to the availability of spectrum. The explosion in mobile broadband services is placing enormous pressure on governments all around the world to find more spectrum for wireless data. It is therefore not surprising that plans are in motion to compact the spectrum used for digital television—once analogue services are switched off, leaving interleaved vacant channels—in order to clear a contiguous block of UHF spectrum for reallocation.

The Australian Government has identified a 126MHz ‘digital dividend’ in the upper portion of the UHF band (>700MHz) that could become available once the VHF and UHF bands are restacked. With the intention of seeking advice from industry stakeholders, the Government issued a Digital Dividend Green Paper in January this year, inviting comment on the potential size, shape and use of the liberated spectrum. It will then make decisions based on these responses, while at the same time ensuring the outcome provides the best result for the Australian community and economy.

(note from the editor: the announcement was made just days after the July issue of Encore went to print, confirming the 126MHz digital dividend).

While there is certainly a huge need for additional spectrum to support wireless broadband services, there is an equivalent need to reserve spectrum for future digital television services—whether 3D TV, HDTV, extra channels, or a platform yet to be conceived. If digital television—and also digital radio—are not provided with a clear path to evolve in the future, Australia runs the risk of being locked into a technology cul-de-sac.

Broadcast Australia’s response to the Green Paper demonstrates how the Government’s desired digital dividend of 126MHz can be achieved, while still providing spectrum on a national basis for the future needs of all broadcasters and telcos. The proposed scenario provides for seven RF television multiplexes, 12 digital radio ensembles, plus additional spectrum to facilitate the transition to the next generation of services such as 3D TV and/or more efficient broadcasting technologies such as DVB-T2. It also allocates sufficient spectrum for wireless broadband nationally and has the added benefit of potentially yielding a second digital dividend of 21MHz sometime in the future.

Digital stimulation

It is undeniable that the television landscape is changing at a furious rate. Moreover, the sheer diversity of options for viewing content has injected renewed excitement into a passtime which, in the days of analogue TV, was essentially a passive experience. Digital technology, with its broader possibilities and environment of innovation, is pulling consumers forward and providing more active stimulation than ever before.

Terrestrial television remains the foundation of the screen-based entertainment industry, and will continue to be the first port of call for most Australians into the future. This can only become more so with the emergence of new free-to-air technologies like 3D TV. So far from threatening the good old home TV, the plethora of complementary platforms is serving to enhance the overall experience.

The Waiting City tells the story of an Australian couple who arrive in Calcutta, India, to pick up the girl they have adopted. Unaware that local bureaucracy will force them to wait for days before they can see her for the first time, the stress of waiting, amplified by the culture shock, will test their relationship as they are forced to confront the problems they’ve been avoiding for a long time.
It is not based on a true story, but many that writer/director Claire McCarthy witnessed as she built her own relationship with India.
McCarthy’s connection with the country was born in 2002 when, along with her younger sister Helena, she decided to volunteer at Mother Theresa’s Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta. She would return to India several times to document Helena’s ongoing experience working at an orphanage in the documentary Sisters.
It was during those visits that she met a number of couples trying to adopt children, and became fascinated with their stories and how their relationships where often tested while going through the stressful experience of waiting to meet a child they had only seen in photographs. McCarthy started interviewing couples and continued that process when she returned to Australia, talking to people who had gone through different experiences of adoption in India and other countries. It became the source for The Waiting City, a project that she took to the Australian Film Commission’s IndiVision program. The development process took approximately two years.
“I workshopped the script and asked people whether they thought it was authentic or not. It’s not a guide of how to adopt a child; adoption is the catalyst but the intention was to look at love in all these different forms, to look at it under fire and explore that in film,” explained McCarthy. “Another real challenge was to come as a westerner and make a film that’s not condescending or repeating the clichés. That was a big fear of mine, to not know if Indian people would like the film or not.”
She also took the idea to a friend, producer Jamie  Hilton, who had been commissioned to shoot a music video for Sony Music artist Old Man River. They pitched the record company the idea of an Indian shoot in Varanassi, and used the experience to test their production methodologies, meet local crew and discover what it would be like to work there.
“Our first trip was for Claire to show me Calcutta, the world in which the film is set, because it was incredibly important during script development for me to be across the culture and the place. Then we went to Varanassi to shoot the video for the song “Sunshine”,” said Hilton.
“We wanted to see what it would be like shooting on real streets with real people; if a documentary kind of approach, using a skeleton crew, would actually work. We learned many lessons; some things were working, some were not,” said McCarthy.
The $3m budget was a combination of private investment and federal (AFC/Screen Australia) and state funding (Screen NSW), with support from distributor Hopscotch Films and sales agent H20.
“Spectrum Films and Deluxe/Efilm also helped us out with our editing and sound post. If we didn’t have those equity investors, we wouldn’t have been able to make it for the budget we had,” said McCarthy.

One of the investors was lead actress Radha Mitchell, who had always wanted to make a film in India. Mitchell first heard about her involvement in the project by doing a Google search on herself.
“Back when we shot the music video, one of our Indian crew asked me who I wanted to play the lead, and I said I loved Radha because she’s so radiant and she has a connection with India. He went to The Times of India and told them that an Australian director wanted to work with Radha. She found the article online, rang her agent and asked ‘What the hell is this Australian movie that I’m supposed to be doing!?’ Her agent had a copy of the script, and she decided to do it.”
“So I wished for Radha, and then she came,” recalled McCarthy.
Having Mitchell, Joel Edgerton, Isabel Lucas and British actor Samrat Chakrabarti would help the film’s international prospects, and the Indian element would make The Waiting City a unique project in the local landscape.
“We must think of ways to make Australian films international so they don’t just feel parochial, so that they tell Australian stories that are relevant and universal.
“Casting is one way, and having the movie set in an exotic location is another. We underestimate the fact that when we travel, so much happens to us, and Australians travel all the time. It’s interesting to see the stories of travelling Australians, which hopefully differentiates this from a typical independent movie,” said McCarthy.
NATURAL CALCUTTA
The intention of shooting 100 percent on location in Calcutta was to give the film a hig level of authenticity, but not to make it look like a documentary.
“You can’t purely rely on verite; you have to construct things,” admitted McCarthy. “We developed decoys, techniques to keep people from looking at the camera. We developed crowd control systems; people have a fascination with watching movies being made, and it’s a subtle dance – you can’t just cordon off streets the way you might do over here. We shot with long lenses and set up little rigs where we would shoot from far away, scenes where the actors were often integrated into real environments.”
To facilitate the shoot, McCarthy worked closely with Indian actor Tanaji Dasgupta as third assistant director, helping her communicate with actors in big sequences such as the Durga Purja festival parad.

The filmmakers were lucky that they had shot the majority of their exterior scenes by the time Mumbai was the target of terrorist attacks on November 26, 2008.

“Because of the paranoia, the security and the limitations of shooting on the street were a lot more stringent than they were before, so we were lucky we had already done that. It could have completely toppled the equilibrium of the shoot; people on our crew had connections to people on the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, but we managed to stick through it,” said McCarthy.
Another one of the lessons learned by shooting the Old Man River video was that processing film was often difficult, particularly in remote Calcutta.

“We also wanted to make sure that we were in control of our footage and could get it out of the country safely,” added McCarthy.
As a result, The Waiting City was shot by DOP Denson Baker on the Red One camera using 35mm Cooke lenses to create a hybrid look, with Mark Lapwood in charge of the second unit. According
to the director, the digital shoot “could have been a nightmare” due to the high temperatures and humidity, but they came out of it unscathed. The production took three camera bodies with them, along with data wrangler James Sutton to handle the large amount of footage generated.
The Australian team included Baker, Lapwood, Sutton, first AD Greg Cobain, sound recorder Paul ‘Salty’ Brincat, costume designer Justine Seymour, production designer Pete Baxter and make-up artist Paul Pattison. Each head of department then worked with an Indian equivalent and local crew, some from Mumbai and others, locals from Calcutta.
Although the production decided not to use the services of Australian-based facilitators and find their crew and relationships themselves, they still employed a service company, Speaking Tree – which had recently worked on the then-unknown Oscar-winning Danny Boyle film Slumdog Millionaire.
“Speaking Tree came quite late in the piece. We’d already engaged most of our key crew by that point; we asked them who they’d like to work with and who they’d worked with and their name kept coming up, so it was a logical choice.
“We set up the production as if we were doing it ourselves. My budget would have probably gone up if I’d had an Indian company taking care of the whole facilitation. By managing it ourselves we were able to keep costs to a minimum,” explained Hilton.
In terms of production design, the approach was naturalistic. The film was shot on location, and Baxter’s team opted for not retouching anything too much, adding only a few extra elements to the sets.

One moment, however, was not that natural: a horizon tank was hand-made especially for the scene where Mitchell’s character Fiona dives into the waters of the Ganges, to prevent any health risks.
The hotel where the couple stay and meet their unofficial guide Krishna was conceived as a sanitised ‘western bubble’ that would feel like it wasn’t the ‘real’ India. In contrast, the colour palette of the orphanage where they finally meet their daughter Lakshmi was more gentle, with apricot tones that created an environment that, despite the poverty, could be a loving home for children and, in McCarthy’s words, “not something out of Oliver!”.
“There is a progression of colour in the film. It starts off a little more shadowy and eerie when they first arrive at night and India seems chaotic, and then there’s a calming golden warmth that the film evolves to as they progress in their relationship.
“Visually, before our protagonists make love, the coverage is a lot more objective, fly on the wall. We then move into a more subjective space and things feel warmer and more intimate,” explained McCarthy.
A LEARNING CURVE
The Waiting City may have been the first Australian film shot entirely on location in India, but it’s not the only Australian/Indian project. Local creatives are looking for partnerships and methodologies to build a strong relationship with India – a logical strategy, considering that its film industry is, in terms of production volume, the largest in the world, and one that has attracted the interest of the major Hollywood studios – many of which have already invested in the country (read All Roads Lead to India). It’s a learning curve that Australians are exploring.
“It’s a very delicate process, trying to figure out how to make a movie in India,” admitted McCarthy. “At the end of the shoot, some of my crew said it was the first time they’d ever been on time and on budget. There’s a different approach to the process, and the way films are made. It’s not a qualitative difference, it’s just an approach and a sensibility, and it applies to both sides.
“There’s fluidity in the way that business is done, and a whole pageantry involved in how deals are made and how trust relationships are established, and how they perceive you. One of our strategies was not to come as white foreigners trying to take over; we came in seeking to form collaborative relationships with people that we trusted as artists and business people.”
According to Hilton, some of the biggest hurdles they faced were Calcutta-specific.
“In West Bengal, the communist party in power and the unions are extremely strong. We needed to employ a lot of local people. Labour is cheap, so that wasn’t a huge burden, but we also had to keep people happy and money had to change hands for permits to be given and for us to be able to continue shooting without any interference,” he admitted. “Generally, you’ll get a better result if you don’t go through fighting the system, but being aware of it and working within it.”
Hilton adds that the demand for co-productions with India will escalate in the coming years, and therefore, and agreement with that country could help Australians to take advantage of these opportunities. He is currently planning his next India-centric project, an adaptation of Sarah McDonald’s novel Holy Cow! for which he intends to work with Speaking Tree again: “We will probably use
them in a more meaningful way as opposed to running the whole show ourselves.”
The Waiting City premiered at Toronto and, although it was well-received there and at other festivals around the world, it has not screened in competition at any of them. The strategy is being dictated by sales agent H2O Motion Pictures, which has already secured distribution in India through PVR Pictures and North America with E1 Entertainment. It will also be released in Latin America and South Africa.
“In their commercial mind, it’s more important to try to sell the film to different territories than to try to win awards,” explained McCarthy.
The Waiting City will be released in Australia on July 15.

READ MORE: Tips for filmmakers working with India, All roads lead to India

What do you need to pull off an action genre film in Australia? Guns? Car chases? Special effects? A buff, well-profiled action hero? A multi-million dollar budget? Not necessarily: ‘With smart, efficient storytelling, we can do pretty impressive action too,” Kastrissios told Encore.

The Horseman travels in the vein of classic Aussie thrillers such as Wolf Creek and Wake in Fright. It tells the story of a father (played by Peter Marshall- Sea Patrol) and his violent pursuit of his daughter’s murderers.

The film’s high calibre action is due in no small part to proven stunt coordinator Chris Anderson, whose credits include Peter Jackson’s King Kong and George Miller’s Mad Max.

“I showed him my previous short action films and he could see what we’d done without any money or stunt crews, so the trust was there from an early stage,” said Kastrissios.

Anderson supported the film by charging well below his standard fee.

“He wanted to help new filmmakers and put something back into the industry and his efforts are paying off,” explained Kastrissios.

Getting the project from script to camera wasn’t a straightforward process for Kastrissios.

‘I always wanted the production to be as independent as possible for a variety of reasons, so apart from a one-off meeting with a Queensland film body, we never chased external financing. There was just no way I would have been able to make The Horseman with outside investors as I was an unproven filmmaker attempting an action film on a micro budget, with eyebrow-raising violence throughout the script,” he said.

Funded by Kastrissios himself and with financial support from his family, the film was made through the defunct 10BA model on a shoestring budget of $80,000 – or $500,000 including deferral payments of cast and crew.  Screen Australia ultimately provided completion funds, “which helped enormously”.

“The cast and crew have been paid their deferred fees, but producer Bec Dakin and I have only had our fees partially paid. The investors, being my family and I are yet to be paid anything, but since the film was made under 10BA, nobody is out of pocket,” he explained.

Shot and post-produced in Brisbane (with the sound mix done at Philmsound and some foley work by Soundfirm’s Chinese offshoot), The Horseman was completed in mid-2008

The Horseman found itself without a distributor. It began jumping from festival to festival gathering critical attention along the way screening in at the 2008 Melbourne International Film Festival, as well as  others in Brisbane, New Zealand, the UK and the United States – particularly successful at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas.

“Many doors have opened both here and abroad. After our American premiere at the SXSW film festival I spent a month doing meetings in LA,” said Kastrissios, who received the blessing of the influential American blogger Harry Knowles (Ain’t It Cool News).

“It’s certainly been easier to gain interest in the film overseas, which I didn’t expect,” he told Encore.

“It was interesting to experience the difference in attitude over there. In the US, very high ranking people have their doors open for new filmmakers, whilst in Australia that’s not always the case, which can be disappointing and part of the reason many of our filmmakers leave our shores.”

The Horseman signed up the services of LA-based sales agent Media 8. The film has found distribution in territories such as the UK – through Kaleidoscope Entertainment – and, finally, in Australia through Umbrella Films.

Kastrissios’ production company Kastle Films is looking to launch off the success of The Horseman with a slate of genre films for the future.

“I have a strong interest in character-driven stories, but rather than producing a straight drama, I’m trying to weave it all through genre stories and that will be the common thread you will see in my work,” said Kastrissios.

The film has already been released on DVD and Blu Ray in the US and the UK, and in Australia, The Horseman is set for a limited release at the Chauvel Cinema (Sydney), the Tribal Theatre (Brisbane) on July 8, and Cinema Nova (Melbourne) on July 9.

“Whilst a broader release would have been great, I’m pleased that people will have the opportunity to view The Horseman on the big screen,” admitted Kastrissios. “The advantage of a theatrical release, no matter how limited, is that it will help give the film a profile that will benefit its eventual release on DVD.”

“If they let me! I absolutely loved it and that’s where I want to be.”

Tomorrow When The War Began will be released by Paramount Pictures in September.

Ensure that your entourage features an entertainment lawyer at all times. In addition to the contacts that your entertainment lawyer will have, negotiations at film festivals can occur everywhere,
so there will be plenty of opportunities for your entertainment lawyer to draft deal memos.

An alternative to film festival screenings are industry or arts organisation sponsored screenings such as the Tribeca film screening series. Another approach to the marketing of films is the  producer-sponsored screening. This will usually be coordinated by the producer’s rep (under the guidance of the producer).
As an alternative to the above methods, a producer may also wish to selectively distribute the film to key distributors, and sales agents for viewing at their leisure. This can be an effective way to market a film but the downside is that there will be an absence of audience reaction.
If none of the above marketing techniques work for your film, you may choose to screen it before a recruited audience in conjunction with a professional film research firm. The film should be played in a
screening room and distributors should be invited to attend. Following the screening, audience members will be asked to complete a survey about the film.
These are designed by professional marketing research companies that specialise in the movie business. If the results are positive, distributors may be enticed into releasing the film.
A producer’s rep should create competition amongst distributors and facilitate the best possible relationship between the domestic and foreign distributors of a film. Once the buyers have made a commitment to purchasing the film, an entertainment lawyer should negotiate the terms and conditions of the distribution arrangements.
The terms and conditions of the negotiation include:

• the term of the agreement;
• rights being reserved and conveyed;
• territories being sold;
• revenue and cost splits;
• details of any advance;
• distribution fee details;
• details of producer rights;
• tax treatment;
• details on the holding and dispersal of funds;
• filmmaker rights with regards to marketing and promotional activities in different territories;
• details of any licensing agreements;
• warranties and indemnities;
• dispute resolution mechanisms; and
• the extent of producer termination rights.

These terms and conditions are very complicated and should be dealt with by an entertainment lawyer who is skilled in the negotiation of such issues.
Gene Goodsell B Bus LLB (Hons) FTIA is an entertainment manager and lawyer and can be contacted at ggoodsell@navitasmgmt.com.

Instead of having a limited list of panellists, we consulted with the main agencies and organisations, and also asked our readers to nominate their candidates. We ended up with a list of more than 200 screen industry professionals, and deciding the final 50 was indeed a difficult task. Of course, some other very influential and successful people didn’t make the final cut, but there were only 50 spots and too many talented men and women!

We hope you’ll enjoy – or not, and if so, debate it passionately – the selection of what will become our annual Power 50 list.

1. CHRISTOPHER MAPP

Who: Managing director – Omnilab Media Group

What: Is there any area of the screen industry that Christopher Mapp’s empire doesn’t reach? Omnilab Media defines itself as “Australia and New Zealand’s largest privately owned, vertically integrated media company”, and that’s almost an understatement; its 16 companies do everything from film and TV production (Dr. D and Ambience Entertainment), production, post-production, sound and VFX (The Lab Sydney, Cornerpost, Digital Pictures, Iloura, Flagstaff Studios, Boffswana, Oktobor), captioning (The Substation), airline content (Pax Entertainment), broadcast and media management (The Playroom, Dubsat) and print distribution services (Websend), with a reported turnover of $100m per annum.

Mapp’s is not a rags-to-riches story, but he has employed the family’s existing resources to diversify and vertically integrate a media emporium that has allowed him to work with and for the best. His service companies operate independently but, when necessary, they share resources and expertise, such as the 3D lessons and infrastructure obtained from postproduction projects like Sanctum.

His creative ambitions have never blurred his desire to reduce risk by understanding the market and clearly identifying bankable projects. He’s one of the voices championing for a stronger business sense within the Australian screen industry.

In terms of content creation, Mapp has explored partnerships domestically and internationally, as well as different business models to grow his TV and film slate in terms of investment and/or production. They haven’t all been hits like Bran Nue Dae or The Bank Job – remember Dying Breed or Closed for Winter? -, and while many of these projects might be low to mid-budget in Hollywood standards, they’re reasonably large and ambitious for Australia. The upcoming slate in particular includes projects with a commercial vision not dissimilar to those coming from the big studios, with production values that can compete with the blockbusters.

What comes next: The eagerly-awaited release of horror masterpiece The Loved Ones and potential international hit Tomorrow When the War Began, end of principal photography and post-production for The Killer Elite, and production of Power of the Dark Crystal… and these are only the officially announced Omnilab projects; there are many more in Mapp’s busy world.

2. GEORGE MILLER

Who: Medical doctor, director, producer

What: It is unlikely that you were his patient during his medical practice years in the 1970s, but you may have heard of his legendary creation Mad Max, among many other domestic and international hits and awards over the last 30 years – with partners Byron Kennedy (1949-1983) and Doug Mitchell. He may not have been able to make his Justice League project in 2008 – famously being denied a provisional certificate for the Producer Offset in its early days – but that hasn’t stopped him; his U$100m+ sequel to the Oscar-winning Happy Feet (produced through his new studio Dr. D, in partnership with Mitchell and the Omnilab Media Group) is currently employing hundreds of visual artists, and required the creation of a state-of the art motion capture facility at Sydney’s CarriageWorks. The film has contributed significantly to NSW’s production expenditure and, working in close partnership with the state government, Miller – who recently said that the Australian industry has been complacent for 20 years, with moments of unsustained brilliance and an urgent need to catch up with New Zealand – hopes that a number of projects will go through the motion capture facility.

What comes next: The NSW shoot of big-budget Mad Max: Fury Road is imminent, proving Miller’s ability to find international investors and A-list talent to his high profile projects, and his understanding of the importance of creating and exploiting a franchise.

What the industry says: “A superhero of Australian motion picture production, with the best yet to come.”

3. RUTH HARLEY

Who: CEO, Screen Australia

What: When she packed her things and crossed the ditch 19 months ago, the former head of the New Zealand Film Commission knew the challenge of leading the newly-created agency Screen Australia during its formative period would be difficult, if not impossible.

Harley’s influence as the head of Screen Australia is unquestionable. Of course she doesn’t make all the decisions by herself, but as CEO she is fundamental in the direction of the Australian industry because, in a country where screen production still counts government funding as one of its main sources of finance, and where the federal agency is usually the principal contributor, deciding what gets supported, developed and produced – and how – determines the artistic and business potential of the resulting slate.

Screen Australia has suffered budget cuts – a trade-off for the money going towards the Producer Offset – but given that private investment has been limited since the introduction of the rebate, the agency still needs to top it up. It can only invest smaller amounts of money in lower budget projects in order to keep a broader slate, and mid-range projects are “suffering”, but Harley is a firm believer that the offset will ultimately work in benefit of the industry.

Harley has focused her attention on development – including the introduction of the multi-year support program for companies Enterprise –backed in this area by Martha Coleman. More help comes from another former NZFC exec, marketing manager Kathleen Drumm, to ensure the success of one of Harley’s core aims: building audiences by ‘thinking like a distributor’- and enthusiastically supporting more commercial fare than previous bodies.

What comes next: Where do we start? Continued support for features, television, documentaries and, increasingly, digital media; redefining the role of theatrical distribution in a converged media environment; ongoing consultation with industry, etc. The list is endless!

4. BOB CAMPBELL AND DES MONAGHAN

Who: Managing directors, Screentime

What: Screentime is much more than Underbelly, but even if it weren’t, Campbell and Monaghan would still deserve to be in this list, based on the ongoing success of the real life crime drama series – which will soon grow into three tele-movies – that has given the Nine Network a boost in ratings and an opportunity for never-ending cross-promotion across its factual programs. Operating in Australia, NZ and Ireland, the former MD of Seven (Campbell) and the founder of South Pacific Pictures (Monaghan) have an impeccable drama and factual slate that includes the recent A Model Daughter and False Witness tele-movies.

What comes next: The TV adaptation of Tim Winton’s Cloudstreet – which set reports indicate will be impressive – will screen in 2011. The Underbelly telemovies will go into production soon and, of course, a fourth series has already been confirmed.

5. RACHEL PERKINS

Who: Director, producer

What: After the success of the landmark documentary series First Australians – produced with her Blackfella Films partner Darren Dale – Perkins proved that an irreverent retro musical with humour and a social conscience may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it could nevertheless be a hit, turning Bran Nue Dae into the highest grossing Australian film of 2010 so far, with $7.6m+ at the box office. One of the most successful Indigenous filmmakers, Perkins is bringing history to life.

What comes next: Blackfella signed a three-year deal with SBS, including features, mini-series and documentaries. The next feature is The Comet, currently part of the Screen NSW script development program Aurora, about the love between a British marine and an Aboriginal woman in 1788.

6. MARK SCOTT

Who: Managing director, ABC

What: Many are not happy about the ABC’s digital and television expansion, which has been labelled as “visions of world domination”, but Scott’s point of view is very different: the ABC should connect with more Australians in new ways, more often, and experiment in ways that commercial TV can’t, even if the free-to-air and pay-TV networks feel the public broadcaster is entering their sacred territory with its digital children’s and news multi-channels. Scott has pursued an aggressive online presence, with mobile applications and the iView catch-up service building a large audience and pioneering IPTV in Australia.

“The more we fragment, the more our reach grows and the stronger our brand gets,” he said. But he’s no fortune-teller: “The media industry is like dog years, and no-one has any idea of what’s going to happen.”

What the industry says: “Scott has transformed the ABC into a public broadcasting powerhouse.”

7. WARWICK THORNTON

Who: Director, writer, cinematographer

What: After years of training , going through traineeships, film school and countless workshops, the son of the first director of the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association and director of Imparja Television (Freda Glynn) finally got $1.6m to make a film about two Indigenous kids, their community and their petrol-fuelled misadventures in Alice Springs. The project was embraced by Australia – even more so when it received the Camera d’Or at Cannes 2009 – and went on to make $3.5m and reach an even larger audience when it screened on the ABC before the DVD release, breaking traditional distribution models.

What comes next: Thornton is planning Art and Soul, a three-hour documentary series with Indigenous art curator Hetti Perkins, and a script for a period film about an orphanage/monastery.

8. JOEL PEARLMAN

Who: Managing director, Roadshow Films.

What: Pearlman’s commitment to Australian films is as clear as his nose to pick the right projects. In the last 12 months, Beautiful Kate achieved fantastic results for an art house film; the partnership with Hopscotch saw Mao’s Last Dancer make $16m and Bright Star literally shine; Bran Nue Dae was a surprise hit with $7.6m; and the romantic comedy I Love You Too opened strongly, with $0.8m in its first weekend. Sure, Roadshow is not the only distributor supporting local product, but it’s one of the smartest – and, of course, with more resources to do so.

What the industry says: “Committed to using his knowledge and influence as a major studio distributor to prove that local films can work at the box office.”

9. ANDREW MACKIE AND RICHARD PAYTEN

Who: Co-directors, Transmission Films

What: With years of experience and connections in the industry and after a long stint at Dendy Films, Mackie and Payten were able to launch an independent distribution company that thinks and acts big, combining commercial titles with foreign language films, Oscar nominees land the most acclaimed local and/or successful local projects: Balibo, Charlie & Boots, Samson & Delilah, Beneath Hill 60 and The Kings of Mykonos: Wog Boy 2. Most of Transmission’s titles have been released through its strong, ongoing partnership with Paramount Pictures – an alliance that has proved invaluable for Mackie, Payten, and the industry at large.

What comes next: Two potential local hits, both starring True Blood’s Ryan Kwanten: the contemporary western Red Hill, and the superhero movie Griff the Invisible.

Note from the editor: Since the publication of this list in late May 2010, Red Hill moved to Sony Pictures for distribution in Australia.

10. DAVID MICHÔD

Who: Director, writer

What: The former journalist is Australia’s hottest director after winning at Sundance last February. It didn’t happen overnight; his skills were developed over the years, with short films that played at that festival to very positive reactions and building strong relationships. Kingdom has been sold to more than 10 key territories, and has built an impressive word of mouth prior to its US release in August, which could result in a healthy box office run. 2010 is indeed the year of Michôd.

What comes next: “I have my head swimming with Australian stories, so I’d like to do another Australian movie,” he told Encore right after Sundance. Whether that will happen remains to be seen, as Hollywood has been knocking on his door and the offers might be too good to resist, particularly if the film does well in the US.

11. SHAUN BROWN

Who: Managing director, SBS

What: At a time when many question the relevance of SBS, based on the availability of online information for Australia’s ethnic communities and the broadcasters’ low ratings – being occasionally surpassed by 7Two and Go! – Brown is a tireless defender of Australia’s Special Broadcasting Service. Limited by his budget, Brown believes SBS can help ethnic communities connect with Australian media and society, thus avoiding the creation of ‘digital ghettos’. SBS has remained daring and experimental when commissioning content.

12. SUE TAYLOR

Who: Producer, Taylor Media

What: Her French co-production The Tree was the closing film (outside of competition) at Cannes last month, generating invaluable publicity that will force distributor Kojo Pictures to expand its exhibitor base. WA-based Taylor is pioneering a subscription-based campaign, offering people extras for a fee, allowing her to learn more about online and social networking as a marketing tool, and to use the community to generate long-term interest in Taylor Media’s output.

13. GEOFF BROWN

Who: Executive director, Screen Producers Association of Australia

What: The head of SPAA since 2002 is not afraid to speak his mind. Brown is one of the strongest voices in the industry, tirelessly lobbying government and looking after the interests of Australian producers – SPAA members or not. His decisions sometimes lead to conflict with other sectors of the industry – like last year’s conflict with the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance over SPAA’s withdrawal from the Offshore Commercials Agreement – but ultimately, Brown is a well-respected figure that won’t hesitate to tell the  world when a policy, strategy or legislation is not doing what it’s supposed to be doing.

14. JAN CHAPMAN

Who: Producer

What: Chapman is an institution. Behind this year’s president of the Sydney Film Festival Jury are two of the most iconic films this country has created: The Piano and Lantana. She’s industry royalty, so it would be understandable if Chapman were a diva, but she’s the exact opposite. In addition to her own projects, Chapman has devoted her time and energy over the last decade mentoring young producers such as Nicole O’Donohue (Griff the Invisible), Leah Churchill- Brown (Suburban Mayhem) and Anthony Anderson (Somersault).

15. LIZ WATTS

Who: Producer, Porchlight Films

What: Watts is another key figure behind this year’s success story, Animal Kingdom. One of the faces behind Porchlight Films, with Vincent Sheehan and Anita Sheehan; her projects have been met with various degrees of commercial success, but she never let disappointment stop her and now she’s harvesting the sweet fruits of those seeds.

What comes next: Preparing for the TV comedy Like a Virgin, for the ABC.

16. MARK AND CARL FENNESSY

Who: CEOs, Shine Australia

What: The Fennessy brothers officially left FremantleMedia in late 2009 to establish the local arm of Elisabeth Murdoch’s production powerhouse Shine. The company, they say, will remain small, but the slate will be big. Shine has formats galore, from the ones we know – The Biggest Loser has reverted back to Shine and MasterChef will follow after the third series in 2011 – to the ones we don’t: two projects for SBS, Letters and Numbers and The Family, The Boss is Coming to Dinner for Nine and Junior MasterChef for Ten. The brothers are also interested in developing new local ideas, from formats to scripted content, comedy in particular, and online material.

What the industry says: “After outstanding success with Crackerjack and Fremantle, they are now likely to really shine.”

17. PENNY CHAPMAN

Who: Producer, Matchbox Pictures

What: Former head of TV drama and head of TV at the ABC; always a bold producer whose drama work is legendary. Chapman has joined forces with Tony Ayres, Helen Bowden, Michael McMahon and Helen Panckhurst to form the powerful collective Matchbox Pictures.

What comes next: The second series of My Place, which will take children to the time before white settlement, and a not-so-child-friendly crime drama – produced with Panckhurst – about a family of smugglers, The Straits. She’s also executive producer of The Slap, the mini-series based on Christos Tsiolkas’ novel.

17. PETER AND MICHAEL SPIERIG

Who: Writers/directors/producers

What: Twin brothers who love genre films and are not afraid of being considered ‘too commercial’ by purists. Their second feature Daybreakers, a U$20m futuristic vampire movie, has earned almost U$50m worldwide. But the Spierigs are not moving to the US just yet; late last year they established a production company in Brisbane, Blacklab Entertainment.

What comes next: This year they’ll direct Power of the Dark Crystal, a high-profile sequel to the 1982 film that will combine motion capture, CGI and Jim Henson’s puppets. Blacklab will focus on factual programming before expanding into TV drama and features.

19. DAVID LECKIE

Who: Managing director, Seven Network

What: Leckie joined Seven in 2000, after 23 years at Nine. He slowly turned the ratings around and took the audience crown from his former employers in 2007, repeating the victory in 2008 before Nine recovered in 2009 – a year when Seven became the national ratings champion but lost the key five-city audience demographic. Seven’s got its strongest local slate in years and 7Two, launched months after Go!, has managed to build an audience.

Not everything is positive; Leckie’s increasingly tense relationship with James Packer reached its peak last year, when Packer reportedly confronted Leckie at a function at the Sydney Opera House over Seven’s coverage of his business dealings.

What the industry says: “He is a clear head and shoulders above every other commercial network head in Australian broadcasting history.” “K. Packer’s biggest single mistake was to axe him.”

20. STUART BEATTIE

Who: Writer, Director

What: Started his career with the kangaroo adventure Joey before moving to Hollywood. Soon he was involved in the first Pirates of the Caribbean, Collateral, Australia and G.I.Joe: The Rise of Cobra. His directorial debut had a US distribution deal before even shooting the first frame; the adaptation of the iconic John Marsden novel Tomorrow When the War Began, potentially the first true Australian teenage blockbuster ever. If he learned anything from his US experience, Tomorrow is going to be huge.

What comes next: Release of Tomorrow – which could become a profitable franchise. Also set to write Northern Lights, Without Remorse and Halo, and has a Bra Boys project in development with Russell Crowe.

21. ZAREH NALBANDIAN

Who: Co-founder, Animal Logic

What: A pioneer of computer-generated technologies for the screen, he co-funded Animal Logic in 1991. Soon, the company’s work achieved international recognition – particularly after The Matrix in 1999. Nalbandian has developed a strong relationship with Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow Pictures, resulting in the Oscar-winning Happy Feet. Further work with director Zack Snyder in 300 resulted in a partnership that would see Animal Logic produce its first animated 3D feature, Legend of the Guardians , due for release in September.

What comes next: The company will continue to work on TVCs and external VFX projects, as well as expand its slate, and is currently developing the mystery/ horror graphic novel Night Mary.

22. KIM WILLIAMS

Who: CEO and managing director – Foxtel

What: With a penetration rate of 34 percent, Foxtel is an important window for local content creators. Williams has been a vocal critic of the expansion of the ABC’s services and its leadership over Freeview, as well as the license fee rebate to free-to-air broadcasters – which he called “anti-competitive and wasteful subsidies and protections” -, claiming that there needs to be a balance in broadcasting policy and settings. Foxtel must try to grow its membership base in the face of an extended FTA and IPTV offering, by providing new services and adapting to changes in media consumption, as well as continuing to invest on local content.

What the industry says: “His business achievements in driving growth in subscriber TV and commitment to the industry in his positions at NSW Major Events and AFTRS are extraordinary.”

23. ROBERT CONNOLLY

Who: Director, producer, writer

What: A filmmaker committed to telling stories that matter, including his biggest hit Balibo – the first feature ever shot in East Timor, which was embraced by the country and banned by Indonesia. It also had an effect in Australia, bringing back the Balibo Five to the public’s attention and prompting the Australian Federal Police a new investigation based on a 2007 NSW coroner’s report. His white paper about solutions for the film industry has been greatly debated, and he’s also been a supporter of green initiatives for the sector.

24. SANDRA SDRAULIG

Who: CEO, Film Victoria

What: Sdraulig leads Australia’s most innovative state agency, which has made digital media and gaming a priority – even though its digital budget has been slashed. “It doesn’t matter to us what the delivery medium is, we’re really about content creation,” she’s said. That’s why support of TV production is also strong, resulting in the growth of several Victorian production companies developing healthy and diverse slates.

25. JAN SARDI

Who: Writer

What: Sardi knows how to touch people’s hearts, from his old TV work to the Oscar-nominated Shine to the box office success of his adaptations for Nicholas Sparks’ The Notebook (U$115m worldwide, plus very healthy and constant DVD sales) and local hit Mao’s Last Dancer ($16m) from Li Cunxin’s autobiography. Sardi is a firm believer in script development, and has often spoken about the struggles of Australian writers to practice their craft and make a living from it.

26. DONNA ANDREWS

Who: Producer

What: The CEO of Sticky Pictures now has a bigger company, after the merger of the animation business she co-founded with Stu Connolly and the live action production arm (Buster Dandy Productions) with Justine Flynn. Andrews had an animated hit with Pearlie, and is now shooting the UK co-prod Me and My Monsters (produced by Flynn and Roger Ford) at Fox Studios. A producer with a clear understanding of the children’s / youth market and the commercial opportunities associated with that segment.

27. ANDREW DENTON AND ANITA JACOBY

Who: Managing directors, Zapruder’s other films What: Zapruder’s is the source of intelligent content such as The Gruen Transfer (a big hit and sellable format), Elders and the extinct Enough Rope. They discovered the Chaser team with CNNN, and their Hungry Beast allowed them to find new talent and explore the possibilities of online content creation and consumption in a practical way, resulting in the creation of an online team that will generate material for the web to reach audiences directly and without the need of a network. They’re currently working on ways to monetise their online material.

What the industry says: “Innovative and always outside the square”.

28. ANTONY I. GINNANE

Who: Producer/President, SPAA

What: A provocative, prolific Melbourne veteran producer sharing his time between Australia and Los Angeles. A participant of the revival of the industry in the 70s and 80s, Ginnane has for decades spoken about the importance of listening to the market and ending the art/business debate to give audiences what they want, in addition to art and social realism. He’s been pushing the market door film debt facility to encourage distributors to finance mid-range films, and won’t stop until we see the film industry is as successful as local television – a sector which Ginnane always finds time to praise for its achievements.

What comes next: His project Artic Blast, shot in Tasmania, will be released in late 2010, and SPAA will continue to lobby government particularly prior to this year’s election and once DEWHA reports back to the federal government.

29. ROSS ENTWISTLE

Who: CEO, Limelight Cinemas/Board member, Screen Australia

What: The former MD of AHL Entertainment (Greater Union, Brich Carroll and Coyle), Entwistle became the first representative of the exhibition sector to be appointed to the board of Screen Australia (he has since been joined by Hoyts commercial and new business director Matthew Liebman). Entwistle runs Limelight Cinemas, which re-opened with eight screens in the ACT in 2009, following Hoyts’ exit from the Tuggeranong Hyperdrome Cinema.

What the industry says: “He belongs in the list because of his entrepreneurialism in starting Limelight after leaving GU and his commitment to using his knowledge of the exhibition and distribution sector to support the industry in his role at Screen Australia.”

30. JIM SHOMOS

Who: Producer

What: A pioneer in cross-platform and online content, whose comedy/drama series Forget the Rules was the first to broadcast all episodes on TV, broadband and mobiles. His MOWGIE (Movie Over Game Integrated Entertainment) Mordy Koots, developed with creator Clayton Jacobson, did not find the audience they expected during its exclusive run at ninemsn, but it was significant as one of the first content deals a popular Australian video portal has made with an independent producer. Shomos is now looking at new ways to monetise high-production value content generated for online/mobile platforms.

31. RORY CALLAGHAN

Who: CEO, Southern Star

What: Former director of programmes Callaghan was appointed CEO after the departure of Hugh Marks (now at Hoodlum). Callaghan came from Granada and prior to that, Nine, with credits in many of the biggest formats produced in the country over the years. Callaghan is now responsible for a slate that is impossible to ignore, covering FTA and pay-TV networks across all genres : Rush, Love My Way, Rescue Special Ops, Tangle, Bed of Roses, Hi 5, Deal or No Deal, Beauty & the Geek and the upcoming Strictly Speaking, among others. The company was acquired by Endemol in March 2009, and Callaghan faces the challenge of increasing production of scripted and non-scripted material, as well as branded content.

32. NASH AND JOEL EDGERTON

Who: Actors/Writers/Directors/Producers

What: The Edgertons are at the very centre of Australia’s power collective Blue Tongue Films – with David Michôd, Oscar-nominee Luke Doolan, Kieran Darcy- Smith, Spencer Susser and Tony Lynch. Always busy, working on each other’s projects and providing honest, valuable feedback, this relationship has allowed all of them to build their skills and benefit from the success of the others when people make connections between its members. Joel has explored more his talent in front of the camera, but his only feature script, The Square, directed by Nash has received glowing reviews when the film was released in the US last April. Nash – also a stunt man and stunt coordinator – has directed award-winning shorts (Spider) and music videos, and should benefit from the US achievements of The Square.

33. RICHARD HARRIS

Who: CEO, South Australian Film Corporation

What: South Australia might be small in population, but its industry is extremely vital and counts with the ongoing support of Premier Mike Rann. Since joining the SAFC, Harris has introduced the Enterprise Development Program and the low-budget FilmLab initiative, as well as the Producer Equity Scheme and Rights Reversion Policy. Many of Australia’s most innovative projects come from, or have been supported by South Australia, which is working to become a production centre for low-budget projects.

What comes next: The opening of the Adelaide Film and Screen Centre in 2011.

34. PETER ANDRIKIDIS

Who: Director

What: One of Australia’s most acclaimed TV drama directors, with more than 30-years experience including G.P., Wildside, Grass Roots, East West 101 and Underbelly. With a number of tele-movies under his belt, like the recent False Witness, Andrikidis only made his film debut this year with The Kings of Mykonos: Wog Boy 2, embracing a highly commercial project and leaving aside any kind of artistic elitism.

What comes next: Currently shooting the crime series Killing Time, and attached to direct The Straits and his second feature, the ANZAC-themed film Simpson.

35. LAURA WATERS

Who: Producer

What: US-born Waters is the principal at Princess Pictures. Her collaborations with Chris Lilley, Summer Heights High and We Can Be Heroes, were big ratings and critical hits for the ABC, generating the attention of US pay-TV network HBO and the UK’s BBC, to co-produce Angry Boys – the first ever collaboration between the three broadcasters. Her feature film debut I Love You Too, directed by Daina Reid, managed to earn, at press time, almost $2m.

36. EMILE SHERMAN

Who: Producer

What: Sherman set up See-Saw films with Iain Canning, his London-based partner. The company’s slate is diverse and based on official and unofficial co-productions, from last year’s animated $9.99 (Israel) and Disgrace (South Africa) to the recent The Kings of Mykonos: Wog Boy 2 (Greece), and the upcoming Oranges and Sunshine and The King’s Speech (UK).

37. BEN LIEBMAN

Who: VP of licensing, FremantleMedia Enterprises What: Head of the commercial arm of Fremantle Media, Liebman has coordinated the multi-million expansion of the MasterChef brand and will oversee the development of a live events division for stage productions, theatre, consumer and trade shows based on their existing properties, as well as new acquisitions.

38. ANTHOS SIMON

Who: General manager of creative services, Deluxe Australia/General manager for EFilm

What: An expert in digital post-production, Simon oversaw the company’s infrastructure upgrades. One of the driving forces behind the successful restoration of the classic 1971 film Wake in Fright and oversees Deluxe’s film restoration project with Kodak and the National Film and Sound Archive.

39. ANDREW LESNIE

Who: Cinematographer

What: Academy Award winner for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring; Lesnie has been a close Peter Jackson collaborator. He also works extensively shooting high-profile TVCs, and hasn’t forgotten Australia, recently returning to shoot Bran Nue Dae in WA, giving the film its explosive colour palette.

40. JEREMY SAUNDERS

Who: Graphic artist

What: Film poster designer extraordinaire, Saunders has created some of the most beautiful, provocative, bold film posters in Australia, both for local and international films. Above all, his artwork is always relevant to the film’s artistic vision and look – sometimes it’s better than the film itself. Currently nominated for a Key Art Award for Lars von Triers’ Antichrist.

41. ROGER SAVAGE

Who: Chief executive, Soundfirm

What: An Oscar nominee for Moulin Rouge and multiple AFI winner, the re-recording mixer and head of Soundfirm is a legend in the sound post sector. Originally from the UK, he worked with many recording stars when he migrated to Australia in the 60s, before entering the screen business with Mad Max II – using synchronised video picture and multi-track sound for the first time on a feature. He founded one of the most successful sound post houses in the country, Soundfirm, now operating in Sydney, Melbourne and, in a visionary move, Beijing since 2004.

What the industry says: “[…] Award-winning soundtracks, an innovative approach to recording equipment, and support and fostering young sound engineers.”

42. ALEX PROYAS

Who: Director, producer, writer

What: One of Australia’s most successful filmmakers working in Hollywood. The decision to grant his film Knowing the Producer Offset after an initial rejection is a positive sign for international projects developed and driven by Australians regardless of their funding, storyline and cast, to access the offset.

What comes next: The $100m Universal Pictures epic Dracula Year Zero, which he hopes to shoot in Sydney. Sam Worthington has been attached.

43. KATH SHELPER

Who: Producer

What: Warwick Thornton’s long-time collaborator.

What comes next: At Scarlett Pictures, Shelper is now working with Alice Springs director Beck Cole on The Place Between, about a South Australian Indigenous woman who is released from gaol and has to rebuild her life. It’s set to shoot in Adelaide this year.

What the industry says: “Her commitment to Indigenous filmmaking over many years is tenacious, and her support for the production of Samson & Delilah and its consequent success, unwavering.”

44. SHAUN FARRINGTON

Who: Managing Director, Zealot

What: With offices in Sydney, London, New York and Los Angeles, Farrington’s marketing company Zealot is growing, delivering trailers and sales reels for Australian and international film and TV projects and corporate clients. Their trailer for Animal Kingdom was one of the highlights of the campaign, and their work is up for the Key Arts Awards in the US (the trailer for the doco Food Inc., and the TV spot for the Cohen brothers’ A Single Man).

45. GREIG FRASER

Who: Cinematographer

What: A rising star, who has photographed Bright Star for Jane Campion, The Boys Are Back for Scott Hicks and Last Ride for Glendyn Ivin. Fraser recently asked Let Me In to Hollywood, having completed work on the remake of Swedish teen vampire hit.

46. CHRIS BROWN

Who: Producer, Pictures in Paradise

What: A master of genre and co-productions, with recent credits that go from The Proposition to the hit vampire film Daybreakers. Brown has traditionally worked with partners in the US, the UK and Canada, but is now expanding his horizons in Europe and Asia. He is currently in production of the first official co-production with Singapore, the 3D shark film Bait.

What comes next: Brown and his wife Diana are developing Italian/Australian co-productions – the first ever since the treaty was signed in 1993 – and planning for an Australian shoot.

47. CHRISTOPHER GORDON

Who: Composer

What: A successful concert and events music composer, UK-born Gordon is quickly becoming one of Australia’s options for orchestral scores – as different as Mao’s Last Dancer and Daybreakers – and as conductor of screen orchestrations for film and TV. He’s won the AFI Award (Mao’s Last Dancer), Australian Screen Music Awards, among others.

48. JULES O’LOUGHLIN

Who: Cinematographer

What: The DOP of Kokoda, September and Lucky Country was also in charge of the country’s first big scale stereoscopic 3D film, the U$30m Sanctum, executive-produced by James Cameron. With his exposure to the rigorous 3D techniques employed in Avatar, combined with his previous award-winning work, O’Loughlin has an edge over other cinematographers who are just catching up with the 3D trend.

49. SEAN MEEHAN

Who: Director – represented by Soma Films

What: One of the most successful TVC directors, winning the Australian Directors Guild Award in 2008 for The  Race (McDonald’s) and nominated again in 2009 for Separation (Quit Victoria). Meehan’s work has also been recognised internationally, including the Cannes Bronze Lion in 2007.

50. GUY GROSS

Who: Composer, director Trackdown

What: One of Australia’s most prolific and eclectic screen composers, combining genres and styles across film and TV with a clear understanding of the balance between music as an art and as a business. Currently the vice-president of the AGSC, and recipient of the APRA / AGSC International Achievement Award.

Lou is the second feature film by Belinda Chayko after City Loop, produced by Matchbox Pictures’ Tony Ayres, Helen Bowden, Michael McMahon and executive producer Liz Watts (Porchlight Films).
The film tells the story of Lou, the daughter in a struggling family living in rural NSW trying desperately to make ends meet. The family bond is tested when Alzheimer’s patient and Lou’s grandfather Doyle is dumped under their care.
Lou evolved from a script that Chayko wrote as a master’s degree project at the University of Western Sydney, but the process was not an easy one.

A HAND DOESN’T HURT
The film was always intended to be a low-budget project at under $2m with an all-domestic cast, but it was apparent from the start that funding would be an issue after the now defunct Australian Film Commission program IndiVision failed to make the script a reality.
After trying unsuccessfully to secure the film’s funding privately, the team realised they would need to take the government funding route and attach an actor of international standing to get the film financed; a difficult task considering the film had a 12-year-old girl in the lead and a relatively fresh director at the reigns.
Industry connections helped in getting John Hurt on board. Prominent London-based casting director Gary Davy was contacted through friends, McMahon and Ayres and a copy of the script was sent to five different actors, amongst of which was the esteemed actor John Hurt.
“And to our great pleasure,’ said producer Helen Bowden, “he read the script and then got back in touch to say he would do it.”
With Hurt on board, the film’s production was secured.

“It was a very well written script for a start,” Hurt told Encore, “and I thought it was a very neat little film.”
John Hurt lent his talents to play the role of Doyle, Lou’s Alzheimer-suffering grandfather.
“It was a very interesting part to play, well understood and well defined.”
Despite Hurt’s talents as a character actor being commonly lent to big-budget studio films such as Harry Potter and Hellboy, Hurt still makes a point to appear in the independent sector.
“The work that I’ll be known for, apart from Alien and a few others, would basically be independent,” he said.
While Hurt’s involvement in the production took a considerable portion of the budget, it was all part of the creative team’s plan.
“The important thing to remember is that what we get back in terms of marketing by having him on the film is well-worth what you pay for an actor of his calibre,” explained Chayko.
Once Hurt became involved, the funds come rolling in. The film secured an international sales agent, Bankside Pictures, and gained the attention of a variety of financiers procuring funds from Screen NSW through their production investment program, Screen Australia, Film Victoria and the South Australia Film Corporation. Kojo Pictures signed on as distributor.

While the film was shot in northern NSW, other territories had a stake in the project as well. Melbourne-based producers McMahon and Ayres secured post-production funding from Film Victoria, while South Australia’s Kojo Pictures drew the funding from the SAFC.
While the beneficial effects of Hurt’s involvement were mainly financial, having him on set reaped some other benefits.
“Everybody lifts their game when they’re working with someone like John Hurt. Our days had to be very short and focused, and John was an additional benefit there, and that’s certainly the case for me. I’m not mucking around when I’m working with someone like John Hurt,” admitted Chayko.
Hurt’s opinion on working on an Australian set, having worked on one before with John Hillcoat’s AFI-winning The Proposition, echoed a similar sentiment, “In Australia there isn’t room for a bullshit crew; it would be found out and wouldn’t be able to work because they can’t afford that sort of nonsense.”
GETTING THE WORD OUT
Getting seen is the next battle for Lou. With the target audience identified as women aged 30-45+, it’s now the not-so-simple matter of getting the word out there.
Lou premiered at the Dungog Film Festival, and social networking sites are also being used to promote the film, with a Twitter account and Facebook page accounting for 589 followers at press time. The poster was created by Jeremy Saunders and the trailer, by The Solid State.
The film is scheduled for a limited cinema release on June 17 to 15 screens nationally (Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Byron Bay, Murwillumbah and Tasmania).
“We’re really hoping we can just hang in the cinemas for long enough to get some good word of mouth and audience numbers,” said Chayko.
After Lou, Chayko will once again team up with Matchbox Pictures, for the horror film The Carrier. The project will provide a new set of challenges for her, having never worked in genre before; it will start production in 2011.