Animal Kingdom: fierce creatures
First-time feature director David Michôd tamed the beasts that inhabit his Animal Kingdom; a Melbourne crime thriller that is the Australian success story of 2010. Miguel Gonzalez reports from Melbourne. Read more »
Focus on Victoria: settling the score
Rivalries between the states are inevitable but ultimately unproductive. While Victoria may not have the highest production investment total of the year, the cultural capital of Australia is strengthening its local slate.
Victoria is considered Australia’s cultural capital, so why isn’t it the country’s screen production capital too, or at least not anymore? Read more »
The Kings of Mykonos: wogs always strike twice
When you have an $11.4m comedy in your hands, a sequel is a no-brainer, even if it takes 10 years to make it happen. Miguel Gonzalez met with the creators of The Kings of Mykonos and discussed why ‘ethnic’ content is the secret to domestic and international success.
Five years ago actor/writer/producer Nick Giannopoulos started developing a story about a couple of Australians with a Mediterranean background going back to their ancestral homeland for the first time, only to discover that it is no longer the same place their parents left, and that they are, in fact, more Australian than they ever thought they were. Read more »
Cinematography: painting the town red
A new company launched a camera and started a revolution. Encore looks at how Red has changed the industry and forced the bigger companies to compete.
For a business founded in 1999, the Red Digital Cinema Camera Company has come a long way – and gained a substantial market share in the process, competing head-to- head with the more established players like ARRI, Sony and Panavision. Read more »
I Love You Too: all you need is rom-com
Romantic comedies make money. Lots of it. So why isn’t Australia making more? Miguel Gonzalez spoke with the creators of I Love You Too, a comedy that will help fill that gap in the film market.
I Love You Too is comedian Peter Helliar’s big screen debut, produced by Princess Pictures’ Laura Waters (We Can Be Heroes, Summer Heights High) and Yael Bergman (Love and Other Catastrophes). Read more »
Sales agents: your window to the world
Entertainment lawyer and agent Gene Goodsell looks at the legal points that should be considered when signing up with one of a producer’s most important allies: the international sales agent.
Sales agents are essential for producers– why? Because they marry buyers and sellers, packagers of talent, and financiers. Read more »
Occupational Health and Safety: un-risky business
In a dynamic industry where all minds are fixated on the finished product, does OHS take a back seat to the ‘important stuff’? Micah Chua writes.
While Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) for any industry has a reputation for being bureaucratic, complex and generally difficult, perhaps things have a potential to be different for the screen industry. Read more »
Triangle: the geometry of co-productions
A thriller set off the coast of Florida and shot in Queensland was the first official co-production to receive the Producer Offset, and its creators told Encore how they avoided getting caught in a Triangle.
British director Christopher Smith conceived Triangle in 2004, starting with the basic premise of “being on the deck of a ship, looking back at yourself”. After completing Severance, he started developing the idea in 2006. Read more »
Accidents Happen: the American Australian dream
It may look American and sound American, but behind the US facade of Accidents Happen lays a star-powered Australian project ready to compete head-to-head with any independent film in the world.
Accidents Happen is Hollywood star Geena Davis’s first independent film. Few would know it from watching it without the credits, but that indie debut took place in Australia, in a project that expands the local industry’s globalisation of stories. Read more »
Underbelly: the golden franchise
Its creators never thought Underbelly would go that far, but now they’re walking their third mile in 80s style. For the new instalment The Golden Mile, ultra-contemporary thinking meets retro styling. Laine Lister got the low down on big hair, bent cops and vintage number plates. Read more »