End of the Sydney trip

It’s been a long week. More interviews are on tape and our heads are spinning with excitement as we look to the New Year with anticipation of cutting together what we have so far.

One of the highlights this week has to be our first radio appearance. After interviewing Megan Spencer she invited us on, as late replacements, to be interviewed about our documentary. We were cut from the main broadcast due to the 20/20 cricket and could only be heard streamed live from the web. So our audience was small but it is a beginning. We also spoke with Paul Coulter (late owner of the Lumiere in Melbourne) on the phone in a live cross.

Now its beer o’clock and the cricket is on. Sitting here with our KFC bucket, air con pumping and our heads chilled back on our pillows. Time to pop open the draughts and celebrate!

Quit our jobs...but still full steam ahead

This trip is already frustrating and it’s only the end of Day 1. Since quitting our jobs to work on the documentary full time, money has been a problem. Not so much a problem but an issue to deal with and it looks like we will be hitting up the credit card from now on. Which means debt.

The hotel is not to bad, but it isn’t great. The internet is expensive, the extra comforts of a bedside table are non-existent and the desk is one of those minimalist ones shoved in the corner that can hold a skinny TV and that’s about it...not the ideal workspace for traveling filmmakers. Enough complaining - on with the job at hand.

Today we had two great interviews, firstly Adrianne Pecotic from AFACT, who raised some interesting points about piracy and creative ownership. After lunch we interviewed Stephen Basil-Jones from Sony Pictures Releasing. He was very encouraging of our work and great to chat with, he had some upfront thoughts on the real issues facing distributors in this evolving cinema environment.

Destination: Film Festival

Today we jumped in the Honda and zoomed off to Newton, Sydney for the closing session of Destination Film Festival. We had an interesting drive through Newton finding the place but once we did it was worth it. Carriageworks! A new contemporary art space transformed from an old railway station...an unreal space, mixing rustic charm with modern technology perfectly.

Megan Spencer introduced the session (Cyber-Born Film) and then let the film Four Eyed Monsters do the talking. It’s a great film, innovative in everyway. We had watched all their video podcasts but had never seen the film on the BIG SCREEN. Its a testament to how indie filmmakers can use digital distribution and marketing to get a film out there...hey we just watched their film on a Big Screen in an old railway station in Sydney! If that’s not getting it out there I don’t know what is.

The discussion with the panel afterwards was great with such speakers as Rosemary Blight (Clubland), Rachel Lucas (Bondi Tsunami), Dan & Dominique Angeloro (Soda Jerk) and Toby Ralph (Street Sweeper). We had some drinks afterwards in a nearby pub, swapped some stories and bizz cards then were back on the road. A good trip and a good festival.

Highlights so far...

What a whirlwind tour. Interviews, running out of money, changing schedule, the red carpet of the AFI’s! It’s been hard going but great all the same. We have some really good interviews on tape and great colour from the AFI’s.

Highlights of this week included an encouraging chat with Robert Connolly, great discussion with Dee McLachlan and Andrea Buck from The Jammed and interviewing George Miller on the red carpet at the AFI’s.

On to Melbourne

Ah the ole City Limits. It’s a little hotel tucked away on Little Burke street, but its got all the right comforts, nice staff, brekky in the fridge and cheap internet– great for any indie filmmaker looking for a place in Melbourne.

Adelaide is down, Melbourne and Sydney to go. Spoke with a taxi diver this morning about the upcoming Indian tour of Australia. Meeting with Paul Wiegard from Madman today followed by Robert Connolly, Richard Wolesncroft and Antony Ginnane tomorrow.

Who are we interviewing?

Two big interviews today and they went really well. Talked with Didier Elzinger from Rising Sun Pictures about the VFX industry and the way he believes Australian filmmakers and VFX artists could evolve in Australia. In the afternoon we had a lengthy discussion with Murali, director of 2:37. He shared some insightful thoughts about the way forward for young filmmakers in Australia and how we can be making cinema people want to see.

Tonight I am watching Alexandra’s Project, ahead of an interview with Rolf De Heer tomorrow. Then in the evening we will interview Richard Harris, which rounds out our time in SA.

It’s been worthwhile; hopefully we can muster two good interviews tomorrow and head to Melbourne with our heads up. Phil is tired and hungry, my stomach is growling...time for some takeaway.

Adelaide arrival

Arrived in Adelaide to warm evening heat and a very talkative taxi driver. This city is interesting with its blend of colonial buildings and modern centres. Our hotel is terrible; definitely not what was in the picture but after some chummy chatting with the receptionist he has upgraded us (free of charge). Apparently he doesn’t like his job and says he’ll quit tomorrow- lucky timing for us.

A big week ahead, time to stop typing and start prepping...maybe after a quick bite.

Preparation

Its 10:30 at night and I should be sleeping in preparation for tomorrow’s trip. Instead I am watching the behind the scenes featurette of 2:37 and compiling some research on Shane Abbess. Phil is rocking up at my house at 5:30am then we are off to Sydney.

We will be interviewing Shane at the Sony theatrette at 11am and hopefully meet with Peter Cody at 2:30pm for a quick discussion about the possibility of interviewing him for our project.

Then it’s back in the car and off home to Canberra. Today was also the first day of working on the film 8:30-5pm as I quit my job on Friday- it was a great feeling, here’s to many more productive days ahead. Well enough writing from me, back to work and hopefully sleep...soon enough.

Organising trips away

Andrew has half a day off work today so we are working together trying to organise trips away to Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney and Brisbane. Tough to do with only a few weeks before Christmas, so we'll see how we go.

More Interviews...

It's crazy that another month has come to pass. We are extremely busy getting everything in order before the end of year. We've done many more interviews (Alan Finney, Sue Maslin, Natalie Miller, Mark Spratt and Antonio Zeccola - just to name a few), which we will have up on our interviewee page shortly.

We have many more interviews planned and some really exciting announcements coming up...so stay tuned.

Pre-ADG conference

September has come and gone and as you can see, another month of not many entries. It has been an interesting month full of ups and downs, we only wish we had the time to write them all down. That is the one word that encapsulates September, Time. We are quickly learning that as filmmakers you always want the time you don't have. Then when things are going slow you wish something would just hurry up and get the project up and running again.

This weekend we are about to embark on a trip to Sydney for the Australian Directors Guild conference. We are looking forward to meeting many of the people who make the films that create the cinema culture we live in. We have had some recent luck, a late email last night from the ADG has given us permission to film the event and to network with Directors.

The bags are packed, camera is in the boot and we are off...

Interviewed Bruce

Meeting Bruce Beresford at his book launch back in August has paid off. Not only did we buy a great book but on Tuesday Phil got to meet the man and record an interview with him for the film. Andrew was absent (as he had to work) so Phil was put in the unusual hot seat of interviewer. The interview went well and Bruce was encouraging. We wish him all the best in his future projects.

Back from the AIMC

It has been a few weeks since our last entry as we have been busy working on the doco after our week away at the Movie Convention.

AIMC was a good trip for us. We met a lot of distributors, exhibitors and filmmakers. We saw a few new movies and enjoyed schmoozing by the bar late into the night. (On a side note; Andrew earned a reputation as the quickest 'business card slinger' at the convention with his smooth slight of hand, wooing the ladies and guys alike).

We were able to conduct some interesting interviews, including, Mark Gooder (Icon), Robert Reeve (Becker Entertainment), Gerald Hensley (DTS) and Mark Sarfaty (Ex-Head of Dendy cinemas). We also learnt a lot about the future of the industry and will continue to research the current issues and make further contact with possible interviewees.

AIMC prep

Another late night preparing for the Australian International Movie Convention. We are catching a 6am bus tomorrow to Sydney then a flight from there to the Gold Coast. Should be a big week. You can never be too prepared but here's hoping all goes well.

Dr Plonk opens at the Arc

Last night the Arc opened at the National Film and Sound Archive in Canberra. We went along to document the official opening and record some of the after gala party. Rolf De Heer's new film "Dr. Plonk" premiered and will go down in history as the first film to ever screen at the Arc. We were lucky enough to meet and chat with Rolf after the film, fingers crossed we will interview him later this year

Bruce Beresford

We went to a literary dinner last night with Bruce Beresford, at the Hyatt in Canberra. It was mainly lots of older people chuckling along to Bruce's anecdotes but we must admit he had some good stories to tell. We bought a copy of his new book and got him to sign it. Asked him if he would be interested to do an interview for the doco, he didn't commit to one but we got his email. So you never know.