Screen Australia Supplement

www.ScreenDaily.com

Australia special 2014

Australian talent

focus

■ Hot projects ■ Diverse locations ■ Co-production boom ■ Festival support ■ Rising stars

“The WEALTH of TALENTthat AUSTRALIA continuously yields – generation after generation –

SARAH SNOOK

is EXTRAORDINARY” Cate Blanchett, Winner Best Actress Oscar® 2014 NICOLE KIDMAN

JOEL EDGERTON

Australian actors headline ...the highest grossing movies of all time MIA WASIKOWSKA Alice in Wonderland • SAM WORTHINGTON Avatar • HEATH LEDGER The Dark Knight • ERIC BANA, GEOFFREY RUSH Finding Nemo • CATE BLANCHETT, HUGO WEAVING The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey • LIAM HEMSWORTH The Hunger Games • GUY PEARCE Iron Man 3 • SAM NEILL Jurassic Park • CATE BLANCHETT, MIRANDA OTTO, HUGO

WEAVING, DAVID WENHAM The Lord of the Rings • CHRIS HEMSWORTH Marvel’s The Avengers • RUSSELL CROWE Man of Steel MEL GIBSON The Passion of the Christ • GEOFFREY RUSH Pirates of the Caribbean • TONI COLLETTE The Sixth Sense RACHAEL TAYLOR Transformers • HUGO WEAVING Transformers: Dark of the Moon • ISABEL LUCAS Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen • XAVIER SAMUEL The Twilight Saga: Eclipse • MIRANDA OTTO War of the Worlds • HUGH JACKMAN X-Men

...the highest grossing movies of 2013 JOEL EDGERTON, ISLA FISHER, JASON CLARKE, ELIZABETH DEBICKI The Great Gatsby • CATE BLANCHETT The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug • LIAM HEMSWORTH, STEF DAWSON The Hunger Games: Catching Fire • ROSE BYRNE Insidious: Chapter 2 • GUY PEARCE Iron Man 3 • RUSSELL CROWE Man of Steel • CHRIS HEMSWORTH Thor: The Dark World

MARGOT ROBBIE The Wolf of Wall Street • HUGH JACKMAN The Wolverine

...the biggest movies this year SULLIVAN STAPLETON 300: Rise of an Empire • ED OXENBOULD Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day JASON CLARKE, KODI SMIT-MCPHEE Dawn of the Planet of the Apes • ERIC BANA Deliver Us From Evil JAI COURTNEY Divergent • MEL GIBSON The Expendables 3 • JOEL EDGERTON Exodus: Gods & Kings • CATE BLANCHETT How to Train Your Dragon 2 • BRENTON THWAITES Maleficent • ROSE BYRNE Neighbors • RUSSELL CROWE Noah

NICOLE KIDMAN Paddington • ABBIE CORNISH Robocop • NAOMI WATTS St Vincent • RUSSELL CROWE, RYAN CORR, JAI COURTNEY, STEVE BASTONI The Water Diviner • HUGH JACKMAN X-Men: Days of Future Past

…and the biggest US TV shows JESSICA DE GOUW Arrow • DAMON HERRIMAN Battle Creek • JACKI WEAVER Blunt Talk • JESSE SPENCER Chicago Fire SARAH SNOOK Clementine • CHRISTOPHER EGAN, ALAN DALE Dominion • ANNA TORV, JOHN NOBLE Fringe ALEX O’LOUGHLIN Hawaii Five-0 • JOSH LAWSON House of Lies • ABBIE CORNISH Klondike • YVONNE STRAHOVSKI 24: Live Another Day • ASHLEY ZUKERMAN Manhattan • SIMON BAKER The Mentalist • CLARE BOWEN Nashville

YAEL STONE Orange is the New Black • ADEN YOUNG, ADELAIDE CLEMENS Rectify • RYAN KWANTEN True Blood TRAVIS FIMMEL Vikings • MIRANDA OTTO Westworld

AUSTRALIA SPECIAL 2014 UK office Zetland House, 5-25 Scrutton St, London EC2A 4HJ Tel: +44 (0) 20 3033 4267 US office Screen International, 8581 Santa Monica Blvd, #707, West Hollywood, CA 90069 E-mail: firstname.lastname@screendaily.com (unless stated) Editorial Supplement editor Sarah Cooper Editor Wendy Mitchell +44 (0) 20 3033 2816 Australia correspondent Sandy George +61 2 9557 7425 sandygeorge@me.com US editor Jeremy Kay +1 310 922 5908 jeremykay67@gmail.com News editor Michael Rosser +44 (0) 20 3033 2720 Chief reporter Andreas Wiseman +44 (0) 20 3033 2848 Chief critic and reviews editor Mark Adams +44 7841 527 505 Group head of production and art Mark Mowbray +44 (0) 20 3033 2817 Group art director, MBI Peter Gingell +44 (0) 20 3033 4203 peter.gingell@mb-insight.com Advertising and publishing Commercial director Andrew Dixon +44 (0) 20 3033 2928 Sales manager Scott Benfold +44 (0) 20 3638 5050 Sales manager Nadia Romdhani (maternity leave) UK, South Africa, Middle East Andrew Dixon +44 (0) 20 3033 2928 France, Spain, Portugal, Latin America, New Zealand, Singapore, Australia, Scott Benfold +44 (0) 20 3638 5050 Germany, Scandinavia, Benelux, Eastern Europe Gunter Zerbich +44 (0) 20 3033 2930 Italy, Asia, India Ingrid Hammond +39 05 7829 8768 ingridhammond@libero.it VP business development, North America Nigel Daly +1 323 654 2301 / 213 447 5120 nigeldalymail@gmail.com Production manager Jonathon Cooke +44 (0) 20 3033 4296 jonathon.cooke@mb-insight.com Group commercial director, MBI Alison Pitchford +44 (0) 20 3033 2949 alison.pitchford@mb-insight.com Subscription customer service +44 (0) 1604 828 706 help@subscribe.screendaily.com Sales administrator Justyna Zieba +44 (0) 20 3033 2694 justyna.zieba@mb-insight.com Chief executive, MBI Conor Dignam +44 (0) 20 3033 2717 conor.dignam@mb-insight.com

THE AUSSIE ASCENT Hear that? Australian voices are getting louder.

Some of Hollywood’s most bankable stars are Australian — Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett to name just a few. Australian talents behind the camera are also making waves — David Michôd and Justin Kurzel made names for themselves across the international industry with debut features Animal Kingdom and Snowtown, respectively; Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook was one of the darlings of Sundance 2014, and Julius Avery makes an impressive debut with BFI London Film Festival selection Son Of A Gun. One of the hottest deals at the Cannes market was The Weinstein Company’s $12m acquisition of Garth Davis’s forthcoming Lion.

Talents can emerge anywhere; what makes the current Australian boom so impactful is that the talent is being supported and championed at home and abroad. Film finance is never easy anywhere, yet Australia’s famed pro-

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2 ADVANCING AUSTRALIAN FARE With its depth of talent, financial incentives and appeal as a coproduction partner, the growth of Australia’s film industry continues unabated

4 WET AND WILD Diverse locations and established studios attract a string of international productions

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6 A PERFECT PARTNER

8 BRIGHT STARS

With new guidelines due to come into force, Australia could see a boost to its already healthy co-production sector

Australia’s producers are working on an exciting range of projects

7 THE FESTIVE SPIRIT

Screen International is part of Media Business Insight Ltd (MBI), also publisher of Broadcast and shots

12 www.screendaily.com

ducer offset has made a real difference to building sustainable production businesses in Australia. Just a decade ago, exciting producers such as See-Saw, Goalpost and Warp didn’t yet exist; now they are making a big difference to Australia’s film exports. Distributors Hopscotch and Madman also have moved into production, and the production support from Australia’s festivals is another bright spot.

Australia continues to be an attractive co-producer, especially for territories such as the UK and potential partners in India or Singapore. And of course US productions tap into Australian incentives, infrastructure and locations — Angelina Jolie’s Unbroken being just one powerful example.

There is much to champion in Australia this year, and Screen is thrilled to highlight a few of these talents and trends on the following pages.

Wendy Mitchell, editor

Australian festivals are increasingly high-profile launch pads, and their funding streams are taking local projects to the next level

10 THE TALENT SHOW Four of the territory’s hottest new stars

12 MOVING WITH GOALPOST Goalpost Pictures’ Rosemary Blight on the company’s international outlook Australia Special 2014 Screen International 1

FEATURE OVERVIEW

Advancing Australian fare With its depth of talent, financial incentives and appeal as a co-production partner, the growth of Australia’s film industry continues unabated. By Sandy George ustralian actors are hot property in Hollywood. From Guy Pearce in Iron Man 3 to Cate Blanchett in The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug, big-name Australian actors starred in half of last year’s top 10 worldwide hits, while this year has seen, among others, Hugh Jackman in X-Men: Days Of Future Past, Jason Clarke in Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes, Russell Crowe in Noah and Rose Byrne in Bad Neighbours (aka Neighbors in the US).

“Our actors are one of our greatest strengths,” says prolific veteran producer Timothy White. “I don’t think we have fully benefited from them yet in terms of local production but they are an incredibly dynamic resource that are always going to be attractive to overseas finance.”

There is no shortage of new Australian acting talent on the international circuit either, as confirmed by the casting process on White’s latest film, action-packed heist thriller Son Of A Gun, the debut feature from Julius Avery, which plays in official competition at this year’s BFI London Film Festival. Three-quarters of the Australian actors considered for the young male and female leads were working in the US so auditions were held there — increasingly the norm for Australian films.

But it is not just about talent in front of the camera. A number of exciting new directors have emerged in recent years, including Anim a l K i n g d o m ’s David Michôd; Snowtown’s Justin Kurzel, who is in post on his hotly

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anticipated second feature Macbeth; and Garth Davis, who directed Top Of The Lake with Jane Campion and is now working on See-Saw Films’ Lion, worldwide rights (excluding Australia and New Zealand) for which have been picked up by The Weinstein Company for a reputed $12m (A$13.5m).

“We are continually throwing up exciting new directing talent,” says White, who also points to The Expendables 3 director Patrick Hughes and Son Of A Gun director Avery, who has — according to the producer — “attracted the attention of all the studios because of what he achieved on a budget that was small by Hollywood standards”.

Other up-and-coming directors include Zak Hilditch, who made Cannes-selected end-of-the-world drama These Final Hours, starring Nathan Phillips, Angourie Rice and Jessica de Gouw; Sophie Hyde who made 52 Tuesdays, which won prizes at Sundance and Berlin; Jennifer Kent who directed horror film The Babadook, starring Essie Davis; Ariel Kleiman, director of the not-yet-released Partisan for Warp Films Australia; and Josh Lawson, whose The Little Death has been picked up by Magnolia for North America.

Seizing opportunities Despite continuing budget cuts experienced by the country’s biggest direct film investor Screen Australia, producers operating at White’s level are upbeat about the opportunities in Australia because, no matter what, they begin the tough task of financing with the certainty of the country’s producer offset (PO).

This uncapped rebate, which is entirely separate

The Great Gatsby

The Babadook

‘The world is looking at us because of our cast and directing talent and we have to leverage that’ Graeme Mason, Screen Australia

(Left) These Final Hours

to Screen Australia’s direct investment, is worth up to 40% of qualifying Australian expenditure and is payable to the producer on all but micro-budget Australian films on completion (projects have to pass a “significant Australian content” test in order to qualify).

“We have to be smarter, domestically and internationally,” says Graeme Mason, who was appointed Screen Australia chief executive in November 2013, about the necessity to find finance from a variety of sources. “We need to use the talent we’ve got and the support available from the various [state] governments and work it better.”

Direct investment from Screen Australia — its contribution to an individual feature film is capped at $1.88m (A$2m) — underpins about half of Australia’s narrative features, television and documentaries. In the last four years, the government agency has co-invested in seven films that have brought in more than 20% of their budget from overseas distributors, production companies, investors and so on.

These are Lion, Michael Petroni’s supernatural thriller Backtrack, Kim Farrant’s mystery drama Strangerland and Deane Taylor’s animated children’s film The Blinky Bill Movie (none of which have been completed) as well as Matthew Saville’s crime thriller Felony, Michael and Peter Spierig’s sci-fi picture www.screendaily.com

ian film at the global box office since 2009.

While there is no co-production treaty with the US, there is a growing trend towards US-Australian joint ventures, as in the case of Michôd’s The Rover and Kriv Stenders’ Kill Me Three Times, which had its world premiere in Toronto International Film Festival’s Contemporary World Cinema section last month.

Australia in figures

The Blinky Bill Movie

Predestination and John Curran’s truelife drama Tracks.

The long-term hope is that more films will eventually be made without direct Screen Australia investment in production.

“If our equity can be in some films and the PO can look after others with the help of a studio or a big international company, that would be brilliant,” says Mason, who believes this is the only way Australia’s current production levels can be maintained. “If you’re just going to use public money, there’s a very limited amount you can do no matter where in the world you are. The world is looking at us because of our cast and directing talent and we have to leverage that.”

Sharon Menzies of Fulcrum Media Finance, the Australian-New Zealand company that specialises in cashflowing the PO and providing gap financing, believes the Australian industry is growing and maturing. “I’m seeing more films that do not involve Screen Australia and more co-productions and international productions in development,” says Menzies, who has provided finance for productions including Top Of The Lake and The Railway Man.

US connections The four highest-grossing Australian films released worldwide since 2009 have all benefited from big chunks of www.screendaily.com

US investment, which may have not been made in Australia without the added incentive of the PO: Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby (Warner Bros); Alex Proyas’ Knowing (Summit); George Miller’s Happy Feet Two (Warner Bros) and Zack Snyder’s Legend Of The Guardians: The Owls Of Ga’Hoole (Warner Bros), which was produced through Australia’s Animal Logic.

Proyas is now in post on Gods Of Egypt at Sydney’s Fox Studios Australia and says the PO is critical to him being able to make films at home in Australia.

“There is definitely a new generation of people who can make commercial mainstream films,” he says, mentioning the Spierig brothers (Predestination). “I hope they will evolve and prosper and go into larger scale films but we have to make it easier for people to make films here.”

Proyas says he believes Australia has to be more aggressive about securing films — whether driven by Australians or not — as well as reducing the bureaucracy required to qualify for incentives.

More modestly budgeted Australian films are increasingly attracting US finance as in the case of Alister Grierson’s $30m Sanctum, which filmed principally in Queensland and was executive produced by James Cameron.

It is the fifth highest-grossing Austral-

‘There is definitely a new generation of people who can make commercial mainstream films’ Alex Proyas, director

Finding more Australia-based filmmakers with the skill and desire to use this model — and the nous to attract major US backing — would be a major boost for an industry that currently produces fewer than 30 films a year.

Putting aside US-financed films, Red Dog ($19.5m), The Sapphires ($13.1m) and Tomorrow, When The War Began ($12.2m) are the three highest-grossing local films at home during the last five years.

There were 27 Australian features produced in 2012-13, on a par with recent averages, with total expenditure in Australia as a result amounting to $229m (A$250m). Six additional foreign features — including four Indian titles — went into production and another six foreign features commenced only post, digital and visual-effects work using Australian facilities. These 12 foreign features added another $100m (A$110m) to expenditure in Australia.

Some $1.55bn (A$1.71bn) was spent on local and foreign feature films in Australia in the five years to June 30, 2013, some 8.5% more than in the previous five-year period.

Australian production activity would have to grow significantly for directors of local box office or festival hits to stop going abroad. The Sapphires director Wayne Blair, for example, recently directed Septembers Of Shiraz in Bulgaria, while Michôd is linked to The Operators, which is being made under Brad Pitt’s Plan B banner. On the plus side, it means Australian talent remains firmly in the global spotlight.

“Screen Australia exists to make work that stimulates and engages Australians, and to assist people’s careers,” says Mason. “I have an international focus because we have this incredible talent that is of use to people internationally and of course that fulfils both my goals because they will help me get films made and also keep people s employed.” ■ Australia Special 2014 Screen International 3

FEATURE LOCATIONS

Wet and wild

Australia boasts diverse locations — from rain forests to deserts — and established studios that attract a string of international productions. Sandy George reports hen Angelina Jolie’s Unbroken opens in December, audiences watching scenes set at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin will actually be looking at Blacktown International Sportspark in western Sydney.

And when they see the horror of the prisoner-of-war camp in Japan, they will be watching the picturesque Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbour.

The film is a biopic of Olympic athlete Louis ‘Louie’ Zamperini, who survived 47 days in a life raft after his plane crashed into the sea during the Second World War. He subsequently spent twoand-a-half years in a Japanese prisonerof-war camp. The small town of Werris Creek, 370 kilometres north of Sydney, stood in for Zamperini’s home town of Torrance, California.

Large-scale Australian films also regularly take advantage of the country’s enormous diversity. Broken Hill’s eerie, dry landscapes in New South Wales were used this year for Strangerland and Last Cab To Darwin, and producers often look

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to Queensland for rainforests and palmfringed beaches. Queensland also has the Village Roadshow Studios, Australia’s oldest studios, which are located in the southeast corner of the state.

“The water tanks have been a major selling point,” says long-term studio president Lynne Benzie. Unbroken used the tanks (with much of the filming on location in New South Wales), as did US action thriller San Andreas.

Two other major studios are on Australia’s east coast, Sydney’s Fox Studios Australia and Docklands Studios Melbourne, although a boutique facility opened in 2011 as part of the South Australian Film Corporation’s new Adelaide premises.

Fox Studios was the base for Alex Proyas’ Gods Of Egypt, one of the biggest films made in Australia this year and a US-Australia joint venture. Australian companies are alert to films of this size because of the opportunities they generate. This time around, Spectrum Films, DDP Studios and visual-effects compa-

(Clockwise from above) Angelina Jolie on the set of Unbroken; Animal Logic VFX worked on The LEGO® Movie; the Palace of Versailles was recreated in Victoria for The Moon And The Sun

AUSTRALIA’S STUDIO FACILITIES ■ Adelaide

Studios Two sound stages (the biggest is 35m x 28.5m x 15m high), production offices, ADR/foley studios, a Dolby Premier 7.1 mixing theatre, 100-seat screening theatre. The onsite tenants provide audio post, editing and casting services.

Recent films The Water Diviner (production offices only), an untitled Jim Loach project, The Babadook Contact Sharon Cleary, communications and marketing manager sharon.cleary@safilm.com.au

■ Fox

Studios Australia Eight sound stages, five of which are purpose built (the biggest is 86m x 41m x 20m high), production offices totalling 3,250 sq m, workshops including a 3,350 sq m building. The 32-acre site also includes a 100-seat orchestral recording soundstage.

Recent films Gods Of Egypt, The Water Diviner, Unbroken Contact Morgan Hunwicks, production manager morgan.hunwicks@foxaus.com ■ Village

■ Docklands

Studios Melbourne Five purpose-built sound stages (the biggest is 57m x 41m x 15m high and has an 18m x 12m x 3m floodable pit), a 6,000 sq m workshop with eight bays, production offices, wardrobe and laundry facilities.

Recent films The Dressmaker, Oddball, The Moon And The Sun Contact Rod Allan, chief executive officer rod.allan@dsmelbourne.com

4 Screen International Australia Special 2014

Roadshow Studios, Southeast Queensland Eight purpose-built sound stages (the two biggest are 59.2m x 35m x 15.3m high), three water tanks (biggest outdoor tank is 40m x 30m x 5m deep, and the indoor tank is 24m x 19m x 2m deep), production offices, workshops, screening and editing facilities.

Recent films San Andreas, The Railway Man Contact Lynne Benzie, president benzie@villageroadshowstudios.com.au

nies Iloura and Rising Sun Pictures were among the beneficiaries.

A 30% rebate applies to post, digital and VFX work no matter where a film is made or its nationality. Iloura is currently sole vendor for the computer graphics on The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out Of Water, while Rising Sun Pictures has been working on non-Australian films including Francis Lawrence’s The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1, Sergey Bodrov’s Seventh Son, Joe Wright’s Pan and David Yates’ Tarzan. Another noted player, Animal Logic VFX, worked on Joss Whedon’s Avengers: Age Of Ultron, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s The LEGO® Movie, Robert Schwentke’s Insurgent and Chen Kaige’s The Monk.

The complete package While the strength of the Australian dollar and the rise of highly competitive financial incentives elsewhere may have dampened interest for a few years, the market appears to be recovering.

Decisions about where to locate a film are always based on the total package.

Paul Currie, a producer on Sean McNamara’s The Moon And The Sun, considered Romania, France, Germany and the US before convincing his colleague, Bill Mechanic, to pick Victoria in Australia. It was both an intuitive and a numbersbased decision, said Currie, who www.screendaily.com

accessed cash from a federal government fund in place to attract big-budget films on a case-by-case basis and, on completion, will also claim the 16.5% location rebate. “The rebates are great and Australia has expert crew, amazing visual effects and is a country that loves challenging films,” says Currie.

Melbourne’s Docklands Studios were used recently to recreate a piece of Victoria’s coastline for the Australian feature Oddball. For two weeks the facility was home to six fairy penguins and two Maremma sheepdogs. Since they were built a decade ago, the studios have generated around $460m (A$500m) from productions that have used the facility.

This month it plays host to director Jocelyn Moorhouse and producer Sue Mas-

lin’s The Dressmaker, which also shoots in Horsham and other places in Victoria’s Wimmera region.

US science fiction TV series Childhood’s End, based on the Arthur C Clarke novel, will also begin filming in Melbourne this year, thanks to backing from Film Victoria, together with Victorian government support. Produced by Universal Cable Productions (part of NBCUniversal), the six-hour mini series will premiere in the US in 2015. Meanwhile, UK comedy The Inbetweeners 2 shot in Queensland, South Australia and New South Wales last year.

Each of the state agencies help to support their own film-makers and projects but also try to create a good film-making environment for all. In Victoria the Film-

‘Australia has expert crew, amazing visual effects and loves challenging films’ Paul Currie, producer

ing Approval Bill 2014, a new legal framework for commercial filming on public land, has recently passed through the Victorian Parliament, potentially making the state even more film friendly.

When the creative team behind Jolie’s Unbroken wanted to close Pitt Street, one of the busiest streets in central Sydney, ScreenNSW brought together major stakeholders, including fire and traffic authorities, to make it happen.

That The Moon And The Sun is conducting all its post in Australia (Deluxe Digital Pictures for picture post, Luma for VFX) underlines the quality of the facilities. The Dolby Premier 7.1 Mixing Theatre at South Australian Film Corporation’s new Adelaide premises — the only other in Australia is at Deluxe StageOne Sound in Sydney — was used for the post on Rolf de Heer’s latest feature Charlie’s Country. Other films to have used the facilities include All This Mayhem, Wolf Creek 2, The King Is Dead! and Sophie Hyde’s 52 Tuesdays.

Meanwhile, post company Cutting Edge, which has facilities right down the east coast, is abuzz about the visualeffects work it has been doing on Luke Sparke’s supernatural action film Red Billabong. Sparke is producing alongside his father, Ian Sparke, a costume designer and military adviser. The UK’s Manifest Film Sales is handling sales.

When it comes to attracting international productions to Australia, longestablished Ausfilm — a partnership between government agencies and private companies that aims to connect the international film and television community with Australia’s screen incentives, talent and facilities — is helping to put the country even more firmly on the map as a filming location. Kate Marks last month moved to Los Angeles to head Ausfilm’s US office, leaving a simis lar role at Film Victoria. ■

KEY CONTACTS ■ AUSFILM

Financial incentives, locations, facilities and services Los Angeles contact Kate Marks, executive vice-president, international production kate.marks@ausfilm.com.au Sydney contact Debra Richards, CEO debra.richards@ ausfilm.com.au ■ SCREEN AUSTRALIA

Charlie’s Country www.screendaily.com

Wolf Creek 2

Producer offset, co-production programme Contact Alex Sangston, senior manager, producer offset and co-production unit alex.sangston@screenaustralia.gov.au

Australia Special 2014 Screen International 5

FEATURE CO-PRODUCTIONS

Life

A perfect partner With new guidelines due to come into force, Australia could see a boost to its already healthy co-production sector. Sandy George reports ompared to the past, Australia has an impressive number of foreign co-productions in development, indicating a new-found desire among its producers to collaborate creatively with the rest of the world.

Not only that, Screen Australia is ripping off the red tape surrounding coproductions, revising the guidelines that cover the current 11 co-production arrangements Australia has in place with countries including the UK, Germany and Canada.

“We kept hearing that one of the barriers to co-production was that it was a bureaucratic, paperwork-heavy and expensive process, and if we can come close to fixing those problems and making the guidelines more flexible and user friendly we can unshackle the industry,” says Alex Sangston, manager of the producer offset (PO) and co-production unit at Screen Australia.

“In the Australian context, co-productions give you access to the producer offset and as this is a secure method of financing film, co-production status can be extremely beneficial,” adds Sangston.

But it is not just Australian producers

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looking outwards. With its skilled filmmaking community, crew and cast depth, diverse locations, favourable climate, and of late, increased ambition for international collaboration, it is no surprise that Australia regularly tops international producers’ lists of potential co-production partners.

As a further sweetener, all official coproductions are regarded as Australian and therefore able to claim the PO — an uncapped rebate worth up to 40% of qualifying Australian expenditure, which is, according to UK producer Andy Paterson (The Railway Man) an “automatic and easy-to-operate system”.

Stronger together Currently in post is Anton Corbijn’s highly anticipated Life, a co-production with Canada and Germany for See-Saw Films. Luke Davies’ script traces the real-life friendship between James Dean and photographer Dennis Stock, played

by Dane DeHaan and Robert Pattinson respectively.

Camera d’Or winner Michael Rowe (Leap Year) films Rest Home this year, also in Canada. The co-production stars Melissa George and Paul Doucet, and

Canada’s Serge Noel is producing alongside Freshwater Pictures’ Trish Lake.

“It is possible that we will make [director Liselle Mei’s debut] Red Earth as a UK co-production and we are also in discussions with potential European and South African partners for White Knuckles, written by Roger Monk and to be directed by Pia Marais (Layla Fourie),” says Lake, whose credits for her Queensland-based production company include Gettin’ Square.

Australian producer Heather Ogilvie, under her Galvanized Film Group banner, and the UK’s Sarah Radclyffe are setting up writer Jan Sardi’s adaptation of Tracy Chevalier’s Remarkable Creatures as a co-production, with considerable backing already in place from Icon.

Lake and Ogilvie are among the 15 producers that will be at Ausfilm Week London (October 20-23). The event aims to develop co-production activity, and will move on to Los Angeles (October 27-31).

Another UK-Australia co-production at the planning stage is caper film King Of Thieves, based on Adam Shand’s book about the Kangaroo Gang shoplifters who operated in the UK in the 1960s and ’70s. Andrew Knight and Essential Media’s Ian Collie, who was the originating producer on Saving Mr Banks, is working with the UK’s David Parfitt.

Finite resources

‘If we can make the guidelines more flexible and user friendly, we can unshackle the industry’ Alex Sangston, Screen Australia

In the last three years Elixir with Germany and Absolute Deception with Canada have gone through the system without Screen Australia support.

Sangston regards any co-productions outside head of production Sally Caplan’s “finite budget” as a good thing because it creates more production activity and reduces pressure on the federal agency’s resources.

In addition to the territories mentioned, Australia has treaties with Italy, Ireland, Israel, South Africa, Singapore and China, and memorandums of understanding with France and New Zealand. A treaty with Korea has been signed but not ratified and negotiations are underway with Denmark, India and Malaysia.

During the same period, Maya The Bee and Lore (Germany), The Railway Man (UK) and Adore (France), all picked up Screen Australia investment while 10 films went through in the previous three years, including Bait with Singapore and s The Dragon Pearl with China. ■ www.screendaily.com

FESTIVAL FOCUS FEATURE

(From left) Director David Michôd and actors Guy Pearce and Robert Pattinson tread the Sydney Film Festival red carpet for The Rover

as it doesn’t seem to be in theatres the way it used to be. There’s a mythical idea we can have a 30%-40% market share and it’s just not going to happen. We have to look at innovative distribution platforms and hybrid models,” says Screen Australia chief executive Graeme Mason.

Some producers are already looking at their options: immediately after Kasimir Burgess’s Fell screened in competition at Sydney Film Festival, it was available for two days via the Sydney and Adelaide festival websites. Connolly is also exploring innovative distribution options under his Cinema Plus banner.

Sydney, which is not much younger than Melbourne, does not use investment to secure Australian films but its competition gives it leverage. This year’s local titles were Ruin, The Rover and Fell but it was Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne’s Two Days, One Night that took the Sydney Film Prize. Festival director Nashen Moodley has not radically veered from predecessor Clare Stewart’s path and as usual there were plenty of international directors in the foyers of the gorgeous State Theatre.

Connolly believes the Australian production industry is polarising: producing small, innovative films or big multiplex pictures but little in between. Therefore festival support for the former is good news for director Stephen Lance, whose debut My Mistress was a CinefestOz finalist and who one senior Australian film executive said “may be our next Baz” (Luhrmann).

“Australian films will attract an audience if they’re unique enough. It’s about fostering original voices and encouraging brave new cinema to woo back audis ences,” says Connolly. ■

The festive spirit Australian festivals are increasingly high-profile launch pads, and their funding streams are taking local projects to the next level. By Sandy George rthouse films may be struggling [in cinemas] but film festivals are hugely popular,” says film-maker Robert Connolly about the current situation in Australia, where local films in particular are benefiting from home festival support.

Adelaide Film Festival director Amanda Duthie says: “The Australian and South Australian films we show are always the best attended; not just those we invested in but all of them did well.”

As implied, Adelaide acts as more than just a platform. Like Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) it invests in local films and, like Sydney, it stages an international competition. Recent Adelaide winners include Reha Erdem’s Jin and Denis Villeneuve’s Incendies.

Spear, the feature debut of Stephen Page, director and choreographer at Bangarra Dance Theatre, received investment through Adelaide’s HIVE, a fund for artists from disciplines other than film. In production now, it is about Aboriginal clans in an apocalyptic world.

Through the main fund, Adelaide also backed and launched Rolf de Heer’s Charlie’s Country, which went on to Cannes. It uses creative criteria such as bold and innovative storytelling, and also requires projects to contribute culturally and economically to South Australia. The investment limit is generally $137,000 (A$150,000) but the projects are usually small, modestly budgeted films.

“You can’t quantify the commercial benefit but it’s definitely there,” says Connolly about festivals as launch pads.

He secured Premiere Fund finance from MIFF for titles including The Turning

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and children’s film Paper Planes, which has a January 15 release through Roadshow. MIFF’s opening and closing night films this year were both Australian — Predestination and Felony — but neither were financed out of its Premiere Fund.

As the oldest festival in the country, MIFF is much-admired and this year held an innovative Critics Campus.

Paper Planes won the inaugural $89,000 (A$100,000) Film Prize — Australia’s largest award — at CinefestOz Film Festival, based in Western Australia.

The event shows Australian and French films — because of historic links to that country — although the French side of the festival is a little under-developed.

Some Australian media players have been quick to criticise the cinema performance of homegrown films without acknowledging their festival popularity.

That said, the industry is grappling with how to release local films.

“We are trying to work out how to get to audiences that want Australian films,

‘You can’t quantify the commercial benefit but it’s definitely there’ Robert Connolly, film-maker

AUSTRALIAN FESTIVALS Adelaide Film Festival ■ Oct 2015 ■ Backs Australian films with AFF Investment Fund ■ $23,000 (A$25,000) international competition adelaidefilmfestival.org Brisbane Asia Pacific Film Festival ■ Nov 29-Dec 14, 2014 ■ Serves as the judging platform for the Asia Pacific Screen Awards

(being presented on Dec 11) brisbaneasiapacificfilmfestival. com CinefestOz Film Festival ■ August 26-30, 2015 ■ Regional event in Western Australia for local and French films ■ $92,000 (A$100,000) Australian film competition cinefestoz.com

Melbourne International Film Festival ■ July 30-Aug 16, 2015 ■ Premiere Fund for Australian films ■ Major financing market miff.com.au Sydney Film Festival ■ June 3-14, 2015 ■ $55,000 (A$60,000)

international competition sff.org.au

Australia Special 2014 Screen International 7

FEATURE HOT PROJECTS

Bright stars Australia has a diverse set of producers working across the territory. Sandy George profiles some of the key names and previews a selection of the year’s hottest projects rom Hopscotch to See-Saw, Warp Films to Madman, there is an increasingly impressive collection of production companies operating all over Australia, resulting in an eclectic range of projects, including psychological thrillers, biopics and animations.

The production landscape has been boosted thanks partly to the fact that for the five years up to 2013, Screen Australia was injecting money into companies under its Enterprise programme, rather than just supporting the industry film by film. Among those to benefit have been Hopscotch, Madman, Goalpost Pictures Australia, Warp Films Australia, Scarlett Pictures and Porchlight Films.

When it comes to big upcoming titles all eyes will be on Russell Crowe’s fiction directorial debut The Water Diviner, which is being released in Australia on December 26, when it will be competing with the likes of The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies and Suffragette starring Carey Mulligan.

Crowe also stars in The Water Diviner as an Australian farmer trying to find his sons, who are reported missing in action during the First World War. The film is being produced by Hopscotch Features and Crowe’s own Fear of God Films with backing from Rush Hour director Brett Ratner and Australian media mogul James Packer’s RatPac Entertainment, the Seven Network and others.

It is the most high-profile picture to emerge so far from Hopscotch Features, the production entity launched by producer Andrew Mason, writer John Collee and two of the owners of the distribution company Hopscotch Film, which is now known as Entertainment One Australia follow-

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8 Screen International October 2014

ing its purchase by the international entertainment conglomerate. Hopscotch Features’ credits include I, Frankenstein starring Aaron Eckhart and Adore (formerly The Grandmothers) with Naomi Watts.

Madman is another production outfit that has grown out of the distributor of the same name. It recently secured financing for A Month Of Sundays from writer-director Matthew Saville (Felony). Meanwhile, Porchlight Films’ Liz Watts (Animal Kingdom) is working with Australia’s hottest production entity See-Saw Films (specifically with UK-based partner Iain Canning) on Young Romantics, about Mary Shelley, the English author of gothic novel Frankenstein. Cate Shortland (Lore) is writing the script with Tommy Murphy.

Watts is also part of a joint venture with the UK’s Daybreak Pictures, which will see Peter Carey’s novel True History Of The Kelly Gang made into a film with Joe Penhall writing and Justin Kurzel directing. “There is still an international appetite for strong directorial visions and strong concepts and ideas, as well as genre films,” Watts says.

Voice of experience See-Saw is also working with Australian producer Angie Fielder on Lion, demonstrating an increasing trend of very experienced film-makers working with up-and-comers.

Veteran Timothy White of Southern Light Films, for example, is executive producer on Sam and Tom Mc Ke i t h’s p r i v a t e l y financed Foreigners, shot in Manila and produced

by Robert Coe. White also formed a South Australian branch of his company with

Infini

‘There is still an international appetite for strong directorial visions and strong concepts and ideas’ Liz Watts, Porchlight Films

(Left) Ewan McGregor stars in Son Of A Gun

Anna Vincent and they are currently financing writer-director Ashlee Page’s Archive, as well as having worked beside Janelle Landers, of burgeoning Western Australian company WBMC, on the upcoming Son Of A Gun. “Working with young producers reminds me that film-making requires energy, resilience and enthusiasm and that’s infectious, so they ensure I don’t get tired and jaded,” White says.

Prolific Melbourne-based producerdirector Robert Connolly has been instrumental in giving new talent a leg up, particularly through audacious anthology film The Turning.

Connolly will produce actor David Wenham’s directorial debut Love Machine (which Wenham has also written, based on Clinton Caward’s book about the sex industry). When it comes to his own directorial plans, Connolly is planning to take on a big-budget action thriller based on The Shipkiller, Justin Scott’s novel of love and revenge on the high seas, which will be produced by the US’s Gale Anne Hurd.

Meanwhile, Animal Logic Entertainment’s joint venture with Simon Cowell’s Syco Entertainment to create the www.screendaily.com

first feature devoted to animation icon Betty Boop, looks set to produce results.

Animal Logic, headed by Zareh Nalbandian, was the animation studio behind The LEGO® Movie.

Given Australia’s vast size, production communities within each state outside the major production centres of Sydney and Melbourne have their own characteristics, often heavily influenced by the actions of their local film agency.

The growth in activity centred on Perth, Western Australia, has been particularly notable in recent years, with key local producers including Sue Taylor (The Tree), Nelson Woss (Red Dog), Tania Chambers (Kill Me Three Times), Liz Kearney (Paper Planes) and husbandand-wife team Deidre Kitcher and director John V Soto (The Reckoning). Filming has just taken place in Western Australia on Looking For Grace, from writer-director Sue Brooks (Japanese Story).

Distinctive voices are also being fostered in South Australia, with Closer Productions’ Sophie Hyde (52 Tuesdays) being this year’s stand-out.

Chris Brown (The Railway Man) has long been one of the busiest producers in Queensland, which could be described as the most untamed state, but many producers there are worth tracking

including Trish Lake (Rest Home); Todd Fellman (Bait), who is working with The Jim Henson Company on an adaptation of Tom Holt’s novel The Portable Door; and Patrick McDonald and Tim McGahan, who operate separately but together produced Predestination.

New kids on the block

‘Working with young producers reminds me that film-making requires energy, resilience and enthusiasm and that’s infectious’ Timothy White, Southern Light Films

Another addition to the production landscape is Storm Vision Entertainment, a joint venture between writerdirector Shane Abbess and producer Brett Thornquest, which has a good foothold in Hollywood and a go-it-alone flavour. Their first film is Infini with Marc Furmie’s Terminus following.

Bearing in mind the size of the Indian market, it is also worth noting the Australia India Film Fund (AIFF), which has close links to Anupam Sharma’s Films & Casting Temple.

Sharma — producing alongside Lisa Duff — will direct the first project out of the gate, romantic comedy UnIndian, starring Australian cricketer Brett Lee and Tannishtha Chatterjee (Brick Lane).

Australian prime minister Tony Abbott announced details of the project during a state visit to India in September, offering a rare stamp of approval for the s industry from senior government. ■

IN THE WORKS: A SELECTION OF UPCOMING AUSTRALIAN TITLES ■ The Daughter Dir-scr Simon Stone Prods Jan Chapman, Nicole O’Donohue Prod co Fate Films Highly regarded theatre director Stone has cast Geoffrey Rush and Ewan Leslie in this drama about a man who returns home to uncover a long-buried family secret. In pre-production.

Sales Mongrel International charlotte@mongrelmedia.com ■ The Dressmaker Dir-scr Jocelyn Moorhouse Prod Sue Maslin Prod co Film Art Media The all-star cast of this comic drama includes Kate Winslet, Judy Davis and Liam Hemsworth. It is based on a novel by Rosalie Ham and is set in a small Australian town in the 1950s. In production.

Sales Embankment Films info@embankmentfilms.com ■ Holding The Man Dir Neil Armfield Prod Kylie du Fresne Prod cos Goalpost Pictures, HTM Productions Based on a real-life boy-meets-boy love story that

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has already been told successfully as a memoir and on stage, Holding The Man is an international platform for emerging actors Ryan Corr and Craig Stott. In post-production.

Sales Goalpost Film jess@goalpostfilm.com Infini Dir-scr Shane Abbess Prods Matthew Graham, Shane Abbess, Brett Thornquest, Sidonie Abbene Prod co Infini Movie An elite search-and-rescue team encounters a powerful enemy when they travel to the space station Infini. The psychological thriller stars Daniel MacPherson and Luke Hemsworth. In postproduction.

Sales Kathy Morgan International pia@kmifilms.com

■

■ Lion

Dir Garth Davis Prods Emile Sherman, Iain Canning, Angie Fielder Prod cos See-Saw Films, Sunstar Entertainment Based on the true story of Saroo Brierley, who was separated from his mother in India and adopted by an Australian family. Years later he found his

birth mother with the help of Google Earth. In pre-production.

Sales Cross City Sales ic@see-saw-films.com ■ Oddball Dir Stuart McDonald Prods Richard Keddie, Steve Kearney, Sheila Hanahan Taylor Prod cos The Film Co, Kmunications, Practical Pictures Audiences adored Shane Jacobson in Kenny and he again plays to his everyman Aussie strengths in this feelgood family comedy based on a true story.

It follows a chicken farmer who, with the help of his granddaughter, trains his dog to protect a group of penguins. In post-production.

Sales Global Screen julia.weber@globalscreen.de ■ Strangerland Dir Kim Farrant Prods Naomi Wenck, Macdara Kelleher Prod cos Dragonfly Pictures, Fastnet Films Nicole Kidman, Joseph Fiennes and Hugo Weaving star in this drama about a couple whose lives unravel when their two teenage children go missing in the Australian desert. In post-production.

Sales Wild Bunch cbaraton@wildbunch.eu

Australia Special 2014 Screen International 9

FEATURE HOT PROPERTIES

The talent show Screen profiles four of the hottest new Australian stars making waves on the international circuit, both in front of and behind the camera

Garth Davis Director

There is huge buzz around Garth Davis, in part because The Weinstein Company pre-bought world rights excluding Australia and New Zealand to his debut feature Lion at Cannes this year. The film charts the real-life story of Saroo Brierley, a 30-something Indian-Australian man who was separated from his mother in India aged five and subsequently adopted by a family in Australia, but who tracked down his birth mother using Google Earth.

Davis’s break came when he was brought on to co-direct mini-series Top Of The Lake with Jane Campion.

It was after a screening of the drama

series at Sundance in 2013 that SeeSaw Films producers Emile Sherman and Iain Canning showed Davis an article about Brierley.

“I thought there was a lot of magic in the story and I found the sense of destiny and hope very moving,” says Melbourne-based Davis. “I also found it to be an incredible adventure with epic scope, like an old mythical tale with a contemporary surface… It ticked a lot of boxes for me.”

Lion is set to shoot in January 2015 in India and the Australian cities of Melbourne and Hobart.

Prior to Top Of The Lake, Davis worked mainly in commercials, winning a Cannes Golden Lion award for his work on a Schweppes advert.

Sarah Snook in Predestination

But he has always been interested in drama and character.

“The whole industry works on validation, and unless you’ve done something, you’re not really seen,”

Sarah Snook Actress

Sarah Snook gives an astounding, chameleon-like performance opposite Ethan Hawke in the 2014 Australian time-travel mind-bender Predestination, meeting the challenge of changing her gender from woman to man with aplomb.

Predestination, which had its world premiere at SXSW and opened Melbourne International Film Festival before being released by Pinnacle Films, was written and directed by brothers Michael and Peter Spierig and based on Robert A Heinlein’s 10-page short story All You Zombies.

“At first I was dubious as to whether they would manage to turn the story into a full-scale script,” Snook says. “It turned out to be incredible.”

She was seen in the Australian films Not Suitable For Children and, fleetingly, as a psychopath in These Final Hours; and will star in upcoming Australian family comedy Oddball alongside Shane Jacobson, and the

10 Screen International Australia Special 2014

he says. “In Top Of The Lake, I could finally spread my wings. It has been huge for my career and I’m engaging with scripts from LA and all the doors are open to me.”

Davis says he is attracted to “human and moving stories of any genre”.

“I would be happy to do science fiction if it has that element or it can be a kitchen-sink drama,” adds the director.

Observing the people at companies such as See-Saw and Matchbox has added to Davis’s sense of optimism about the Australian film industry. “At those times it feels organic and fluid and full of possibilities, as if there is a bit of excitement brewing.”

mini-series The Secret River, set during Australia’s convict past.

In the US she plays the lead in Kevin Greutert’s upcoming horror film Jessabelle, for which she did many of her own stunts, and the title role in the pilot Clementine, filmed in Canada for US network ABC. “If I could work in both countries, that would be great. I am Australian and I’d like to be able to tell Australian stories. The US seems to be able to inhabit that position of being global storytellers somehow, because they have the biggest market share,” says Snook, who graduated from Sydney’s National Institute of Dramatic Art in 2008, going on to almost score the lead in David Fincher’s Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

Looking ahead, Snook says she would like the challenge of playing someone “who is really evil”.

“I’ve been genre hopping a lot lately and I’ve been grateful for that opportunity because it keeps me interested and, hopefully, it will mean diverse opportunities,” adds the actress.

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Jennifer Kent writer-director

“The most important thing for me is to make a film that completely comes from the core of who I am, a film that is honest and true, because that way if it’s successful, fantastic, but if it’s not then I’ve made a film I really believed in,” says writer-director Jennifer Kent, who received a phenomenal response to her debut feature The Babadook in Sundance and is currently living in Brisbane (she left Los Angeles after two months on realising she got more work done at home). The film opens theatrically in the UK in October and in the US in November.

Describing herself as being in “an interim phase”, Kent reveals she has read a “bucket-load” of scripts, and has had several offers including two studio pictures — in September she was considering making a film “with an otherworldly quality” in the US — and has taken on Gary Ungar, whose clients include Guillermo Del Toro, as her manager. “I was getting sent

Brenton Thwaites in Son Of A Gun

Brenton Thwaites Actor

In the hotly anticipated Australian action thriller Son Of A Gun, Brenton Thwaites plays JR, a young man who has to pay the price for being taken under the wing of a hardened criminal during a prison sentence.

When producer Timothy White was discussing who might satisfy the demands of the role with first-time feature director Julius Avery, he drew parallels with Heath Ledger’s part in the 1999 film Two Hands, which White also produced.

“The person needed to be someone who was impressionable and vulnerable and sensitive but at the same time had an energy and a charisma and a strength that would make them an attractive package to watch,” White says. They found Thwaites had “an electric quality”.

Once upon a time, appearing in a big Australian critical or commercial hit was the leverage that allowed many Australian actors to gain attention in the US — celebrated cases include Nicole Kidman as a result of Dead Calm, Geoffrey www.screendaily.com

so many scripts, I needed a business partner I could trust who would help me wade through and choose the best projects with my long-term career goals in mind.”

Kent, who is represented by WME, is writing two features with support from Screen Australia and ScreenNSW. The Nightingale is set on the 1820s Tasmanian frontier, has a woman at its core and explores the futility of revenge. The other is the multi-layered, multi-protagonist Whoever Brought Me Here (working title), about death, loss and how one generation affects the next.

“I will go on making films whether I can make them in Australia or not,” she says, a reference to the lack of theatrical interest in home-grown films generally and the pressure on local finance. “I will work anywhere in order to tell meaningful stories.

“I’m entering into a very different world, meeting people I see in films and getting scripts I never thought I’d get hold of and opportunities I’ve never had before. But I’m trying to s stay very grounded.” ■

Rush with Shine and, recently, Jacki Weaver with Animal Kingdom.

Nowadays Australian actors do not need that kind of calling card.

Thwaites studied finance and acting at Queensland University of Technology, spent time on television series SLiDE and Home And Away and then Hollywood called. Now his list of credits keeps growing. These include Maleficent, in which he played Prince Phillip opposite Angelina Jolie and Elle Fanning; and The Signal, which taught him how to fight for roles he wants; and Australian director Phillip Noyce’s science-fiction story The Giver, in which he plays a teenager who is chosen to receive the repressed memories of a ‘perfect’ society.

“The main things actors have to do, I think, is to relax and to trust themselves,” he is quoted as saying during the promotional tour for The Giver.

Most recently he starred opposite Helen Hunt in the comedy Ride, which she also directed, and spent a solid chunk of time in Sydney for Gods Of Egypt with Alex Proyas, which is set for release in 2016.

Australia Special 2014 Screen International 11

INTERVIEW ROSEMARY BLIGHT

Moving with Goalpost Goalpost Pictures’ Rosemary Blight talks to Sandy George about the company’s ambitious upcoming projects and its increasingly international outlook t the beginning it is about story because, as business-like as we are as producers, I don’t believe I can raise money on a film I don’t care about,” says Goalpost Pictures Australia’s Rosemary Blight about the kind of projects to which the independent production company is drawn.

Blight set up Goalpost in 2008 on the back of her previous company RB Films and since then has produced such titles as Clubland, which was a big seller at Sundance in 2007, The Sapphires and, most recently, Felony.

Now she is about to start financing her most ambitious project yet, writerdirector Matthew Saville’s Dark Victory.

The source material, David Marr and Marian Wilkinson’s book of the same name, explores Australia’s border control policies. Blight describes the film as “The Insider at sea” and “a thriller with incredible humanity”.

“We are also in development on a film about Helen Reddy, who wrote I Am Woman. It’s about how a single song galvanised the world and we’re making it with LA-based Australian director Unjoo Moon and writer Emma Jensen.”

The three other producers at Goalpost Australia are Kylie du Fresne, who is in production on Candy director Neil Armfield’s boy-meets-boy love story Holding The Man; former Screen Australia head of development Martha Coleman; and Lauren Edwards, co-producer on Felony, starring Joel Edgerton, which was released through Roadshow in Australia in late August.

“We are enjoying good, creative collaborative partnerships, and that’s the way to find films that resonate universally and stretch our storytelling and financing abilities,” Blight says.

Blight regards Australia’s isolation as both an asset and a disadvantage: the stories are unique but the overseas travel is expensive and time-consuming. This is especially the case with the UK, Australia’s natural partner and location of the London-based sister company Goalpost Film, headed by Tristan Whalley.

Continuing the UK link, another of

TV project with the US’s Echo Lake Film Entertainment, and another with New Zealand’s Pukeko Pictures, a company associated with Weta Workshop. The latter, Project CM (working title), is “a dynamic genre series in which District 9 meets True Blood”.

Collaborations with northern neighbours are also anticipated. After a recent speaking engagement in Malaysia, Blight is hoping to make a project with Gayatri Su-Lin Pillai, producer of Malaysia’s local hit The Journey. And Singapore is on her radar following the relationship Goalpost enjoyed with IFS Capital, a Singapore construction company that helped to finance The Sapphires.

“We’ve noticed this year that independent producers from around the world really want to connect with us for co-productions on the right material,” says Blight.

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FACTFILE ROSEMARY BLIGHT ■ Blight began her

the 10 films in active development is the true story of Bobbie Cunningham-Reid, a dashing English philanderer with a penchant for wealthy women. Writer Keith Thompson, who scripted The Sapphires with Tony Briggs, has set the story over one weekend just prior to the Second World War. Also in the pipeline is a television property with the UK’s Left Bank Pictures: an adaptation of Robert Wainwright’s biography Sheila about a young Australian abroad in the early 1900s.

But the UK is not Goalpost’s only focus.

The company is working on a

career working for record companies and producing music videos.

■ Her first film was

Kay Pavlou’s short The Killing Of Angelo Tsakos, which led to her securing a job with independent producer John Maynard.

■ Blight founded RB

Films in 1991 with partners Ben Grant, Kylie du Fresne and Cass O’Connor, which went on to become Goalpost Pictures Australia in 2008.

■ In 2012, Goalpost’s

The Sapphires became one of the highestgrossing Australian films of all time.

(Left) The Sapphires

Quality counts When it comes to the question of Australia’s potential for growth, Blight points out that “it’s not about how many films we make, but the quality”.

“But maybe the pressure on every single Australian film to be an absolute success may dissipate if we made more.

And we want new voices to come through, which will keep the industry healthy too,” says the producer.

Looking ahead, Blight is very conscious of the need to find directorial talent able to speak to audiences in new ways and believes Goalpost has achieved that with the romantic comedy Wake With Me, which is in development. “The writer and director, Joshua Taylor and Maia Horniak, seem to look at the world through a different lens,” Blight says.

Meanwhile, she acknowledges the challenge of releasing films locally and worldwide, especially in the light of changes to windows and consumption habits.

“We just want more Australian stories that connect in the UK, Europe and the US. They can be distinctly Australian but they have to have an internas tional heartbeat too.” ■ www.screendaily.com

Kate Mulvany and Damon Herriman in The Little Death

Doing business with Australia For the latest on the 40% Producer Offset and other opportunities – www.screenaustralia.gov.au/incentives

Stories that travel with you

MAKE it inAUSTRALIA Australia offers WORLD-CLASS FILM STUDIOS, diverse and INSPIRING locations, INNOVATIVE visual effects and post-production services, depth of experienced crew, OSCAR® WINNING talent, and COMPETITIVE INCENTIVES up to 40%.

“I LOVED EVERYTHING ABOUT IT: I LOVED WORKING IN AUSTRALIA, I LOVED THE CREW, I THINK IT’S THE MOST EXTRAORDINARY PLACE TO MAKE FILMS AND TO SPEND TIME.” Angelina Jolie, Director – Unbroken

For more information about filming in Australia visit www.ausfilm.com

Ausfilm – Head Office Sydney, Australia T: +61 2 93834192 E: info@Ausfilm.com.au Ausfilm – LA Office Los Angeles, USA T: + 1 310 229 2362 E:info@Ausfilm.com.au

The Moon and The Sun Filmed at Docklands Studios Melbourne. Unbroken © Universal Pictures