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It has been a
huge year for Northern Rivers Screenworks. Securing the funding,
staffing, setting up the office, continuing to run our professional
development programs and putting the Northern Rivers on the national
industry map!
In February, the
Australian International Documentary Conference was hosted by the
Northern Rivers and was the most successful conference to date with
over 850 delegates experiencing a very inspiring and at times
controversial event. Screenworks facilitated securing the conference
to the region and was publicly launched at this event.
In March,
practitioners, partner organisations, funders and councils attended
our strategic planning day which provided us with a valuable planning
blueprint for screen industry development in the region.
We publicly
opened our office doors on Friday 16 May with some 160 people from
all over the region welcoming us and hearing about our new
initiatives for the year. Our office now has a resource library and
an ever-growing tape library of all our events available to be
borrowed.
Establishing an
office always has its challenges - our thanks to our volunteers,
funders, practitioners and supporters - we couldn’t have done it
without you!
Communication is
the key to success for Screenworks and we have used this
e-newsletter, of which we have despatched 10 editions this year, as
our key communication device. We have 427 subscribers from all over
the country now receiving the newsletter. Our thanks to Kerry
Sunderland for her assistance with this.
Our focus this
year has been on practitioner development. Screenworks has been
funded to develop sustainable industries - so we focused our activity
on developing the great ideas in the region into greenlight
projects.
We know there
have been complaints about Screenworks being too Byron-centric and we
plan to do something about that next year. With our limited staff
resources - we wanted to get projects and practitioners supported, to
get you in front of funders and commissioning editors and develop
your producing skills - quickly.
This year we
introduced a range of initiatives on top of our regular masterclass
series. These included:
Four free
seminars with three presented by film development officers
from the Australian Film Commission, NSW Film and Television Office
and the AFC’s digital media area. The 4th free seminar turned the
spotlight on local private investor funding with 60 financial
advisors, investors, filmmakers and bureaucrats listening to a
presentation by Brian Rosen (CEO Film Finance Corp), Geoff Brown (CEO
SPAA), David Whealy (Holding Redlich), Brett Thornquest (MoneyPenny)
and John Weiley (Helio Productions and Screenworks). Next year we
hope to announce a Screenworks Northern Rivers Development
Fund….watch this space.
Screenworks held
six masterclasses. These were:
- NEIL ARMFIELD
(Director) and LUKE DAVIES (Writer) presenting an insightful session
on issues and pitfalls of adapting text to a screenplay.
- JAIME BROWNE
delivered an inspiring session for short filmmakers speaking about
the technicalities of making short film and screening his short
films.
- Director, writer
and producer ROBERT CONNOLLY screened THE BANK and talked about
carrying a project from original idea through screenplay development
to financing, casting, directing and production through to post
production and the national and international release.
- For our
documentary filmmakers, MARK DAVIS, investigative journalist,
screened his SPIES OF THE PACIFIC and provided an insightful class on
documentary journalism.
- JULIA OVERTON,
Senior Project Officer with the AFC, presented BREAKING DOWN A SCRIPT
- how to read a script and break it down for budget and production
purposes. An essential for those producing a film or submitting to a
funding body.
- For the first
time ever, SPAA presented their SPAA BUSINESS MASTERCLASS outside a
city area. BRIAN ROSEN (FFC), Producer DAVID HANNAY and Arclight
Films sales agent IAN GIBBINS, presented a masterclass covering all
aspects of the business side of the industry, with BRIAN ROSEN of the
FFC making it quite clear that the days of an art driven industry are
well and truly over and that producers had to step up to the mark in
terms of understanding their market and financing the project
accordingly.
Note that all
masterclasses and workshops have been professionally videoed by Oli
Vencovsky and Andrew Bambach and are available on vhs to borrow from
Screenworks.
We maximised the
value of our visitors by offering free clinics - one
on one appointments with our visiting guests. Clinic appointments
were made available for practitioners to meet:
- Jane Smith,
Chief Executive, NSW Film and Television Office
- Sally Browning,
Manager, Development and Finance, NSW FTO
- Julia Overton -
AFC Film Development Project Officer
- Jackie McKimmie
- AFC Film Development Project Officer
- Peter Kaufmann -
AFC Interactive Media Project Officer
- Susan Mackinnon
- Film Finance Corporation
Our networking
events saw the introduction of the Sundowners. These
have been presented by Julia Overton, Jackie McKimmie and Andrew
Knight, writer (AFTER THE DELUGE, WORST BEST FRIENDS, SEACHANGE). In
July, our own Matthew Flanagan and DOP/Director Geoff Burton
presented a discussion about the Finnish Dogme movement - asking the
question ‘Would it be possible in the Northern Rivers Region to
create, control and exploit our film making ambitions within a
distinctive regional environment?’ This was so well received and
interest ignited that Matthew and Geoff took the opportunity of the
SPAA Fringe conference to launch InDigo, a $2 million privately
raised fund, aimed at producing and distributing 5 low budget digital
features. See http://www.screenworks.com.au/ for
the guidelines.
The securing of
the SPAA Fringe Conference recently
held in Byron Bay, was a major coup - a great opportunity for local
practitioners to meet commissioning editors, funders, senior
producers and to be inspired by some recent industry success stories.
See
Tristan Bancks overview of the program .
Pitching is an
essential part of the development process - enrolling people to your
idea and attracting funds and support. Screenworks held, for the
second year running, the Screenworks Pitch’N’Punt
competition. Practitioners pitched their ideas to a panel in
private, then a selection was shortlisted to go through the training
process and pitch publicly. SPAA compere and industry journalist
Sandy George undertook the training. Judges for the pitching
competition were Sally Browning (FTO), Trevor Eastment (Lifestyle
Channel), Lois Randall (RADO) and Ian Gibbons. The winners of the
public competition, Grafton-based Cate McQuillen and Lismore-based
Aliison Kelly, went on to pitch their project at SPAA in Melbourne
and for the second year running, a Northern Rivers practitioner has
won! This opportunity provides valuable project exposure and both
last year’s and this year’s pitchers have attracted ongoing support
for their projects.
Kent Williams,
last year’s winning pitcher, this year teamed up with local writer
Roger Monk and producer Lois Randall and attracted script development
support from the NSW FTO.
As well, a
Northern Rivers practitioner, Daniel Prokop from Billinudgel won this
year’s NSW FTO Pitching Competition at SPAA Fringe
and won a trip to SPAA in Melbourne, to promote his feature script,
TAKING IT WITH YOU. Judges for this competition were Jane Smith
(FTO), Courtney Gibson (ABC Arts and Entertainment), Trevor Eastment
(Lifestyle) and Peter Broderick (SPAA Fringe Patron).
Screenworks has
been regularly represented on the Tweed Council’s Home Grown
FilmWorks Committee, offering professional, industry-based input.
This project is developing six short films over the coming
year.
On the
locations front Screenworks has also been
busy:
- Screenworks made
a presentation to Northern Rivers Region of Councils (NOROC)
regarding the establishment of a film protocol for the region. NOROC
represents all councils in the region. The meeting passed a
resolution to nominate two positions from each council to be trained
by Screenworks and to then work as location liaison for their
council. Screenworks undertook to deliver a draft location protocol
to the councils by early next year.
- Screenworks met
with all the NSW Regional Film Offices and the NSW FTO to discuss
commonality and regional issues. There was great interest in what is
occurring in the Northern Rivers Region with Screenworks.
- A database of
locations has been developed - an ever-expanding
resource.
- Bids for a
number of features and television commercials have
occurred.
- I'M A CELEBRITY
- GET ME OUT OF HERE - shot in Murwillumbah, is returning in January
and February 2004 for a further UK and German series.
- Next year
Screenworks will convene a workshop 'When the Circus Comes to Town'
to assist the region’s councils deal with the demands created in the
event of a feature or television series being shot in their
region.
Screenworks held
a successful three-day workshop, MediaLab, at the
fantastic computer lab at the SAE college. Presented by Marcus
Gillezeau, of Firelight Productions, this workshop focused on how to
deliver a project idea across multiple platforms. Attended by 15
practitioners, the workshop was hands-on and we have seen successful
outcomes already through the pitching process.
This month we are
going back to our planning boards. The focus next year will be on a
number of fronts:
- First up we will
be touring regionally, meeting with councils, practitioners and media
students. We will present a screening program of local work. Stay
tuned for more details.
- Masterclass on
streaming media with the possibility of an exhibition of national and
local digital media work.
- Masterclass to
be delivered in association with CAMERA in Lismore in the new year.
Next year’s masterclass series is in the planning stages - any
suggestions welcome! Send email to kate@screenworks.com.au
- Lifestyle
channel program development.
- Production
initiatives for newer practitioners through funded initiatives and
negotiation of television windows.
- Development
support for InDigo, the digital feature initiative.
- Script
incubation…through workshops, masterclasses and ongoing support
mechanisms
- Mentor program -
funding dependent.
- Establishing a
formal mechanism for raising project investment.
- Strategies for
self-distribution.
- Digital media
content development - including video games.
- Securing two conferences for the region - SPAA Fringe
(start saving now - this is a must attend!) and one other in
negotiation.
- Support for
screenings of local works.
As always our
sincerest thanks the support of the Sustainable Regions Program,
NSW’s Dept of State and Regional Development, the Australian Film
Commission and the NSW Film and Television Office. We wouldn’t be
here without you!
Please note that
the Screenworks office will be closed from 22 December through to
January 12, with limited opening until after the Australia-day long
weekend. Urgent matters can be handled by contacting Kate on 0414 321
641.
We look forward
to crossing paths in the new year.
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