All posts by Mark

About Mark

Mark Poole is a writer and director of both drama and documentary. His most recent film Fearless about 92 year old playwright Julia Britton recently screened on ABC1. His career began when the feature film he wrote, A Single Life, won an AFI Award in 1987. Since then he has written more than 20 hours of broadcast television drama, won a directing award for the short film Basically Speaking at the St Kilda Film Festival, and was honoured with a major AWGIE, the Richard Lane Award in 2008.

‘If I Went Back to Iran Today, I’d Be in Prison’: Why Noora Niasari’s ‘Shayda’ Is a ‘Drop in an Ocean of Change’

By Manori Ravindran Variety 18 January 2023

Five years ago, Noora Niasari asked her mother to write a memoir in order to fill in the gaps of some fuzzy childhood memories. The Iranian Australian director had been just five years old when her mother fled an abusive relationship and left her entire community to raise Niasari on her own in a foreign country.

An early draft of “Shayda,” which opens the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at Sundance on Friday, was based on that memoir and tracks Niasari’s mother’s life from her arranged marriage in Iran as a teenager to finding independence in Australia with her child. The resulting film stars “Holy Spider” breakout Zar Amir-Ebrahimi as Shayda, and Selina Zahednia as her daughter, Mona.

“There are a lot of fictional elements within the current version of the film, but it’s very much grounded in the emotional truth of our experience,” the Melbourne-based Niasari tells Variety.

Backed by Screen Australia and produced by Cate Blanchett’s Dirty Films, “Shayda” is the helmer’s first feature film and follows a number of acclaimed shorts, including “Tâm,” “17 Years and a Day” and “Simorgh.” The director says she had to work up to “Shayda,” both technically as an artist, and emotionally as a daughter who’s still processing her past trauma.

That pain, however, would only deepen in the fall when, as “Shayda” was being edited, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in police custody in Iran, after having been arrested by Tehran’s morality police for wearing a hijab “improperly.”

Noora Niasari (Photo courtesy of Sundance Institute)Keiran Watson-Bonnice

Amini’s death sparked a revolution in Iran, now coined the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, which has seen women forgoing their hijabs in public, and even destroying them in protest, only to be faced with violent and sometime deadly rebukes from the regime. More than 500 people have so far died as part of the street protests, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency.

Niasari hopes that “Shayda” — one of three films from directors of Iranian descent that are playing at Sundance (the others are “The Persian Version” and “Joonam”) — will be a “drop in an ocean of change.” While any sort of demonstration hasn’t yet been planned for Park City, the director says industry panels will address the situation and its impact on human rights as well as filmmaking.

“I don’t see it as something that’s going to be creating a monumental shift — I’m really realistic about the situation — I just hope that it’s a way to amplify and support what’s happening in Iran.”

Read on for Niasari’s full interview.

You’ve made a number of shorts ahead of this feature. Why was this the right moment to make this film?

I didn’t feel ready. I felt we were making the shorts, documentaries, traveling, working, being in writers rooms, doing directors attachments. All of these things were stepping stones to make my feature. And at the same time, I needed to process some things in my personal life in order to be ready to make this film, because it was very challenging, emotionally and psychologically. I don’t know if I would have had the ability to do it any sooner.

When exactly did you shoot?

In July and August of 2022.

Oh, wow. So you had seen Zar in “Holy Spider” then?

Well, actually, I hadn’t. I saw the film before filming, but when I cast Zar, it was before Cannes. It was in February 2022. I was introduced to her as a potential candidate for Shayda. We searched far and wide, and I’m very grateful that I met Zar because, as soon as I saw her first audition, I just knew she epitomized the character. The duality of her vulnerability and strength really blew me away and I knew that she was Shayda.

When did Cate Blanchett and her production company come on board?

They became involved toward the end of this development stage, just before we went to market with the script. One of the producers sent the script to [Blanchett] because he’d worked on a film called “Little Fish” with her some years ago. They read the script and loved it, and then we had a Zoom meeting. They were champions of the project from then on. It’s wonderful to have her in my corner.

This is such a personal story. What did you find the most challenging in terms of the shoot?

Anything that involves the father character, Hossein, was particularly challenging. At the same time, the actor that I cast [Osamah Sami] has been a good friend for 10 years. We both live in Melbourne, and I have a lot of respect for him. He’s also very funny guy who does a lot of stand-up comedy. He has a charisma, presence, humor and lightness that I loved, and it just allowed his character to have this other side that the audience could access. He’s not just a black and white character. As an actor, he made me laugh every time I was on set, which really helped with what I was going through.

There must have been some crossover, too, between your edit on the film and the revolution in Iran, right?

The first couple of weeks of the edit is around the time when Mahsa Amini was detained and murdered by the regime. It was very difficult for my editor [who is Iranian American] and me to concentrate because we were following the news every night, not sleeping, stressed out, trying to call family and not getting through. But at the same time, we found a new motivation to finish it, to make it the best we could because Shayda’s fight is also a fight for freedom and independence, and breaking away from these cultural norms and laws that restrict her from living a life on her own terms. It gave me a renewed motivation to finish the film, because I had a depressive episode after finishing the shoot where I found it very difficult to be productive due to the emotional toll of the filming process. I needed one or two weeks off. I’d cry a lot and process, but my editor was so beautiful in creating a safe space and creating a light energy. When the revolution started in Iran, we were very unified by this situation, and we felt helpless. But in finishing the film, we found a renewed purpose.

When it’s so easy for people to turn off the news and block out what’s going on, how do you think films like yours can change perceptions of these world events? Could there be a change in the collective consciousness and how we discuss what’s happening in Iran?

In the instance of what’s happening in Iran, and the kinds of films that we’re making, it’s important to highlight a subjective, intimate experience — a personal one. One that takes you into the journey of a character, what they’re going through on a day to day basis. Because obviously with headlines and in Instagram posts, you only get a glimpse of something. My main hope for “Shayda” is that it’s a drop in this ocean of change. I don’t see it as something that’s going to be creating a monumental shift. I’m really realistic about the situation. I just hope that it’s a way to amplify and support what’s happening in Iran. I don’t think it can be more than that, but at the same time, I think that’s valuable and I’m very grateful to be able to contribute in that way.

How do you feel about the film likely being prohibited from screening in Iran?

I’ve never thought that that was very realistic. The film is not political, per se. It’s about social issues and women’s rights and women seeking freedom in the West, so I’ve never really had a hope that it would screen in Iran. One of my actors, when the revolution was happening, said, “How amazing would it be if we were able to go back one day and actually screen the film?” And that was really the first time that I had a little vision about it. It was very beautiful. But no, I’ve never had a hope that I would screen there, just because I know about all the censorship in Iran. If I was to go back today, I think I’d be in prison. I don’t think I would be allowed to leave the country because of the film and the people that I made the film with.

“Shayda” has its world premiere in Park City on Jan. 20, with additional screenings from Jan. 21-27.

Cecil Holmes Award Speech by Samantha Lang – ADG Awards 8 December 2022

I acknowledge that we meet here today on the Wangal land of the Eora nation – and pay my respects to elders past and present and all First nation people here today. I recognise that their sovereignty was never ceded.
I’m sincerely grateful to Rowan Woods and to the Australian Directors’ Guild. So it is going to be hard to adequately put into words what receiving the Cecil Holmes award, and from a cherished peer and community, means to me.  I want to give it a go by framing it through the prism of what it means to be Australian and what it means to be a filmmaker – and how the two intersect in meaningful ways.I am a migrant to this country from the UK. My partner, Andrew is also a migrant or refugee, from Myanmar. The father of my children is European and the mother of Andrew’s children is a Butchulla women from K,gari or Fraser Island – Our blended family is a complex amalgam of skin colour and cultures.  So the only way it functions – when it does – is that everyone has a voice, and is encouraged to express it, even when opinions differ. And they do – often and vociferously. In a reductive way, perhaps, this is how I think about what it means to be Australian –  to live in a complicated place, with some painful histories, ample contradictions and uncomfortable intersections. To thrive in it – requires a curiosity about others and involves a responsibility to get comfortable with that which may not be familiar. To be Australian and live in Australia requires a capacity for re-imagining what community, family and identity might look like.  Acquiring a sense of belonging in Australia demands that we consider what we want to belong to.To be a filmmaker also requires a curiosity about others, implies a responsibility to consider that which is unfamiliar and insists upon an infinite capacity for re-imagining. It also carries with it the individual and social privilege of telling one’s story – of being given a voice. The privilege I refer to – is contingent upon having support to sustain that voice.From a relatively young age – because of the ecologies of care, kindness and patience that I encountered in Australia – I was supported to become a filmmaker – public high school, public healthcare, including mental health, publicly funded university and film school. When I became a filmmaker I was supported by government funded film finance policies and, significantly, I was welcomed into the ‘non-profit’ community of film and television directors known as the Australian Directors Guild.If it had not been for the founding film directors, amongst them, Gillian Armstrong, Phil Noyce and Stephen Wallace, and their establishment of a guild and, then later, directors Graham Thorburn, Donald Crombie, Ray Argall further nourishing  a community of directors I would not have had something to belong to… My identity as a filmmaker would have not meant as much because it would not be connected to a history of filmmakers sustaining each other as they interrogate the stories that need to be told about the place in which they live. The other communities I have belonged to, are those of producers, amongst them John Maynard, Bridget Ikin and Sandra Levy. And then of course, as a student at AFTRS, Rowan Woods, Robert Connolly, Dan Nettheim, Tony McNamara – quite a lot of men actually…nonetheless…Cecil Holmes understood that to interrogate what it is to be Australian, as a filmmaker, required not only that he compose his own narratives, but that he support other filmmakers to create multiple perspectives on what it meant to them to live in Australia. He understood that there is an intrinsic responsibility that accompanies the privilege of having a voice – and that is to create space for other voices to co-exist and create – to give light to the multiplicity of stories – that make up our national identity.
My great privilege and small contribution has been to participate in the ecology of care that is the Australian Directors’ Guild and to take part in sustaining our wonderful, brilliant, contradictory, diverse, eclectic community of filmmakers. This community has been evidenced recently in the work of Ana Tiwary at the guild – with her program of forty directors. She brings to light – just how complex and diverse Australian directors are. And this diversity has been supported by all of the guilds Executive directors over the last decade – Richard Harris, Kingston Anderson, Diana Burnett, Alaric McAusland and the many directors who have given their time freely to participate on the board.
When Ana posted a few days ago an NYT article about Freudenfreude – I thought to myself this is what the guild and the Cecil Holmes Award is all about… The definition of Freuden freude being … Finding pleasure in another person’s good fortune, Viewing individual success as a communal effort. Showing active interest in someone else’s happiness. Sharing credit for your successes with others. Turning oneself into a spectator of other’s joy.
It’s what at its best, a family can be, a community can be, and being part of a national identity can be…
It is also what the current campaign to parliament for filmmakers has been about….Making it Australian.

Rhiannon Fish, James O’Halloran bounce into Brisbane for Jo-Anne Brechin’s ‘When Love Springs’

by Sean Slatter IF magazine December 12, 2022

James O’Halloran, Rhiannon Fish and director Jo-Anne Brechin. (Image: David Fell)

The Steve Jaggi Company (SJc) is rounding out 2022 with another Brisbane-shot romance, this time working with director Jo-Anne Brechin.

After filming Colin Budds’ Love By the Glass in the city during October, the Queensland-based business has begun production on When Love Springs, starring Rhiannon Fish and James O’Halloran.

Fish, who acted in SJc’s A Royal in Paradise earlier this year, plays Rory Richards, a junior PR professional that heads to a quaint B&B on Lily Lake for her parent’s vow renewal.

Before she can relax, Rory runs into Jason (Callan Colley), the ex who broke her heart, and his new girlfriend. Panicked, Rory convinces the B&B’s future owner Noah (O’Halloran), to be her fake new boyfriend and in exchange, she’ll help Noah save his family’s B&B. Before they know it, sparks begin to fly between the unlikely pair.

The cast also Renee Herbert, Erin Connor, Steve Nation, and Francesca Savige.

When Love Springs is being produced by Steve Jaggi and Kelly Son Hing, with Vanessa Shapiro, Michael Gray, and Jip Panosot on board as executive producers.

It’s not the first time Brechin has collaborated with Jaggi, with the pair having worked together on 2017 coming-of-age dramedy Zelos.

Jaggi said his company was pleased to once again be producing a film with the “talented and experienced” director.

 “It has been a huge year for SJc, and we’re keeping the pedal down right till the end,” he said.

“It’s fantastic to be teaming up again with director Jo-Anne Brechin, five years after  working together on Zelos.”

Brechin commended the cast and crew for already being “amazing and so hardworking”, noting they had been able to find their groove “pretty quickly” on-set.

“We’ve created a beautiful setting full of old-school charm for this romantic story, and I’m excited for audiences to see the final result,” she said.

Athabasca Film will manage the domestic distribution of When Love Springs, which is being financed with the assistance of Xcelerate Action, while international sales and distribution will be handled by Nicely Entertainment.

BO Report: ‘Seriously Red’ has slowish start, ‘The Menu’ is served, ‘Strange World’ disappoints

by Jackie Keast IF Magazine November 29, 2022

‘Seriously Red’.

While Roadshow Films took local musical comedy Seriously Red wide, it had a relatively slow start at the box office last weekend.

The film entered cinemas amid a fairly busy weekend of new releases, though none exactly set the world on fire; the MCU’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever remains far and above the no. 1 title in its third weekend.

Black comedy horror The Menu fared the best, while exhibitors were disappointed by family turnout for Disney’s original animation Strange World. Luca Guadagnino’s cannibal romance Bones and All performed best at upscale venues.

Numero data puts the top 20 titles at $5.8 million, down 34 per cent on the previous weekend.

Not included the weekend figures is the result for Netflix’s Knives Out sequel Green Onion. The streamer doesn’t report BO for titles it releases theatrically, though exhibitors who IF spoke to who chose to screen the film – despite just a seven-day window – were highly enthused by the reaction.

Among those who were rapt with the response was Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace, GM Alex Temesvari, who predicts the film would have played well into the new year if it had been able.

“Having the season capped at only one week is a truly baffling decision given it’s a film that has massive theatrical demand and would have given both Netflix and cinemas  a much needed smash hit before heading exclusively to their platform for streaming over Christmas,” he tells IF.

“Still, we’re grateful to have been able to run it on the big screen at all.”

Roadshow released the Gracie Otto-directed Seriously Red, starring Krew Boylan, Rose Byrne and Bobby Cannavale, wide on 269 screens, with the film generating $166,667 to come in at no. 7. By screen average, the film was the lowest performer in the top 10, with just $659 per screen.

With previews and festival screenings, figures bump up to $265,764.

Seriously Red‘s opening lags other local comedies released this year like Wog Boys Forever, which bowed to $821,872 from 247 screens and How to Please A Woman, which opened at $501,064 from 294 screens.

The film, written by Boylan, follows a realtor who trades in her 9 to 5 career for life as a Dolly Parton impersonator. It bowed at SXSW in March, earned the public endorsement of Parton, and toured Australia’s biggest festivals. Reviews are somewhat mixed, though among the positive, some went so far to wonder as the film would be our next Priscilla (Tim Chappel, Priscilla‘s Oscar winning costume designer, worked on the film).

Majestic Cinemas CEO Kieren Dell hopes it will pick up on word-of-mouth, noting it deserves to find an audience.

“This pre Xmas period will be tough, but hopefully it will eke out a reasonable result, albeit off a patchy start,” he tells IF.

Temesvari was less optimistic, stating: “Unfortunately Seriously Red is seriously in trouble and has clearly been rejected by audiences. I can’t see it lasting too long which is a shame.”

Cinema Nova CEO Kristian Connelly believes the film’s future lies in regional Australia, given that the film’s plot and marketing has centred on a country and western star in Parton.

“The film’s future more certainly lies in the regions, where highly-accessible recent Australian fare such as Penguin Bloom and The Dry tended to over-index.”

Connelly adds that there is considerable hunger for local comedy theatrically, pointing to the success of How to Please A Woman and 2020’s Rams, and pre-COVID, Top End Wedding and The Dressmaker, urging more filmmakers to consider the genre.

“With mixed reviews for Seriously Red it’s not clear whether the film will have strong word of mouth but with so few recent Australian comedies in the market besides the more urban-appealing Wog Boys Forever, I’d like to see more locally made comedies in the mix (with the caveat that they’re actually funny).

“When we collectively reflect on our big screen culture we tend to highlight the comedies that helped define us as a nation – Crocodile Dundee, Muriel’s Wedding, Priscilla…, The Castle, Kenny – but with a few exceptions the last decade has been devoid of successful ones. Instead we have an abundance of dramas (many of which are incredibly heavy or dark in terms of themes) or genre thrillers made on a budget with a small cast (or high body count) in a bushland setting, both of which tend to be theatrically marginalised to upscale venues such as Cinema Nova and our contemporaries.

“Given the exceptionally funny comedies and comedians that populate our small screens, I wish I could fathom why we are not seeing more of them making the leap to the big screen.”

Melissa Black is writing a new direction

Vicscreen 23 November 2022

Melissa Black with clapper board on the set of The Smell of Bones.

Melissa Black was working as a librarian in Shepparton when she decided to take a giant leap of faith and enrol in a screenwriting degree at RMIT in Melbourne. “All my life I’ve wanted to work in film and TV, but it was only in the last five years that I realised I could,” she explains. 

Melissa researched viable pathways into this rapidly evolving industry and took the plunge. “That was the best decision I made, just starting.” 

Living in regional Victoria, over two hours from Melbourne’s CBD in a town called Tatura, doesn’t come without its challenges for an aspiring filmmaker. Just the other week Melissa found herself flooded into her hometown, with all major roads leading to the city inundated with water. “I did miss one day of a VFX shoot because of the floods,” she explains—a job she was invited back to after her recent Professional Attachment on season two of NBCs hit show, La Brea. 

The La Brea script supervisor attachment, facilitated through VicScreen, required Melissa to relocate to the big smoke for a six-week stint, with filming of the hit-US series taking place at Docklands Studios Melbourne and on location across Victoria.

“CHARACTERS ARE EVERYTHING TO ME. SO, WATCHING THEM DEVELOP OVER SEASON ONE, AND KNOWING THAT THE SHOW WAS MADE IN AUSTRALIA GOT ME SO EXCITED. THEN BEING ATTACHED TO THE PRODUCTION IN SEASON TWO…I WAS JUST THRILLED.”

Primarily, Melissa is a writer, she clarifies. She recently completed shooting a proof-of-concept shoot for her short film, The Smell of Bones, which was selected as a top-five AACTA Pitch: Focus finalist. The opportunity to shadow a script supervisor on the second season of a major international TV drama, however, was exactly the kind of experience she was looking for to hone her craft as a screenwriter.

“I fell into script supervising by working on shorts with uni friends,” she says. It’s a job that ties the pre-production, production, and post-production together, providing an excellent insight into the entirety of a screen project. 

“The script supervisor is there to represent the editor on set,” she explains. “It’s up to the script supervisor to be thinking about the cut. If a shot’s still owing for whatever reason, the script supervisor will take note of that. They will always have a copy of the most up-to-date script to support the production team, and the cast with lines and actions and other script information. In pre-production, script supervisors will time scripts and craft scene breakdowns to prepare for shooting.”
 

Melissa Black in the script supervisor chair on the set of La Brea S2. 

 “THE CREW FELT ENORMOUS…THERE WAS A LOT FOR ME TO TAKE IN AND LEARN. BUT EVERYBODY WAS SO GENEROUS AND SUPPORTIVE AND SHARED A LOT OF INFORMATION.”

Noting down shot sizes, camera lens changes, lighting variations, performance changes, as well as wardrobe, hair and make-up variables all fall into the script supervisor’s remit to guarantee continuity across each scene.

“Departments are really on top of what they do but taking photos and keeping an eye on these changes helps a lot, especially if you’re filming one part of a scene one day, and the other part two weeks later. For example, if a character turns to their left, and uses their left hand to open the door, taking note of that so it looks like the same shot.” 

There are a lot of moving parts on set, and they all contribute to the overall quality of a production. Ensuring continuity through script supervision is an important piece of the puzzle. “Even if [script supervising] isn’t a path I follow forever, knowing what’s expected; how directors work, what the editors are looking for, is so valuable…it makes me a better writer.”

Melissa is a big fan of historical and supernatural story elements, so La Brea’s first season was right up her alley. “Characters are everything to me. So, watching them develop over season one, and knowing that the show was made in Victoria got me very excited. Then being attached to the production in season two…I was just thrilled.”

Ahead of La Brea’s return to Melbourne, Melissa contacted the skills team at VicScreen and submitted her application to join the skills register in order to be in the running for a professional attachment.

“I received great support with that application process; I adjusted a few things in my life and I got it. I was very, very shocked, and very excited when I got this placement. I was also very frightened that something would come along to ruin it. And then, two weeks before I was due on set, I caught COVID-19. I was really frightened that my chance would just disappear somehow. But luckily, everyone was very understanding, and it was just postponed a week.” 

Melissa is a single mum to a 12-year-old boy. “So, the challenge is literally the distance and time it takes to get to the city,” she says, “as well as being away from him and having to lean and depend on my great support team.” Despite its challenges, being a single parent has emboldened Melissa to demonstrate what chasing your dreams looks like. “My son wants to work in the same industry, so he understands.” 

Melissa Black on location of La Brea S2. 

Over six weeks, Melissa worked across several episodes of La Brea under the guidance of professional script supervisors Ted Green and Janes Forbes, and a handful of rotating directors, gaining a first-hand insight into how a changing crew can achieve the same result through different methods. “The crew felt enormous…there was a lot for me to take in and learn, but everybody was so supportive and shared a lot of information.”

La Brea’s production is run on more of a US model, Melissa explains. “That was great for me to see and learn, because for this kind of career, I want to know how it’s done everywhere so that I can work everywhere. The majority of the crew were Australian, but there was a really good blend of people, and everybody was so knowledgeable… I can’t even explain how much I learned.”

Having spent 25 years working as a librarian, library manager, retail assistant and office administrator, Melissa isn’t exactly new to the workforce, however walking onto the set of a TV series as a newcomer in the industry could have been intimidating if it weren’t for the generosity of the crew surrounding her.

“The crew that I have come across have all been so encouraging with lifting people up in the industry. I actually got to pull up my sleeves and do the work myself. It wasn’t just observational. This attachment was such a brilliant way to fully immerse myself in a production.”

La Brea felt like a career-changing move, Melissa reiterates. “To create connection and network within in the industry, to learn, and to be part of the whole experience was phenomenal…It’s extremely hard work. Long hours, big days, but on top of that, it was so much fun.” 

La Brea is produced by Universal Television and Matchbox Pictures, both divisions of Universal Studio Group, in association with Keshet Studios.

If you are an early-career screen practitioner looking for your industry break (behind the camera), you can apply to join the VicScreen Professional Attachments Register here

You can also watch Season 2 of La Brea at 9Now here

One of Australia’s biggest TV producers is predicting a talent crisis

Karl Quinn Sydney Morning Herald, October 15, 2022

Australia is rushing towards a shortfall in filmmaking talent within the next five years, says acclaimed producer Tony Ayres, as the demise of Neighbours and other long-running TV series leaves nowhere for upcoming writers, directors and other key creatives to develop their skills.

Ayres – whose hit shows include GlitchStatelessThe SlapBarracuda, Seven Types of Ambiguity and Clickbait – says that while the local industry is enjoying an unprecedented boom in high-end production, much of it with the international market in mind, those shows offer few opportunities for emerging writers, directors and producers to hone their craft.

Tony Ayres: shows like Neighbours “gave younger directors an opportunity to direct, gave newer writers an opportunity to write”.
Tony Ayres: shows like Neighbours “gave younger directors an opportunity to direct, gave newer writers an opportunity to write”. CREDIT: LOUIE DOUVIS

“My concern is that there is a systemic flaw, which is that if we only do the kind of top-end, bigger-budget, more elite work, there is going to be a gap in about five years, when one generation moves on and another generation has to emerge,” says Ayres. “Who are those people going to be if they haven’t had the opportunities to learn?

“There is a real and significant gap in our production output [which was once filled by things] like Neighbours, great shows like Packed To the RaftersOffspringAll Saints – the basic, longer, returning series, which gave younger directors an opportunity to direct, gave newer writers an opportunity to write.”https://omny.fm/shows/good-weekend-talks-1/acclaimed-tv-producer-tony-ayres-on-the-filmmaking/embed?background=f4f5f7&description=1&download=1&foreground=0a1633&highlight=096dd2&image=1&share=1&style=artwork&subscribe=1

The writer-producer-director – whose company Tony Ayres Productions has a development deal with the US giant NBC Universal – explains this issue on the latest episode of Good Weekend Talks, a podcast featuring conversations between the best journalists from across our newsrooms and the people captivating Australia right now, where he likened filmmaking to professional sport.

The cast of Neighbours gather for a farewell shot. The show was renowned for giving on-screen talent an early break, but it was also a crucial training ground for people in off-screen roles.
The cast of Neighbours gather for a farewell shot. The show was renowned for giving on-screen talent an early break, but it was also a crucial training ground for people in off-screen roles. CREDIT:SAM TABONE/GETTY

“The skill set we’re in requires practice, it actually requires you just doing the work and putting the hours in and learning and getting better,” Ayres says. “It’s like an elite athlete or any kind of highly skilled area of expertise. So unless you give people those opportunities I don’t know how they grow and develop.”

One solution, Ayres suggests, is children’s television, an area that the commercial free-to-air networks have tried desperately to wriggle out of for years (they are no longer required by legislation to produce it) and into which few streamers other than Netflix have so far ventured. The ABC is by far the largest commissioner of children’s and young-adult content in Australia.

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Jenny Buckland, CEO of the Australian Children’s Television Foundation.
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“I’m a big advocate for children’s TV,” says Ayres, whose teen drama Nowhere Boys enjoyed four seasons and a movie between 2013 and 2019. “I think it’s really important that we keep making it, not only for practitioners but for audience growth, for getting children inspired by seeing Australian stories.

“Children’s TV is crucial, it’s an area where you can give people an opportunity, and audiences tend to like it – they like watching Australian stories on our screens.”

Ayres’ comments come as federal Arts Minister Tony Burke this week signalled that Australian content quotas for the streamers remained under consideration by the government, and just days after Amazon Prime Video’s local content boss Tyler Bern argued such measures were unnecessary.

Ayres – whose eight-part series Clickbait was a global success for Netflix late last year – believes strong support for the local sector is critical for its survival.

Other than America and India, he says, “there are very few market-based screen industries in the world that I’m aware of. We have to find some way of regulating the market so that we can actually exist as an industry. I absolutely believe that.”

Casting Guild unveils 2022 Rising Stars

by Sean Slatter IF magazine, November 14, 2022

L-R (Top): Christopher Bunton, Hattie Hook, James Majoos, Mabel Li, and Maggie (Max) McKenna. Bottom are Michelle Lim Davidson, Sana’a Shaik, Shaka Cook, Steph Tisdell, and Tuuli Narkle.

The Casting Guild of Australia (CGA) has announced its Rising Stars for 2022, highlighting ten actors with the potential to break out on the world stage.

The list for the 8th year of the initiative comprises Christopher Bunton, Hattie Hook, James Majoos, Mabel Li, Maggie (Max) McKenna, Michelle Lim Davidson, Sana’a Shaik, Shaka Cook, Steph Tisdell, and Tuuli Narkle.

They follow in the footsteps of previous recipients Milly Alcock, Eliza Scanlan, Katherine Langford, Thomas Weatherall, Zoe Terakes, Olivia De-Jonge, and Alexander England.

From November 18, the 2022 Rising Stars will be featured as part of an interview series on CGA’s Instagram, with a new performer posted each day ahead of the official in-person presentation at the CGA Awards ceremony on Friday, December 2 in Melbourne.

CGA president Thea McLeod said the organisation was “so proud” to have watched the progression of this year’s cohort from the casting room to screens and stages.

“Since the guild’s inception, the CGA has seen an abundance of successful rising stars launch their careers in Australia and beyond,” she said.

“The annual Rising Star awards highlight the fantastic calibre of talent we have here in Australia. We send our deepest congratulations to the Rising Stars of 2022 – a very talented bunch.”

The program is supported by Casting Networks and Showcast, with both providing 24-month premium memberships for each of the actors.

The 2022 CGA Rising Stars are as follows:

Christopher Bunton: An actor, gymnast, and dancer who made his feature film debut in Down Under and has since gone on to star in Nude TuesdayRelicLone Wolf and Kairos. In television, Bunton has appeared in Doctor, DoctorThe Other Guy and is set to grace the screen alongside Josh Gad and Isla Fisher in the second season of Stan’s Wolf Like Me. This year, he appeared in the AACTA-nominated digital series, It’s Fine, I’m Fine, which he also co-wrote. He is currently studying film at AFTRS with Bus Stop Films.

Hattie Hook: Hook has a role in Stan’s upcoming Ten Pound Poms and appeared in ABC’s Savage River alongside Rising Star alum Katherine Langford. In 2022, she debuted in her first feature, Goran Stolevski’s Of An Age, which opened the 2022 Melbourne International Film Festival. Her onstage credits include GypsyMary Poppins and Annie.

James Majoos: Majoos earned an AACTA nomination for Best Lead Actor in a Drama for their role as ‘Darren’ Netflix’s Heartbreak High. On stage, they have appeared in Sydney Theatre Company’s production of Grand Horizons and Belvoir’s Fangirls, the latter of which was awarded the Best Production of a Mainstage Musical by the Sydney Theatre Awards in 2019. 

Mabel Li: Since graduating from NIDA in 2019, Li has appeared in SBS series, The Tailings, and SBS drama, New Gold Mountain, for which she was nominated for a Silver Logie for Most Outstanding Supporting Actress and won an Asian Academy award for Best Supporting Actress. Onstage, she has been seen in Never Closer (Downstairs Belvoir), Miss Peony (Belvoir), Delilah by the Hour, and D.N.A (Seymour Theatre). Next year she will star in Kindling Pictures’ Safe Home for SBS.

Maggie (Max) McKenna: Since making their professional theatre debut in 2017 as Muriel Heslop in Sydney Theatre Company’s Muriel’s Wedding: The Musical, McKenna has appeared on television in the Foxtel comedy series Open Slather, for which they wrote and performed music parodies, and the ABC drama series The Doctor Blake Mysteries. In 2018, McKenna joined the American touring production of Tony Award-winning musical Dear Evan Hansen in the role of Zoe Murphy as it toured fifty U.S cities. More recently, they’ve been seen in Sydney Theatre Company’s Melbourne and Sydney seasons of the Alanis Morrissette-inspired musical, Jagged Little Pill, in which they starred as Jo.

Michelle Lim Davidson: A graduate of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts with experience in theatre, TV and film, Davidson has had roles in Nine Network’s After the Verdict and ABC’s The Newsreader, for which she received an AACTA nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Television Drama. She is also a regular presenter on Play School and ABC KIDS Listen’s Story Salad

Sana’a Shaik: Born in South Africa, Shaik moved to Perth a when she was 16. She cultivated her passion and ambition for the arts while at Curtin University, where she majored in Economics with a minor in Performing Arts. After studying the Meissner technique and working closely with various Sydney-based acting coaches, she has gone on to star in Stan’s Jack Irish, US mini-series Reckoning, and as Xanthe in the sci-fi climate change feature 2067. Shaik also has roles on feature film It Only Takes a Night, Amazon Prime’s original Australian series Class of ’07 and ABC anthology series, Summer Love.

Shaka Cook: A proud Innawonga and Yindjibarndi man from the Pilbara region of Western Australia, Cook has performed across Australia in theatrical productions for numerous main stage theatre companies, including a tour of The Secret River to the Edinburgh Festival and the National Theatre in London with the Sydney Theatre Company. On television, he has appeared in Cleverman, The LeftoversBlack Comedy, and Operation Buffalo, while his film work includes Top End Wedding and The Flood. Cook also starred as James Madison/Hercules Mulligan in the Australian production of international theatrical sensation Hamilton. He will next appear in feature film Kid Snow, due for release in 2023.

Steph Tisdell: It was in 2014 that Tisdell won the Deadly Funny National Grand Final, going on to sell out award-winning shows around the country. Seven years later, she made her acting debut in ABC’s Total Control and will soon appear in the Amazon Prime series Class of ‘07.

Tuuli Narkle: Born and raised in rural Western Australia, Narkle’s first major acting role came as ‘Ruby’ in the Jane Harrison play Stolen, which was directed and produced by Leah Purcell. Graduating from NIDA in 2018, Narkle has since appeared in multiple productions for stage and screen, including returning to the Sydney Theatre Company for their production of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall this year and making her Melbourne Theatre Company debut playing the role of Roxanne in a modern adaption of Cyrano. She starred in the comedy series All My Friends Are Racist for ABC iView and in the Corrie Chen-directed drama series Bad Behaviour for Matchbox Pictures. This year, she joined the cast of season 3 of ABC’s Mystery Road and received an AACTA Award nomination for Best Lead Actress in Drama.

2022 AWGIE AWARDS

See the full list of nominees for the 55th annual AWGIE Awards below. Winners in bold

FEATURE FILM – ORIGINAL
Blaze – Del Kathryn Barton and Huna Amweero
How To Please A Woman – Renée Webster
Sissy – Hannah Barlow and Kane Senes
Sweet As – Jub Clerc and Steve Rodgers

FEATURE FILM – ADAPTED
Mrs Harris Goes to Paris – Keith Thompson with Carroll Cartwright & Anthony Fabian, and Olivia Hetreed
The Drover’s Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson – Leah Purcell
The Stranger – Thomas M. Wright

SHORT FILM
Pasifika Drift – Natasha Henry
Snapshot – Becki Bouchier
The Moths Will Eat Them Up – Tanya Modini
When The Sky Was Blue – Rae Choi

DOCUMENTARY – PUBLIC BROADCAST (INCLUDING VOD) OR EXHIBITION
Beyond The Reef – Georgia Harrison
Big Deal – Craig Reucassel and Christiaan Van Vuuren
Girl Like You – Frances Elliott with Samantha Marlowe
Ithaka – Ben Lawrence
Peace Pilgrims – John Hughes

TELEVISION – SERIAL
Home and Away: Episode 7742 – Louise Bowes
Neighbours: Episode 8654 – Jessica Paine
Neighbours: Episode 8801 – Emma J Steele

TELEVISION – SERIES
Bump: Season 2, ‘AITA (Am I the Arsehole)’ – Jessica Tuckwell
Firebite: Season 1, ‘I Wanna Go Home’ – Kodie Bedford
Heartbreak High: Season 1, Episode 1 – Hannah Carroll Chapman
The Newsreader: Season 1, ‘A Step Closer to the Madness’ – Niki Aken
The Newsreader: Season 1, ‘No More Lies’ – Kim Ho and Michael Lucas
Total Control: Season 2, Episode 2 – Pip Karmel

TELEVISION – LIMITED SERIES
Fires – Tony Ayres, Belinda Chayko, Anya Beyersdorf, Steven McGregor and Jacquelin Perske with Mirrah Foulkes
Lie With Me – Jason Herbison and Margaret Wilson with Anthony Ellis

ANIMATION
Metropius: Season 1, Case #001 – Ally Burnham

CHILDREN’S TELEVISION – ‘P’ CLASSIFICATION (PRESCHOOL – UNDER 5 YEARS), ORIGINAL OR ADAPTED, ANIMATED OR PERFORMED
Beep and Mort: Season 1, ‘Beep’s Home’ – Charlotte Rose Hamlyn
Little J & Big Cuz: Season 3, ‘Levi Learns’ – Samuel Nuggin-Paynter
Little J & Big Cuz: Season 3, ‘Serpent’s Eye’ – Dot West
Little J & Big Cuz: Season 3, ‘Shelter’ – Adam Thompson

CHILDREN’S TELEVISION – ‘C’ CLASSIFICATION (CHILDREN’S – 5–14 YEARS), ORIGINAL OR ADAPTED, ANIMATED OR PERFORMED
Rock Island Mysteries: Season 1, ‘A Young Mystery’ – Marisa Nathar
The PM’s Daughter: Season 1, Episode 4 – Angela McDonald
The PM’s Daughter: Season 1, Episode 8 – Lou Sanz
The Strange Chores: Season 2, ‘Walk Wolfman’ – Luke Tierney

COMEDY – SITUATION OR NARRATIVE
How to Stay Married: Season 3, ‘Keyboard Warriors’ – Nick Musgrove
Metro Sexual: Season 2, ‘Martha Bradbury’ – Henry Boffin with Nicholas Kraak
Spreadsheet: Season 1, ‘Chlamydia & Nits’ – Kala Ellis

COMEDY – SKETCH OR LIGHT ENTERTAINMENT
Gruen: Season 13, ‘Punts’ – Sophie Braham and James Colley with Cameron James, Bec
Melrose and Mark Sutton
The Feed: ‘Comedy Sketches, 2021’ – Ben Jenkins, Alex Lee, Jenna Owen, Vidya Rajan and Vic Zerbst

AUDIO – FICTION
Sunshadow: Episode 1, Episode, 9 and Episode 10 – Phil Enchelmaier and Bronwen Noakes
The Bazura Project’s Radio Free Cinema: ‘Herzog’s Adventures in Wernerland’ – Lee
Zachariah with Shannon Marinko
The Fitzroy Diaries: Season 3, Episode 1, Episode 3, Episode 7 and Episode 8 – Lorin Clarke
The Great Mantini – Simon Luckhurst
Untrue Romance: ‘Call You Back’ – Tommy Murphy

AUDIO – NON-FICTION
The Phantom Never Dies: Fantomen – Maria Lewis

STAGE – ORIGINAL
Dogged – Andrea James and Catherine Ryan
Horizon – Maxine Mellor

STAGE – ADAPTED
Animal Farm – Van Badham
Playing Beatie Bow – Kate Mulvany
My Father’s Wars – Elaine Acworth

COMMUNITY AND YOUTH THEATRE
Euphoria – Emily Steel
Summer at Suspended Stone Camp – Madelaine Nunn
Very Happy Children With Bright and Wonderful Futures – Joshua Maxwell

THEATRE FOR YOUNG AUDIENCES
Cactus – Madelaine Nunn
House – Dan Giovannoni
We Are The Mutable – Matthew Whittet

INTERACTIVE MEDIA & GAMING
Sun Runners: Radioactive Laser Eyes – Zoe Pepper

WEB SERIES AND OTHER NON-BROADCAST/NON-‘SUBSCRIPTION VIDEO ON DEMAND’ TV SHORT WORKS
A Beginner’s Guide to Grief: Segment 1: Denial, ‘Stung By A Thousand Bees’ – Anna Lindner
All My Friends Are Racist: Season 1, ‘Cancelled’ – Kodie Bedford and Enoch Mailangi
Iggy & Ace: Season 1, Episode 3 and Episode 4 – AB Morrison
It’s Fine, I’m Fine: Season 1, ‘Poo Boy’ – Jeanette Cronin
The Power of the Dream: Season 1, ‘Swimming’ and ‘Weightlifting’ – Alexandra Keddie and Bobbie-Jean Henning

Why the ‘Australian hunk’ is at the heart of a new boom in romance films

Garry Maddox
By Garry Maddox Sydney Morning Herald

November 13, 2022

A procession of successful single women has been travelling from the United States to Australia lately.

Laura Price, a San Francisco lawyer, went to a tropical island to convince her childhood best friend to inherit a billion-dollar business. On arriving, she found he was now a hunky beach bum who preferred charity work … but might just be a better match than her questionable fiancé back home.

A San Francisco lawyer (Saskia Hampele) connects with a laid-back Australian hunk (Liam McIntyre) in This Little Love of Mine.
A San Francisco lawyer (Saskia Hampele) connects with a laid-back Australian hunk (Liam McIntyre) in This Little Love of Mine. CREDIT:STEVE JAGGI COMPANY

Then there was Caroline Wilson, a New York chef, who went to a coastal town after discovering her late aunt had left her a café. On arrival, she met the hunky cook … who just might be a better match than her dodgy ex-fiancé back home.

And Amelia Hart, a Chicago florist, went to a country town to salvage her little sister’s wedding. But as she spent time planning with the hunky best man, she realised – you guessed it – he just might be a better match than her dubious boyfriend back home.

They are all characters in romantic films that have been shot in Australia recently: Christine Luby’s This Little Love Of Mine, Rosie Lourde’s Romance On The Menu and Rogue Rubin’s Love In Bloom. And they’re part of the latest trend in Australian films: “uplifting, positive, female-driven stories set in idyllic locations”.

The Australian romance film boom

  • Romance on the Menu (2020) – Released on Hallmark in the US, Netflix in the rest of the world
  • This Little Love of Mine (2021) – Released in cinemas, then on Netflix
  • Christmas On The Farm (2021) – Released on Stan*
  • Sit. Stay. Love (2021) – Released in cinemas
  • A Perfect Pairing (2022) – Released on Netflix
  • Mistletoe Ranch (2022) – In cinemas from November 17
  • Love In Bloom (2022) – Releasing in February next year
  • You, Me And The Penguins (2023) – Releasing next year
  • A Royal In Paradise (2023) – In post-production
  • Love By The Glass (2023) – In production

In other words, romances in which career women – often in their thirties and with bad boyfriends – find love with a caring and ruggedly handsome guy. Often a laid-back Australian.https://www.youtube.com/embed/WR21TH-6LfY

Demand surged so much during the pandemic that Brisbane-based producer Steve Jaggi (Rip TideDive Club) has shot eight romantic films in Queensland, including the ones above, since just before COVID-19 closed borders.Advertisement

The best title: Sit. Stay. Love, which is about an American aid worker who, on heading home to snowy Vermont for Christmas, has to save an animal shelter with a handsome vet. It’s also from the popular sub-genre of Christmas romances.

The poster for Mistletoe Ranch: a Christmas romance about a rising photographer (Mercy Cornwall) who heads back to the small American town she grew up in and finds sparks with her ex-fiance (Jordi Webber).
The poster for Mistletoe Ranch: a Christmas romance about a rising photographer (Mercy Cornwall) who heads back to the small American town she grew up in and finds sparks with her ex-fiance (Jordi Webber). CREDIT: STEVE JAGGI COMPANY

Another Brisbane production company, Hoodlum Entertainment, has made two romantic comedies along the same lines: Stuart McDonald’s A Perfect Pairing (a wine expert from Los Angeles heads to rural Australia to land a new client) and Christopher Weekes’ Christmas On The Farm (a successful author heads from New York to an Australian farm to cover up the lie behind her book).

In a way, they are (much) lower-budget versions of the Hollywood romcom, Ticket To Paradise that Julia Roberts and George Clooney shot in Queensland during the pandemic.

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Sometimes, the female stars are Australian or made their name here, including Rhiannon Fish (Home and Away), Tammin Sursok (Home and Away), Georgia Flood (Wentworth) and Mercy Cornwall (Dive Club). But Canadian Cindy Busby (Supernatural) and American Susie Abromeit (Jessica Jones) have both shot two of these films.

The next one off the production line, Mistletoe Ranch, opens in Australian cinemas next week. It centres on a rising twentysomething photographer who heads back to the small American town she grew up in to save Christmas celebrations … and finds a spark with her handsome ex-fiance.

Like Sit. Stay. Love, it was shot in Queensland using snow machines to create a wintry landscape.

Jaggi, a prolific producer of young adult and romance projects, says the demand for romances has exploded in the past two years. “COVID undoubtedly made a huge difference,” he says. “More and more people wanted to watch uplifting content.”

The expansion of streaming services has meant there are also new buyers for these optimistic PG-rated films.

“Before COVID, as an Australian company, you tried to make a film that would work for as broad an audience as possible to make money,” Jaggi says. “Now it’s the reverse: if you want to be successful as a business, you make more and more niche content.”https://www.youtube.com/embed/MFNKHY86oFk

The market includes the American cable channels Hallmark and Lifetime, more sophisticated romances for streaming services led by Netflix, and even more sophisticated versions for cinema release. Largely appealing to an aspirational female audience interested in adventure, Jaggi’s films are set either in Australia, the US or an exotic “generic” location.

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Dee moved to the US at 17 for acting work, after being told there was nothing for her in Australia.
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Aisha Dee: ‘I was told by people that there wasn’t anything for me here’

“Escapist destinations tend to work well with the audience,” he says. “What we find works really well is if one of the protagonists is American and one is Australian. The ‘Australian hunk’ is a good formula.”

Jaggi is now planning 10 to 12 more romance films in the next two years. He is considering diversifying into having a thirtysomething man finding love, same-sex couples, and possibly “steamier” storylines.

While none of his films have Screen Australia funding, they are all supported by Screen Queensland – either logistically or through regional grants. And most use the country’s 30 per cent tax incentive (called the producer offset), while giving a break to rising (often female) directors.

“Australia is a huge entertainment exporter,” Jaggi says. And while that has traditionally been family and children’s shows watched by millions around the world, it now includes romances.

The Newsreader – Creator Michael Lucas talks ambiguity, archives and the 80s

The creator and producer of the ABC’s new drama, The Newsreader, talks about his inspiration for the show and gives advice for emerging writers.

10 Sep 2021 ScreenHub. Rochelle Siemienowicz

Anna Torv and Robert Taylor in The Newsreader, written by Micahel Lucas

TELEVISION

Anna Torv and Robert Taylor in The Newsreader, courtesy ABC.SHARE

In 1986, when screenwriter and producer Michael Lucas was eight years old, his dad got picked up from the local oval by the Ten Eyewitness News helicopter. ‘It was the most exciting thing that had ever happened to me,’ Lucas says, laughing on the phone to Screenhub.

‘My father was an infectious diseases doctor and AIDS specialist,’ he explains, ‘and because of that – much like in this past year when medical professionals and epidemiologists have appeared in the media a lot – he went on news shows. I have these really vivid memories of the helicopter taking him away, and I’ve still got the videotape of him being interviewed by David Johnson and Jo Pearson.’

1986 was also the year NASA’s Space Shuttle ‘Challenger’ exploded just moments after launch. Lucas remembers seeing it on TV. ‘My mum was crying, and that made a big impression on me, as it does when you’re little and you see mum crying which doesn’t happen very often.’

READ: Review: The Newsreader on ABC TV is sophisticated and enjoyable

These experiences helped inspire the creation and writing of The Newsreader, the ABC drama set in the high-stakes world of an 80s nightly newsroom. Created and produced by Lucas and Joanna Werner, with all six episodes directed by Emma Freeman, the series has lots of big hair and some giant shoulder pads (costume designer Marion Boyce has a ball). It’s fun period drama, in all the ways that period dramas are fun (‘look at the racism! Look at the sexism! Those cars…), while speaking to contemporary Australian cultural debates, and presenting a complex but very recognisable species of romantically charged work friendship.

Anna Torv stars as the ambitious female newsreader, battling sexism (particularly that of her boss, a magnificently monstrous William McInnes) and her own internal panic attacks. Sam Reid plays her junior co-worker, a sensitive but diligent young journalist who’s still unsure of his voice. As they work together covering the events of an intense three-month period, including the AIDS crisis and Lindy Chamberlin’s release, they form a unique bond.https://www.youtube.com/embed/k_0kxdPnEWg?feature=oembed

Writing relationship dramas and rom-coms is Lucas’s specialty. Nominated four times for the AWGIE for Best TV Screenplay, his credits include being a core writer and script editor on the hit series Offspring (2010 – 2014), WentworthRosehaven, producing on Party Tricks and creating contemporary relationship drama Five Bedrooms, which sold to the UK and is now in production on its third season. (Season 2 begins on new streamer Paramount+ on August 11.) Lucas was also the writer of the 2012 unconventional romantic comedy feature film Not Suitable for Children, directed by Peter Templeman and starring Sarah Snook and Ryan Kwanten.

Lucas says that, when he started work on it in 2015, the kernel of the idea for The Newsreader actually had nothing to do with the politics of the newsroom, and everything to do with a particular kind of relationship dynamic.

‘I was writing a relationship drama between the characters of Dale and Helen, and it was set in the 80s. I wanted to look at a male character that was sort of struggling to be the masculine ideal that the world wanted him to be. And conversely, I wanted a female character who had those sort of alpha traits and she was punished for it. About a year and a half later I set it in the newsroom.’

As difficult as COVID was, there was this massive silver lining to all these remarkable people being home in Australia and there was not much other production happening. So, in normal circumstances, Anna Torv would have been in LA and Sam Reid would have been in London and we still would have offered it to them, but God knows what we might have been competing with. But they were back in their family homes.

Michael Lucas

‘I thought, well, if he wants to be this masculine ideal, what does he want to be? A politician? A sportsman? And then once I thought of a newsreader, it lit up for me.’

It should be noted too, that Lucas is a self-confessed news junkie. He finds looking through news archives ‘exhilarating’, and also loves any kind of film or TV show set in a newsroom. ‘From Broadcast News, to Press Gang, Frontline, Tootsie and Network, I love them all,’ he says. ‘But particularly Broadcast News, and there are some very specific moments of homage to that movie in our series.’

Robert Taylor, Marg Downey and Michael Lucas
L-R Robert Taylor, Marg Downey and Michael Lucas in episode 2 where Lucas cameos as a DJ. Supplied.

Screenhub: What kind of research did you do to write this script?

Michael Lucas: I spoke to a lot of people. I was so lucky that people were incredibly generous, but also, a lot of the people that were working in news in the 80s are just on retirement age at the moment and It felt like I was hitting them up at a good time. They were ready to unload about what the workplace culture was like back then.

I built up a big Bible and I spoke to people that were on camera, off-camera, producers, people in as many different roles as I could to build up a portrait. I very quickly found that even though I was speaking to people from different networks, some commercial, and some ABC, there were definite hallmarks of those kinds of workplaces no matter who you were speaking to.

The newsroom you present here is quite diverse, with actors like Michelle Lim Davidson, Chai Hansen and Chum Ehelepola given key roles. Was it really like that?

I think undoubtedly newsrooms at that time were very male-dominated and very white. And so that was a real conversation in terms of casting it in 2021. There are so many different approaches you can take. There’s Bridgerton, which is almost set in a in a different version of history, and then there are shows where you’re colourblind or colour conscious. We spoke about it endlessly.

And I would say that with a mix of particular characters, they were conceived to really tell a story of what it would be like to be sort of a first-generation immigrant coming into a workplace. That was really something that was happening in Australian culture in the 80s.

In other cases, there would be a spectacular performer that really was perfect for that character and so we cast them. Our newsroom is a little bit more diverse than it would have been, but that’s where we landed.

In the first two episodes I’ve watched, there’s a lovely ambiguity and subtlety between the two leads. Nothing is over-explained.

I have to give a huge amount of credit for that to both the director Emma Freeman and the actors, Anna Torv and Sam Reid, who, if they could act it with subtlety, didn’t want to state it [in words]. They had such beautiful instincts. And I feel like I should say that, because they may have protected me from myself a few times! They’ve really made me look good.

The show also really captures some of that ambiguity around homosexuality that we had in the 80s, where there was a lot of very camp pop culture, but to be gay in real life was still very difficult and secret.

It was such contradiction, wasn’t it? You turn on TV, and you’ll get Culture Club. But then in the wider world, there’s this intense homophobia and repression. It was really strange even now to go back to that and try and get your head around what was the real attitude?

Sam Reid and Chai Hansen in The Newsreader, written by Michael Lucas
Sam Reid and Chai Hansen in The Newsreader, courtesy ABC.

Was it difficult to get the rights to all the archival footage you’ve used?

It was maddeningly complex! There’s a very good reason the ABC was the perfect place to make this story, because they have those expansive news archives and the ABC News owns so much footage, which was fantastic. But it was more complex than I could have imagined, depending on which show the footage came from.

Like, if it was on an ABC news bulletin, then they could give us the right to that and we could use it. But if it was on Four Corners, that’s a different rights situation. We had to be a little bit crafty, for example, in the opening episode, the footage of the Challenger explosion had to be purchased from the US.

Literally every frame has a different rights situation. I don’t know if we’ll get a season two, but if we do I want to change the process and start with all the material we have access to first.

When did you go into production and how did COVID affect you?

We started shooting in Melbourne in November 2020. We were lucky to sort of land in a relatively calm time although we still had massive curveballs, things like sending the cast home for Christmas and then the Northern Beaches outbreak happens and then we have to say to some of them, ‘I’m sorry. You’re not going to have a family Christmas. You’re packing up your car. You coming to Victoria right now.’ Those sort of things happened.

We also had plans to shoot in different parts of the country at various points, but it all had to be Victorian-based.

As difficult as COVID was, there was this massive silver lining to all these remarkable people being home in Australia and there was not much other production happening. So, in normal circumstances, Anna Torv would have been in LA and Sam Reid would have been in London and we still would have offered it to them, but God knows what we might have been competing with. But they were back in their family homes.

Not just the actors, but amazing heads of department like production designer Melinda Doring, who doesn’t usually do recurring series, she usually does feature films. We were one of the first productions to go back into shooting and I feel like we got some amazing coups in casting crew that that were probably the product of 2020 being such a weird year.

What can you tell us about the excellent cringe 80s costuming?

Costume Designer Marion Boyce [The Dressmaker, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries] is amazing, and that was another thing that came out of Melbourne’s lockdown. She was online the whole time going to deceased estates that were auctioning off 80s clothes, and a lot of the things that Anna Torv in particular wears are real vintage outfits from the 80s. On a normal production, there’s no way the designer would have months and months to sit there online going to auctions because of a pandemic.

When did Emma Freeman come on as director and did you always envisage her doing all six episodes?

Basically, as soon as I got together with Jo [Werner], we discussed Emma. We had to wait until the date firmed up before it could become a formal offer, But I’ve worked with her for so long and so has Jo, and we kept dropping it into conversation to get her interest. I thought we were in with a real shot because I knew she would love to do something in the 80s, knowing what she loves. She’s done the 70s and Puberty Blues but she hadn’t ever really gone into the 80s. She’s so respected and has so many offers from overseas, we were lucky to get her

In terms of Emma directing at all, that was partially because we had to shoot it all as one sort of block. We didn’t shoot in discrete episodes, we shot all six episodes all at once. So there were practical elements, but also we had a really particular tone we were trying to hit. And I just knew that Emma intuitively understood it.

 When she directs my stuff, I always feel like she is in contact with both the comedy and also the sort of darker underlying or more dramatic elements. She manages to bring both of them out so skillfully. I wanted her to be able to be a core storyteller and really put her stamp on it.

Do you have advice for emerging screenwriters?

I know a lot of people always say this, but write. Write an awful lot. I just wrote and wrote and wrote. I’d been writing for 10 years before anything of mine was professionally produced. I wrote a lot of things that are tucked in a bottom drawer for a very good reason. And I think you have to go through that. I certainly come in contact with a lot of aspiring screenwriters, who really want to get into it, but haven’t really spent that time.

The other thing is if you can try and balance that with real experience of film or TV productions. I was an assistant for Bazmark, [Baz Luhrmann’s company], and I was a script assistant for John Edwards, and Imogen Banks and, and that was really essential to witness the process of scripts being made, how production works and how to how to interpret notes and all those sorts of things.

Try to write as much as you can and seek out opportunities, whether it be doing placements, or whether even just starting as a runner. I was a runner in my very early days.  It’s all really valuable.

The Newsreader premieres on Sunday 15 August at 8.30pm on ABC TV and ABC iview.

Production Credit: The Newsreader is a Werner Films Production for the ABC.  Major production investment from Screen Australia and the ABC and financed with support from Film Victoria. Worldwide distribution is managed by Entertainment One (eOne). Created by Michael Lucas.  Directed by Emma Freeman.  Produced by Lucas and Joanna Werner.  Executive Producers Werner and Stuart Menzies.  ABC Executive Producers Brett Sleigh and Sally Riley.