Category Archives: Film

Why is Oscar winner Adam Elliot supporting the revamp of The Capitol?

Film, Latest
RMIT took over the Capitol Cinema but without the money to refurbish it. Finally, we are seeing some action, and an appeal for funds.

RMIT reached out to the public with its plans to restore the Capitol at a formal announcement this week. Even with the entire ground floor turned into a concrete tunnel with drab cafes, the building is still a stunning piece of architectural history. The roof is a huge array of controllable coloured lights and symmetrical baffles – not bad for the mid-Twenties.

Owned by RMIT University, the theatre has been closed for several years. But it lives on in the memories of countless thousands of film buffs and cinema devotees who recall the time when they first visited the cinema.

For Academy Award winner Adam Elliot, who spoke at the launch event on Tuesday evening, it was a time when his father took him into the city from Glen Waverley to visit the cinema for the first time. For Deputy Chair of Village Roadshow’s John Kirby it was a screening of the 1972 classic The Adventures of Bazza McKenzie (directed by Bruce Beresford).

RMIT Design graduate and games designer Ngoc Vu is too young to have seen a film in the theatre but her dream would be to see a VR production screened at the revitalised Capitol. For Vu, the cinema’s beautiful interior would make an ideal spot to screen the cutting-edge productions of tomorrow so that future generations can have a life-changing moment just like so many past generations of Melburnians.

Opened in 1924 after a three-year build, the Capitol was designed by Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin, who are also known as the architects of Canberra, Australia’s capital. Architect Robin Boyd famously stated that the Capitol is “the best cinema that has ever been built or is ever likely to be built”.

The commission was unusually lavish for the time and no expense was spared in fitting out the extravagant interior including 4,000 coloured lights that adorn the decorative ceiling. The lights were programmed to change with scenes from the films being screened to add to the atmosphere. Today, only about a quarter of those lamps contain globes, yet it still looks stunning. The Capitol, which is situated within Capitol House in Swanston Street has been described as “the most important twentieth century building in Melbourne” by historian Allom Lovell.

Introducing the event, Pro Vice Chancellor Paul Gough explained his vision for the space as one that will provide a meeting place for all kinds of creative types mingling in foyers and swap ideas and plans as they wait for a screening. It will be an ideal venue for RMIT students to rub shoulders with the screen industry to the benefit of both. RMIT’s Vice Chancellor Martin Bean suggested that its truly majestic space is an ideal place for creative minds to come together to teach, learn and create. “Old media meets new media, which is fitting for our students with our motto of ‘a skilled hand and a cultivated mind,’ he said.

RMIT have engaged architects to draw up meticulous plans for the restoration of the building, bringing it up to the 21st century in its technological abilities while keeping its integrity. It will be capable of screening VR, AR, film and animation with state of the art projection equipment, and also be able to provide learning spaces to more than 1,000 students per week to study film and digital media.

The Capitol was once the main cinema to showcase the great films that came to Melbourne, and it has also staged many theatrical productions and even comedy. At one point it was the base for a Chinese film festival. The Dressmaker’s producer Sue Maslin explained that her first documentary received an enthusiastic screening at the Melbourne International Film Festival when it used the venue as one of its screens.

The State Minister for Training and Skills, Gayle Tierney MP, announced a contribution of $2.5 million towards the refurbishment. RMIT will put in $5 million as well as matching any other donations above $250 dollar for dollar. The goal is to seek a further $2 million from donations from the public in order to complete the project.

One former student (and filmmaker), Ling Ang, has already donated $500,000 towards the revamp. Any person giving more than $250 will have their name posted on a placard in the foyer.

The revitalisation reflects a global trend of re-owning iconic cinemas around the world. It is ideally located as a screen hub right across the road from the Melbourne Town Hall and just up from RMIT University’s city campus. The Capitol will add the missing tooth to the smile in Melbourne’s face that stretches from ACMI to the Ian Potter Museum of Art along Swanston Street.

Donations can be made at:

https://sites.rmit.edu.au/capitol-theatre/

First published in Screen Hub on Friday 24 November, 2017

WIFT Victoria and the nitty-gritty on gender and diversity

Film, Latest, Television

by Mark Poole (first published in Screen Hub pm  Friday 9 September, 2016 )

This week Women in Film and Television Victoria took stock of diversity and gender matters with a panel which made the barriers and frustrations all too real.
WIFT Victoria and the nitty-gritty on gender and diversity

On the panel was Emma Freeman, a familiar name but not such a familiar face. Freeman has gone from being the first woman to win Tropfest with a short film to directing more than 60 hours of television drama including Love My Way, Offspring, all episodes of Glitch and the recent Secret City.

She is currently in preproduction on a feature film, The Circus, to be produced by Leanne Tonkes, the second member of the panel, whose first feature was My Mistress in 2014. The third member of the panel, chaired by Lisa French of RMIT University, was researcher Amanda Coles who provided an overview of the ecology of gender and diversity issues in film and television with research she has conducted in Canada.

Freeman has been working consistently as a director since 2002. However she recently realised she’d had an idea for a feature film in development for that entire time but failed to gain traction on the project. Meanwhile she has seen her male colleagues manage to make two or three features.

One problem for Emma Freeman, as a working director, is to have a life outside her work. She works 15 hour days, 6 days a week when employed on a show, and on her day off she wants to do ‘normal things’ like anyone else.

She first met Leanne Tonkes by accident.  Tonkes had just lost a director to the UK, and had been told about Freeman’s talent by the Victorian College of the Arts. Then she heard Freeman interviewed on the radio after winning Tropfest. ‘So I called the radio station and asked them to pass on a message for Emma to call me,’ Leanne recalled. They began to work together on television commercials, and discovered a shared liking for certain types of stories.

Although Tonkes acknowledged that financing first time feature directors is tough in the current climate, she expected that Freeman’s credits on series and the telemovie Hawke would ease the way. ‘She’s won heaps of awards and clearly knows what she is doing as a director,’  said Leanne. With an all female team, including writer Alice Bell, the increasing sensitivity to gender equality seems to be helping.

The duo are seeking support for their feature project The Circus. It grew out of stories told by Emma’s mother about growing up in a remote part of South Australia and sneaking off at night to visit the circus when it was in town. It’s a period piece which makes the piece financially challenging, but Tonkes commented that bigger budget films should not be viable for male directors only.

According to researcher Amanda Coles, the film and television industries are risk averse since the chances of any project failing are high, so the traditionally white male gatekeepers attempt to minimise the risk by hiring men to key positions of director, producer, writer and cinematographer. Yet Coles pointed out that this risk management strategy is deeply flawed, since films created by women are more successful than those by men, despite being low budget. ‘There is absolutely no business case in support of minimizing risk by employing men,’ said Coles. ‘Despite smaller budgets, films made by women have higher returns.’

Tonkes added that at the end of the day a producer should be able to present a package that can include women in all areas, not just a token one or two women. Women should be able to be cinematographers, composers and directors as well as makeup artists and costume designers. ‘There are so many areas where women are overlooked,’ she said.  ‘You are not getting the best out of the industry because  we’re not finding the people whose light would shine, given the opportunities.’

Chair Lisa French asked if the panel felt that women have a different perspective on storytelling, and Emma agreed. ‘Yeah, I think there is a female gaze,’ she stated. ‘A male director would direct a project differently to a female, and what you want is a balance of the male and female gaze.’ As an audience member she wants to see women on screen that reflect her point of view, and she rarely sees them on the big screen, but it is better in television. ‘I directed all the episodes of Glitch and Secret City. With both of those projects I know that if a male director had made them they would be different.’

Freeman said she’s been extremely fortunate to be able to work with some stellar women producers such as Louise Fox, Penny Chapman, Joanne Werner and Imogen Banks, who understand the need to create opportunities for strong female characters. On the recently aired Secret City, the books upon which the series was based featured a 60 year old male protagonist named Harry, and producer Penny Chapman urged the writers (Matt Campbell and Belinda Chayko) to change Harry to Harriet (a role played brilliantly by Anna Torv). Emma said that it made a huge difference to the sensibility of the series.

‘Women definitely need more opportunities,’ Freeman added. ‘When I go on set I’m often in a sea of men. They are beautiful people, and extraordinarily talented at what they do, but it’s an odd feeling to discover I’m one of the few women there.’

Asked if she forms networks of other female directors to share experiences, Freeman said that she has a friendship with Daina Reid and Kate Dennis. ‘There’s a lot of chattering amongst ourselves,’ she said. However they are all incredibly busy working, and Kate is presently based in LA.

Freeman checked out the LA scene a while ago but was put off by a meeting with a powerful female agent, whose first question was ‘So, what do you want to do, have a baby?’ Emma recalled that she’d been mortified at the assumptions underlying the query. ‘So I didn’t go with that agent,’ she said with a laugh.

Leanne Tonkes noted that the recent Screen Australia initiatives Brilliant Stories and Brilliant Careers have created opportunities for female creatives, although Screen NSW has gone even further, aiming to distribute funds 50:50 to men and women by 2020. Furthermore, Amanda Coles reminded us that Screen NSW has stated that they won’t fund television projects where the key creatives are all male, nor film festivals where judging panels are all male. Leanne added that Film Victoria has a Women in Leadership Development Initiative, of which she is a recipient, and Film Victoria have also introduced a Women in Games Fellowship to help address the gender imbalances within this industry as well.

‘Screen Australia will match fund up to $300,000 for distributors investing in projects which have women in key creative roles,’ said Tonkes. ‘So for bigger budget productions a distributor may take a risk where they know the project meets the Screen Australia gender guidelines, where previously they wouldn’t.’ Lisa added that producer Sue Maslin has been reported as saying that the distributor Universal were the only ones that understood The Dressmaker project and its potential for attracting female audiences – and the film went on to gross $20 million at the Australian box office last year.

Debra Allanson, producer on the Board of Film Victoria was in the audience, and she suggested that the old distribution models were no longer sustainable, and if the current crop of gatekeepers are white and male, that will change as models are shifting massively. ‘There will be new gates and the old gatekeepers will go,’ she said. ‘It will provide a more equitable landscape.’

As Amanda Coles reminded us, diversity and recognition of talent regardless of gender and race benefit us all.

Books at MIFF 2016 – fostering the slow growth of adaptations

Film, Latest, Screenwriting, Television

From straight reversioning to simultaneous development, Australian cinema is slowly embracing adaptation.

By Mark Poole

Books at MIFF 2016 - fostering the slow growth of adaptations

Image: the MTC stage adaptation of Jasper Jones. 

For those with long memories, Books at MIFF was ten years old this year. Part of the Melbourne International Film Festival and held in conjunction with industry event 37 South, the initiative bringing together publishers and producers with the aim of facilitating adaptations to the big and small screens.

As MIFF Chair Claire Dobbin said in introducing the one-day event, around 50% of producers’ slates are taken up with adaptation projects, an increase from previous decades when there was a focus on original work rather than adaptations. And since Books at MIFF was created to redress that imbalance and promote adaptations to follow the US model where far more films result from adaptations than original ideas, this event has certainly contributed to that increase.

As in previous years the Books at MIFF event commenced with a case study presented by a panel of industry experts, expertly steered by MC Sandy George. This year’s panel featured Debbie Lee, director of scripted development at Matchbox Pictures, producer David Jowsey whose impressive body of credits include Ivan Sen’s current film Goldstone as well as the director’s previous feature Mystery Road and the forthcoming film Jasper Jones, plus three representatives from the publishing field in Sophy Williams from Black Inc Books, Fran Berry from Hardie Grant Books and Benython Oldfield from Zeitgeist Media.

The focus of the discussion was how adaptation has put diversity on our screens by offering us a rich source of diverse stories, and so the first such story to be discussed was the Matchbox television series Barracuda. Debbie Lee told the audience of producers and publishers how Matchbox producer Tony Ayres had previously established a fantastic working relationship with author Christos Tsolkias on the iconic and highly successful 8-part series The Slap. Barracuda, screening on ABC, is a four-parter shown twice a week on ABC1, and all episodes were also made available on iView. Lee said that early considerations about how to adapt the book centred around whether it should be four by one hours or two by two, and how it should be approached stylistically. One factor in the show’s success is that all four episodes were directed by the highly experienced Robert Connolly, who is also expert at adaptation, which has been a central focus of his feature film work (think The Boys, Three Dollars, Romulus My Father, and Balibo). Interestingly for a panel discussion on adaptation, Barracuda’s two screenwriters Blake Ayshford and Belinda Chayko didn’t actually get a mention, so when the AWGIE nominations were announced a few days after this panel session, it was great to see the two Barracuda writers honoured on the list.

The panel also explored the development of another Matchbox production, that of forthcoming feature Ali’s Wedding. Fran Berry explained that this project came into being through a conversation between Berry and Tony Ayres at a Books at MIFF session six years ago. Tony mentioned to Fran the stories he had heard from Osamah Sami, a young actor he’d directed in a film called Saved for SBS in 2009. Tony felt there was a film project in the stories Osamah had told, about growing up in Iran where Sami was born. Apparently Sami went on to write the screenplay for the film and the book version more or less simultaneously. (IMDB cites this film as being ‘based in part on the book’, and the screenplay for the film, co-written by Sami and veteran Andrew Knight is nominated in the AWGIE original feature film category, so it seems that this is one project that defies easy categorisation as an adaptation.) The book version is titled Good Muslim Boy, and Osamah also stars in the film version, playing the lead role as Ali. Fran Berry described the story as being about an Iranian boy who moves to Melbourne with his family and attempts to bridge two cultures by going through with a marriage arranged by his parents while being secretly in love with another woman.

Debbie Lee also talked about a third Matchbox production, that of The Family Law, which is written by Benjamin Law and tells the story of growing up Asian in Queensland in a dysfunctional household. Law’s book was published in 2010, selling well in part through the author’s extensive social media networks. Ben is represented by Benython Oldfield, another member of the panel, who persuaded Matchbox in acquiring the rights to hire the author as the head writer of the television show, since it couldn’t be realised without Law’s distinctive voice.

When asked about the dollar numbers of these projects Sophy Williams was guarded, suggesting that people get depressed when numbers are discussed, since in a small territory like Australia, the numbers are always going to be small. However if a book is adapted for the screen the numbers of books sold gets a solid boost.

The publishers on the panel pointed out that in Australia a successful book is likely to sell only around 4000 to 5000 copies, and if you manage to sell 20,000 that is a great success. But Ben Law has forged a new career in screenwriting due to the adaptation of his book into television, which is a great thing for his career, maintained Oldfield.

Bonython explained that his starting point is a book that has sold at least 10,000 copies, or has won a prize, as something that can be taken to producers. Oldfield was adamant that authors need to be paid for their work and so producers should be paying up front for options, despite the length of time it takes for production funds to come through. He talked about keeping pressure on producers to follow through and not just sit on the project, and he may agree to a peppercorn advance if that means that the producer must pay a premium in six months’ time when the project looks like eventuating. Oldfield also sets milestones for the producer to hit, such as a timeframe for the completion of drafts, which must be met in order for an option to be renewed. Sophy agreed that stepped options can be extremely useful.

Producer David Jowsey talked about the adaptation of Craig Silvey’s book Jasper Jones into a feature film, which has recently been completed and will be released next year. The screenplay was written by Silvey and Shaun Grant, and it too has been nominated for an AWGIE this year. Over 200,000 copies of the book have sold which provides a great base to build an audience, Bonython chipped in. The film is directed by Rachel Perkins who did a terrific job, Jowsey told the audience, and they are very happy with the end result. Author Craig Silvey was a presence on the set during the filming, and that experience has convinced Jowsey of the benefits, since the author can provide a lot of backstory to help the director wrestle with a problem.

‘It was always going to be a long and arduous journey and it took many years,’ said Jowsey.

The panel agreed with MC Sandy George that publishing is more open to diversity than the screen sector, as they aren’t as scared of it. ‘Perhaps diversity is less confronting on the page than on the screen,’ Fran Berry mused. However Debbie Lee reminded us that the sector has been really successful bringing indigenous stories to the screen, over a considerable time period with programs such as Shifting Sands, partnerships with government agencies and ABC and SBS, which created and environment where indigenous people were skilled up. ‘That has been hugely successful and I think everyone would recognise that.’

‘I really like the fact that we have series like Transparent and Cleverman where people who are diverse can screw up and be human,’ Sophy said. ‘Even a show about a gay Asian male can be transcended by witty dialogue, and it helps to create a sense of connection and breaking down barriers.’ She added that Benjamin Law’s stories are about humour and family, and they are universal themes that even straight white guys can connect with.

First published in Screen Hub on

How The Dressmaker was adapted into a film

Film, Latest, Screenwriting

Books at MIFF: how The Dressmaker was adapted into a film starring Kate Winslet

The film of Rosalie Ham’s 2000 novel The Dressmaker will gain greater recognition for the author. EPA/TAL COHEN

The Books at MIFF event – held yesterday in Melbourne – saw producers mingle with publishers in the never-ending search for the next book-to-screen adaptation. Although Hollywood is based on adaptation, the Australian film industry has always relied much more on original screenplays, and that is something that Books at MIFF – now in its ninth year – aims to redress.

The Dressmaker, to be shown for the first time at Toronto International Film Festival in September, could well be Australia’s next highly successful adaptation. Starring Kate Winslet, Judy Davis and Liam Hemsworth, the film was adapted from book to the screen by Jocelyn Moorhouse and PJ Hogan.

The Dressmaker (2015) trailer – Jocelyn Moorhouse.

For those who don’t yet know, The Dressmaker (2000) is a Gothic novel, written by the Australian author Rosalie Ham.

It tells the story of Myrtle “Tilly” Dunnage, who returns to her childhood town of Dungatar to take care of her ailing mother Molly. While people in the town are blown away by Tilly’s dressmaking skills, learned in Paris, she plots and exacts revenge on those who have wronged her in the past.

So what did we learn about the book’s journey to screen adaptation at yesterday’s event?

The Books at MIFF panel featured the book’s author, Ham, alongside screen producer Sue Maslin, the film’s director Jocelyn Moorhouse and the book’s publisher Michael Duffy.

The Books at Miff panellists (L-R): MC Sandy George; panellists Rosalie Ham, Sue Maslin, Jocelyn Moorhouse and Michael Duffy. Photograph courtesy of the author

Ham – who studied Creative Writing and Editing at Melbourne’s RMIT – told us her lecturers advised students to write a marketable idea, and that she soon realised The Dressmaker wasn’t what they had in mind. It didn’t have a typical story arc, and it lacked the sort of happy ending publishers usually go for.

Undeterred, Ham decided to write it anyway, to get all those things “that got up my nose” out of her system, and then she could start her second novel, the one that would hopefully be marketable.

But the book was picked up by Australian publishers Duffy and Snellgrove. It “erupted from the pile”, according to Michael Duffy, who was also on yesterday’s panel:

We began our publishing business intending to do lots of fiction, but ended up publishing almost none […] It seemed that most of the manuscripts we received were written by bored public servants about their fairly uninteresting lives.

Duffy and Snellgrove published the book without making any stab at sales projections, but it sold steadily thanks to word of mouth and positive reviews. Anyone who has read it seems to love it, including film producer Sue Maslin.

Maslin was returning from a shoot in the Pilbara region (Western Australia), for the feature film Japanese Story (2003), when she saw The Dressmaker in a bookshop and was drawn to the author’s name. Wasn’t that the Rosalie Ham she went to school with, who had grown up in rural Jerilderie with Maslin? It was, and as soon as she read the novel she was hooked:

I just fell in love with it immediately. It captures brilliantly what it’s like to grow up in a small community, and what happens if an outsider comes to town.

Maslin got in touch with Ham, only to find out that the film rights had already gone. Ham explained:

I had ten offers on the table within weeks of the book coming out. I selected a producer who seemed passionate about the book and determined to make it happen.

But it was the producer’s first project, and over time Ham began doubting it would be realised in the way she had envisaged, if at all.

In the meantime, Maslin and Ham played golf. Maslin said:

We wanted to resume our childhood friendship and golf seemed an excellent way to do it, even though we both play terrible golf. We never discussed the book. Once a year I asked politely how it was going, and that was it.

Ham used the hours spent wielding golf clubs to find out more about the film industry, and eventually, when the option to the film rights expired, she turned to Maslin, who jumped at the chance.

Maslin approached US-based Australian director and writer Jocelyn Moorhouse, who had directed Proof (1991) – another drama with an ironic tinge. But Moorhouse wasn’t interested:

I didn’t even read it, as I was having a major personal drama at the time. My son had just been diagnosed with autism, and I wanted to focus on that.

So Maslin was patient. A year later she called Moorhouse and suggested a meeting as she was travelling to Los Angeles. Moorhouse said:

I’d read the back cover and it was interesting, but I didn’t want to read the whole book in case I really wanted to do it, and I couldn’t. I told Sue she seemed a great producer but I couldn’t do it, and she said just read the book, and so I did and I was hooked.

By then Moorhouse’s son was in a much better place than he had been previously, and reading the book made Moorhouse feel homesick for Australia. So she agreed to do it:

As soon as I met Tilly [the protagonist] in the book I fell in love with her, because she’s a femme fatale. And then I read about the cross-dressing policeman …

She didn’t know how she could adapt a novel with so many characters into a feature film. But she did know that, if she could manage it, the screenplay would have the power to attract actors of the calibre of Kate Winslet and Judy Davis – they would be attracted by the complex roles.

Maslin tracked down Winslet’s London agent and pitched the book to him. Winslet considered the role, and since Moorhouse and Maslin were sure she was their perfect lead, they waited for her decision, which was an eventual yes.

The film was financed with Winslet on board, but as they prepared for the shoot Winslet told them she was pregnant. That delayed the film for a year, which meant re-financing the project.

Ham jokingly told the audience that, since she had done a year on screenwriting at RMIT, she felt qualified to have a shot at adapting the book herself – but as soon as she realised she would have to cut out many of her beloved characters, she realised she couldn’t:

A lot of the film’s dialogue is from the book, but we had to make the story more of a three-act structure and focus on Tilly and her mother as the throughline.

For publisher Michael Duffy, the film will provide new readers for the book, especially overseas where it will now be published in more than 16 territories.

Has it been lucrative for the author, MC Sandy George wanted to know?

I get A$2 per book sale and that ticks over nicely and pays my credit card bill. But when I got the big cheque from Sue, that paid off my mortgage.

Books at MIFF is part of the Melbourne International Film Festival, which runs until August 16. Details here.

https://theconversation.com/books-at-miff-how-the-dressmaker-was-adapted-into-a-film-starring-kate-winslet-45376

iBook Production: how to enter new terrain

Film, Latest, Online, Television

Lisa French and Screen Hub correspondent Mark Poole have turned their history of the AFI into an iBook just in time for the third AACTA Awards. He explains the process. 

“Shining a Light: 50 Years of the AFI” is a book first published in 2009 by ATOM. Since then, the AFI has morphed into AACTA, wrestled with its sponsorship issues and rebadged the awards. So we were delighted to be able to upgrade the book, and release it on Apple’s iTunes store just in time for the 3rd AACTA Awards.

The sheer accessibility is amazing. We have a defined audience focused on the combat of the awards, and for a pretty modest $5.99 they can read it on their iPhone, iPad, or Android device.

We are familiar with traditional publishing, and digital film production, but we could see that combining the two would be a challenging learning curve. This is some of what we learnt.

So why make an iBook?

Shining a Light was the ideal candidate for the digital realm, because it would bring the book alive with snippets of the interviews the authors have done with many of Australia’s iconic filmmakers they talked to for information about the book: people like John Flaus, Bob Weis, Denny Lawrence, Annette Blonksi and many others.

Putting the book onto the Apple store allows people to access it whenever they need information about Australia’s makers of film and television content. Because the AFI is such an integral part of the screen sector, the book is far more than a narrow account of the institution. Spanning 54 years, from 1958 to the present, It maps the progression of our industry, particularly since the revival in 1970 to today, and the interviews accumulate to an important oral record of our film history.

Barry Jones, speechwriter for Prime Minister Sir John Gorton, explains in the book how he and Phillip Adams sold the notion of supporting a film industry when Gorton unexpectedly became PM after Harold Holt went missing off Portsea. It was Gorton who began the revival with an initial capital investment of $1 million, in 1970. This enabled the AFI’s Experimental Film and Television Fund, the first film funding organisation, to support such iconic filmmakers as Bruce Beresford, Scott Hicks, Paul Cox, Yoram Gross and Peter Weir.

How is an iBook different?

The main thing is the accessibility to a global audience. These days everyone has a smartphone in their pockets, and many have other devices too such as iPads that are capable of downloading books in digital form. Even your 87-year old Dad can use an iPad and for many, the tablet is a more accessible way of reading books, in part because you don’t have to physically drag several weighty tomes around. As well it’s often easier to search an electronic version of a book than it is to sift through an index in the hope that what you’re seeking can be found there.

Ever since the AFI decided on a name change to the AFI/AACTA Awards, the authors knew they would have to update our history. This edition of Shining a Light includes a new chapter on the AFI’s initiative in establishing the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards in 2011, and its implications. As well, this new edition has updated its database of AFI/AACTA award winners and nominees spanning from 1958 to 2012. And since every year a new set of AFI/AACTA Award winners and nominees come out, an iBook makes it possible to update the database, and purchasers will be told that they can download the latest version as soon as it becomes available.

How much does it cost to make?

For the adventurous and digitally astute, you can make an iBook yourself using appropriate software. For Shining a Light, the authors chose to pay others to do the encoding, design work and uploading necessary. Peter Tapp, publisher of ATOM, is familiar with the process and sponsorship was raised to engage the appropriate technical support staff to make it happen. The fact that the book was already in digital format via Adobe InDesign software was a help.

That contract was signed a while ago, and prices have changed. He pointed out that it was a large project, with many pages, a lot of clips, and additions to the existing text. The price range depends very much on the number of interactive elements such as galleries and music clips. At the moment it will range from $3500 to $7000, depending on scale, and what the client can afford.

How long does it take?

As with the price, the time the process takes depends on how complex is your material, how much needs to change and the additional extras you include. Shining a Light has more than 60 video clips from our interviewees. The process of selecting the clips from the hundreds of hours of material we had at our disposal took a while, and the clips had to be encoded to Apple’s specs so they would play back via iOS devices. We were determined to include them for their oral history value.

So what are the takeaways?

Firstly, if you’re embarking on a book project in the 21st century, you should futureproof it. If you are recording interviews as you go, consider videoing them, using high quality gear. It’s not rocket science, but you do need to know the basics. Being filmmakers, we used broadcast quality equipment and one or two lights to light the interview subjects, and broadcast quality audio equipment to record pristine sound.

We also made sure interviewees signed the appropriate releases.

Secondly, consider getting the advice of a publisher as early as possible. Think ahead. If you are amassing stills to augment your work, consider digitising them at high quality and in colour.

Thirdly, who is your audience? Are they iPad savvy, or technophobic? Ipads are pretty easy to use but some people resist technology – yes, some people still don’t possess a mobile phone, and there are probably more in that category than you realise.

Was it worth it?

You be the judge. It will only cost you $5.99, the price of a latte and a muffin, to find out!

Shining a Light: 50 Years of the AFI

Mark Poole

from Screen Hub

IN CONVERSATION WITH PAUL BRADLEY (MERCHANT IVORY) – SPA 2013

Film, Latest

This session saw producer Rosemary Blight talking to Paul Bradley, Executive Producer of Merchant Ivory Productions, the makers of A Room With a View (1986), Howard’s End (1992), The Remains of the Day (1993) and countless other period films.

The most inspirational component of the talk was the film Paul screened that had been made as a homage to Ismail Ivory when he passed away. The documentary was a fascinating montage of images of Merchant as a young boy, as a young film producer and later in his career.

As Paul Bradley explained, Merchant Ivory was a combination of three disparate spirits – Ismail Merchant, James Ivory and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. Merchant was an Indian scoundrel with an indominable spirit, Ruth was a German-born British writer, and Ivory was an American whose sensibilities were more British than the British.

One of the charms of the documentary that Paul screened were the interviews with Merchant and Ivory, who constantly contradicted each other despite the rolling camera. It seemed they could agree on very little, yet their business partnership, always precarious, lasted 45 years, and was only finally broken by death, not commerce.

Paul told us that the trio were very different people.” Ismail was an ambitious, charismatic Indian who moved to New York. Jim was Californian but his sensibilities were very much English. Ruth was a German, a quiet, retiring, shy individual who was a great writer – in English.”

So this strange melange of three completely different people someone shared a vision for something that was beyond words, and almost beyond tastes. It was certainly a shared vision for making ambitious projects. “They would argue, but in the end agree,” Bradley told us. “They had that commitment, heart and soul.”

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala won the Booker Prize for her novels, and won two Academy Awards for her screenwriting, completing 23 films all told. She remains the only person to have won both the Booker and an Oscar. Plus she had three daughters and six grandchildren!

Ismail Merchant was famous for being a great chef who would always cook up a storm when energies and finances on a shoot were running low. Paul said they used to joke that Ismail was a better chef than a producer, and he published four books on cooking. A loveable rogue, Merchant would pay particular attention to feeding the cast and crew when he was unable to pay them their wages.

Paul started working for them to set up a London office, except they couldn’t afford an office, so the contents of the entire UK operation were contained in a briefcase he carried around. Paul got a sense of Ismail when he applied for the position and was asked what was the minimum pay he could exist on, whereupon his new employer tried to negotiate him down. As they didn’t have an office, they didn’t have a phone, so Bradley used to make business calls when in other people’s offices at meetings.

After numerous failures the Merchant Ivory team scored a huge success with A Room With A View. It made such a splash in America that Sam Goldwyn approached them wanting to do a sequel. “We said it would be difficult to dig up E.M. Forster and get him to write another novel.”

He told how after Howard’s End, they cast Anthony Hopkins in Remains of the Day, and he wanted Emma Thompson to star in that one as well. But Hollywood thought she was too English, and they had to fight hard to keep her in the cast. “We had to fight too against Meryl Streep who devoted herself to land the part, turning her agents on full blast to make us hire her.” But they stuck to their guns and Emma got the part, and Meryl sacked her agent.

Asked by Rosemary Blight about the temptation to make films for bigger budgets after a string of box office successes, Paul explained that they made Remains of the Day for only $14 million, and he was personally very angry at Ismail for not accepting larger budget levels. “But he was adamant that more money wouldn’t equate to better films, it would just be splashing money around for its own sake, and then the next time they want to make a crazy low-budget film, it would be difficult to back pedal. And so it would have inhibited our choices, our freedoms.”

Bradley said that while the Merchant Ivory team relished their successes, the key experience was making the films. “There’s a huge passion for the end product, but the process is all important, working with people on ideas, making friends for twelve weeks or for life.”

“I learnt how to turn my hand to many different things during the productions,” he told us, “and when you end up with something on screen that moves an audience, that’s a wonderful feeling.”

Paul noted that despite Merchant Ivory’s success in the UK, they were never recognised by the establishment. “To be frank, they absolutely hated us,” he told us. “We didn’t go to the grand lords and ladies and ask for permission as we were supposed to. We paid people less than minimums, which was regarded as bad form. Our films won BAFTAs, Oscars, but Ismail in particular was seen very much as an outsider.” He said that he did apply to join the union in 1984, only to be told that he didn’t earn enough.

Bradley described Ismail Merchant as “not always incredibly trustworthy, not always loveable but he always came up with the goods at the end of the day, and that’s what producers need to do.”

Mark Poole

POSITIONING YOUR FILM IN THE MARKETPLACE – SPA 2013

Film, Latest

For the cynics, this session could have been rebadged ‘Flogging A Dead Horse,’ particularly given the drubbing Australian films are receiving at the box office, with only a few notable exceptions.

Is it pertinent to this discussion that I never heard “The Great Gatsby,” “Goddess” or “Tim Winton’s The Turning” mentioned even once during this conference?

Perhaps Gatsby is currently filling the role previously occupied by Crocodile Dundee (1986), an outstandingly successful Australian release that did huge business both at home and overseas, yet managed to be comprehensively ignored as a model for twenty years.

The speakers at this session were Bec Smith from UTA, Clay Epstein of Arclight Films, Craig Emanuel of Loeb & Loeb, and producer Brian Rosen who ably steered it with incisive questions.

Brian revealed the budget of one of his recent films, Around the Block, which released at Toronto, but I’m not going to mention the figure here, for fear of making a tough job even harder. Rosen added that despite being in English, our films are regarded as being foreign, certainly in the US. His point was that the film was invited to Toronto International Film Festival, which might have generated international sales five years ago, but today that is no longer the automatic case.

The session discussed whether it can be damaging to get into the wrong film festival, or to release a film too early, and whether film festivals can help you to secure a distribution deal.

Craig Emanuel from Loeb & Loeb pointed out that you may get invited to Sundance, where all the buyers will be from North America at least, but if your slot comes towards the end of the festival, all the major players will have returned home.

Someone made the point that if you do get invited to a major festival, it will be worth it to engage a publicist to accompany you, so that you can get reviewed by the key reviewers and have your film at the front of buyers’ awareness.

Bec Smith said that if the goal of a film’s release is to build a director’s career in Hollywood, an invitation to Cannes may not be as ideal as Toronto or Sundance. Cannes is extremely prestigious, and any filmmaker going there with a film will have a ton of fun, but it’s expensive for the producer to be at Cannes, and you can leave Cannes with a hangover and no distribution deal.

The panelists talked about how difficult it can be to get a yes from a distributor, who may prefer to give you a ‘soft pass’, which means they’re not saying no, but they’re not saying yes. They’re waiting to see how the film goes on the festival circuit.

Clay Epstein described a film which got into a small festival, Telluride, which is held in the mountains, and has a secret program which isn’t released until the first day. Some buyers who had given the film a soft pass were corralled into a screening, they saw the audience response and bought the film. “It doesn’t happen all the time, but I fondly remember that moment.”

On the other hand, some festivals like Toronto can give buyers a false impression, since Toronto audiences love movies, and that doesn’t mean that a mainstream audience will agree.

Craig said it’s hard to manufacture a bidding war these days, in part because the distributors all know each other and swap information with each other. If one passes, the others will know immediately. So if there’s a good offer on the table, you have to think seriously about taking it, before it gets withdrawn.

The session demonstrated the complexity of this arena for outsiders; Bec mentioned how she watched Harvey Weinstein spending three and a half hours at a party, ‘something he never does,’ and Harvey and others bailing up the director and producer of a film they wanted. “It was really fun and we sold it for a lot of money,” she volunteered.

On the other hand, you may only get one reaction to a film and it’s a soft offer. So what do you do? You wait, and wait, and if it’s the right distributor, they may take months to commit but eventually they probably will.

Craig said that pay or play offers don’t exist now as the business won’t support that model. Today, you start with a great piece of material in a screenplay, and then you attach a director and cast. “These days there are fewer studio pictures getting made, and actors want to work, so it’s becoming a little easier.”

Clay Epstein suggested that the Chinese mainstream audience was not attuned to success at film festivals, like the US mainstream audience. “The bigger films that go to a film festival are using it as a launching pad, they’ve already got a distribution deal in place.”

Bec Smith said as an Australian she is sympathetic to Aussie projects, and mentioned how she fielded a phone call about The Sapphires, and was able to chip in that Wayne Blair is amazing, Jessica Mauboy is amazing, and so on. “People internationally don’t understand the Australian production system,” said Bec. “So you need to provide as much info as you can about how the film can be made and why people should get involved, beyond the screenplay.”

Emanuel also cautioned against entering a film at a festival before it’s ready. “You only get one chance, and it has to be as good as you can make it,” he told us. “If you show a distributor a rough cut and they pass, you’ve just killed your movie.”

He added that he feels theatrical distribution for independent films will become the exception rather than the rule. “I don’t see that as necessarily a bad thing if it helps get more eyeballs onto your content.” He cited the example of Behind the Candelabra (2013), which was released on HBO, and received great creative freedom as a result. “We have to change the way people view content, and see that kind of release as a positive, not a negative,” he said.

MY FILM IS GREAT, SO WHY IS NO-ONE INTERESTED? POSITIONING YOUR FILM FOR THE MARKETPLACE.

For the cynics, this session could have been rebadged ‘Flogging A Dead Horse,’ particularly given the drubbing Australian films are receiving at the box office, with only a few notable exceptions.

Is it pertinent to this discussion that I never heard “The Great Gatsby,” “Goddess” or “Tim Winton’s The Turning” mentioned even once during this conference?

Perhaps Gatsby is currently filling the role previously occupied by Crocodile Dundee (1986), an outstandingly successful Australian release that did huge business both at home and overseas, yet managed to be comprehensively ignored as a model for twenty years.

The speakers at this session were Bec Smith from UTA, Clay Epstein of Arclight Films, Craig Emanuel of Loeb & Loeb, and producer Brian Rosen who ably steered it with incisive questions.

Brian revealed the budget of one of his recent films, Around the Block, which released at Toronto, but I’m not going to mention the figure here, for fear of making a tough job even harder. Rosen added that despite being in English, our films are regarded as being foreign, certainly in the US. His point was that the film was invited to Toronto International Film Festival, which might have generated international sales five years ago, but today that is no longer the automatic case.

The session discussed whether it can be damaging to get into the wrong film festival, or to release a film too early, and whether film festivals can help you to secure a distribution deal.

Craig Emanuel from Loeb & Loeb pointed out that you may get invited to Sundance, where all the buyers will be from North America at least, but if your slot comes towards the end of the festival, all the major players will have returned home.

Someone made the point that if you do get invited to a major festival, it will be worth it to engage a publicist to accompany you, so that you can get reviewed by the key reviewers and have your film at the front of buyers’ awareness.

Bec Smith said that if the goal of a film’s release is to build a director’s career in Hollywood, an invitation to Cannes may not be as ideal as Toronto or Sundance. Cannes is extremely prestigious, and any filmmaker going there with a film will have a ton of fun, but it’s expensive for the producer to be at Cannes, and you can leave Cannes with a hangover and no distribution deal.

The panelists talked about how difficult it can be to get a yes from a distributor, who may prefer to give you a ‘soft pass’, which means they’re not saying no, but they’re not saying yes. They’re waiting to see how the film goes on the festival circuit.

Clay Epstein described a film which got into a small festival, Telluride, which is held in the mountains, and has a secret program which isn’t released until the first day. Some buyers who had given the film a soft pass were corralled into a screening, they saw the audience response and bought the film. “It doesn’t happen all the time, but I fondly remember that moment.”

On the other hand, some festivals like Toronto can give buyers a false impression, since Toronto audiences love movies, and that doesn’t mean that a mainstream audience will agree.

Craig said it’s hard to manufacture a bidding war these days, in part because the distributors all know each other and swap information with each other. If one passes, the others will know immediately. So if there’s a good offer on the table, you have to think seriously about taking it, before it gets withdrawn.

The session demonstrated the complexity of this arena for outsiders; Bec mentioned how she watched Harvey Weinstein spending three and a half hours at a party, ‘something he never does,’ and Harvey and others bailing up the director and producer of a film they wanted. “It was really fun and we sold it for a lot of money,” she volunteered.

On the other hand, you may only get one reaction to a film and it’s a soft offer. So what do you do? You wait, and wait, and if it’s the right distributor, they may take months to commit but eventually they probably will.

Craig said that pay or play offers don’t exist now as the business won’t support that model. Today, you start with a great piece of material in a screenplay, and then you attach a director and cast. “These days there are fewer studio pictures getting made, and actors want to work, so it’s becoming a little easier.”

Clay Epstein suggested that the Chinese mainstream audience was not attuned to success at film festivals, like the US mainstream audience. “The bigger films that go to a film festival are using it as a launching pad, they’ve already got a distribution deal in place.”

Bec Smith said as an Australian she is sympathetic to Aussie projects, and mentioned how she fielded a phone call about The Sapphires, and was able to chip in that Wayne Blair is amazing, Jessica Mauboy is amazing, and so on. “People internationally don’t understand the Australian production system,” said Bec. “So you need to provide as much info as you can about how the film can be made and why people should get involved, beyond the screenplay.”

Emanuel also cautioned against entering a film at a festival before it’s ready. “You only get one chance, and it has to be as good as you can make it,” he told us. “If you show a distributor a rough cut and they pass, you’ve just killed your movie.”

He added that he feels theatrical distribution for independent films will become the exception rather than the rule. “I don’t see that as necessarily a bad thing if it helps get more eyeballs onto your content.” He cited the example of Behind the Candelabra (2013), which was released on HBO, and received great creative freedom as a result. “We have to change the way people view content, and see that kind of release as a positive, not a negative,” he said.

MARK POOLE

AGENTS – YOU GOTTA LOVE ‘EM! – SPAA 2013

Film, Latest, Television

This session was about the power and influence of the agent in advancing a producer’s project, and along the way it gave the audience goosebumps about how exciting lives seem to be in the big league of LA.

Speakers were:

Richard Klubeck, Partner – United Talent Agency

Bec Smith, Agent, United Talent Agency

Ian Collie, Producer and Partner, Essential Media and Entertainment

Mark Morrissey, Founder and Managing Director, Mark Morrissey and Associates

The session was well moderated by Annabelle Sheehan, Senior Executive, Development and Production Services, Media Venture Partners, and a former agent at RGM.

Annabelle began with a suggestion that producers must recognise the power of talent, and agents must accept the significant driving force that is a producer.

The session covered connecting, or linking to the project, negotiating, or what is best practice, how to collaborate and achieve both the red carpet of film festivals and repeat business, and whether agents represent producers, and how does that work?

Mark Morrissey is an Australian agent who spends a lot of time in LA, having trekked over there regularly for over 18 years. He said that he always starts with the script, and reads between 6 and 10 per week. “I still enjoy the process of reading a great script,” he said. He reads them if it has attached producers or directors he knows, or if he can be introduced to them.

That was a theme of this session and others – that Hollywood operates by linking people to others through shared contacts. Several times, the comment was made that you can get through to anyone you need to, but you have to approach them via someone you know who also knows your target. You can’t approach them cold. “You can approach me through people I trust like casting agencies, or directors I admire,” said Morrissey.

“I start with a great script and build around that.”

“I’ve got excited about smaller projects like The Rover which has just finished shooting in WA. It doesn’t have to be a big project. It was the quality of the package that was presented. I got a clear idea of the director’s vision and the level of the actors they wanted on board. The director had some wonderful success here in Australia with Animal Kingdom,” he explained.

Annabelle – What’s the situation in the US? What gets you excited?

Richard – “In LA there is so much volume, so many scripts, projects, from so many sources, so for us the biggest challenge is sorting through all that volume. If it’s coming through the studio there’s a straightforward process. For material coming outside it’s trickier. You’re looking for something good or special.”

For projects coming from Australia, it’s about who the filmmaker is, and whether they have done well in the film festival circuit. “Every actor is looking for projects outside the studio system,” he said.

Richard added that the truth is there are scripts that simply find their way to the top. “We look at the blacklist for projects that rise on their own to the top, or get through via word of mouth.”

Bec Smith is an Australian now based in LA. For her, if you’re an Australian trying to attract a certain member of cast, the best thing is to have a sense of the artist you’re trying to approach. You should do your research, and try to be introduced to their agent by someone who already has a relationship with them. She said that while there are some people who never jump onto a type of project they haven’t worked on before, most directors  don’t want to be pigeonholed and want to explore different genres.

Producer Ian Collee from Essential Media said that the success of getting Rake remade in the US came down to having a good package and the quality of the scripts. “The scripts that Peter Duncan and Andrew Knight wrote for Rake were fantastic. Who wouldn’t want to play Dogfucker?” Also having Richard Roxburgh as one of the producers gave the some cache, and he was able to get on the phone if need be.

Asked about the number of big stars playing cameo roles in the series, Collee said that some of the roles only needed one or two days max, so it wasn’t so hard to get someone like Cate Blanchett, who had worked with Richard Roxburgh in theatre a lot. “By then we were in the third season.”

However, getting a high profile Australian actor to commit to a role can be tricky as they will have other, more high profile projects waiting in the wings, and so sometimes you can’t get a format commitment, in case schedules change. Sometimes, you have to move on, said Collee.

For Richard, it’s incredibly important to understand what agents are doing. Agents like the producers who understand what agents are doing. “Every series director has two three five projects they are juggling. Every actor has two or three projects they are doing in a year. The problem for an agent is that if they suggest a project to a client that doesn’t come to pass, they are at risk of being fired. “So we want to know if the project is really going to happen. It’s vital that we do not overcommit, so that we make ourselves and our actors vulnerable. If a producer understands that, they can work with us and develop the trust, and we can commit to those producers and get the movie made.”

Annabelle commented that some producers and even funding bodies don’t get the word ‘attachment’.

Mark Morrissey agreed. “It’s a difficult process. We’re about wanting our clients to work. A working client is a happy client. You need to co-ordinate opportunities for our clients. We try to make it clear that until the contract is signed and all the ducks are lined up, it is only then that the actor can commit to it. Before everything is in place you can’t commit.”

OfOf course one of the conundrums is that if the client happens to be an A+ actor, his or her commitment may make the project happen.

The panel agreed that they appreciate preparation and research. Mark said one director approached him and he came along with a vision board of exactly how he planned to shoot it.

Richard said that if a book that a movie is going to be based on is already out there, then the producer should do the work and put in the reviews, and a statement on why Wes Anderson may wish to direct it.

Moving onto negotiating, Annabelle wanted to know how Ian Collee managed television finances with a marquee cast, like the Jack Irish series, which starred Guy Pearce.

Ian told the audience that before the project was locked off he approached the agent (Shanahans). “We had a brand to sell in Peter Temple. There’s a great Aussie Rules and Guy used to play for Geelong juniors. He’s a Melbourne boy and likes to be back.”

Ian added that once Guy was attached, they had to negotiate his fee, but once that was done they were able to raise more money in the market, as they had something to sell, namely Guy Pearce doing TV.

Annabelle – How do negotiations break down? Cut to the chase!

Mark Morrissey’s definition of negotiations breaking down is when he estimation of the value of his client doesn’t equate with theirs.

Bec Smith agreed. “Sometimes it just comes down to economics. In Australia everyone knows each other, and sometimes the producer just goes around you and goes directly to the client. They don’t understand that the agent isn’t trying to obstruct the deal.”

Richard blames the lawyers. “Lawyers make deals break down more than the agents do,” he offered. But he said that sometimes people aren’t clear up from about how the deal will play out. “Sometime there’s a devious approach.”

“We try up front to be clear about it – is it a money job, or is it a cut rate job, and if so how deep a rate cut are we talking about?”

Everyone has their price. Apparently.

Other considerations are, how big do they think the movie is, who else is in it, and how much of the back end is available.

Annabelle – are producers resistant to finding the back end?

Richard – Producers love to move fees into the back end. We know the projects where that is going to happen. If it’s a 10 million movie and the writer is a 2 million writer, he’s not going to get to 2 million up front.

The panel discussed the trend where actors ask for a producer or co-producer credit. While some wanted to discourage that trend, Richard spoke in defence of it, as sometimes it’s justified. As well, he said that sometimes the director wants a producer credit, because they then have more chance at the Academy Awards. “If you’re a director, it’s incredibly tough to get a nomination for Best Director, but if you’re a producer as well, you’re eligible for Best Film.”

Richard added that sometimes an actor gets involved very early on, and they are taking a risk, so they should get a producer or co-producer credit. Bec said that the actor may be the lead actor who attracted a number of other actors to the project, and giving them a producer credit may be a way of acknowledging that.

“Attracting an actor to an unfinanced project is a big deal,” said Richard. “It’s emotional, because the actor may develop an attachment to the director, and then if they can’t do it because the schedule changes, it can get messy and the agent may get blamed.”

In concluding the session, Bec said that there is a lot of ‘white noise’ in the industry in the States, and an agency can help you cut through that to what is real. “Also the US is so much a culture of advocacy, so it helps to have someone who can introduce you or put you together with someone they think you should be working with.”

Mark Morrissey said that producers sometimes falls into the trap of believing that the relationship is over once the deal is signed. “If there’s ever an issue with one of my actors, I’m the one to call,” he said. “If there’s a problem on set, I don’t want any standoffs or issues for my client. I want it to be as good as it can be for our client.”

Richard said that most people try to sell a script to a big studio if they think it has a chance there. If you can’t sell to a studio, or don’t want to, then it’s a different process, and that’s where packaging comes into play. Packaging can work if the screenplay is a very good one, or if it’s a genre that sells, like The Sixth Sense or The Others.

“I think it comes down to whether the director can convince the actor to do the project.”

Annabelle had a final suggestion for Australian producers who can’t get the green light from a local distributor. “You can get them to tell you which cast members they would need to approve the project,” she suggested. “Then you take their list and work down it via their agents. Once you get the cast that’s been preapproved, you can go back to the distributor and say ‘we’ve got your cast.’

MARK POOLE

 

US producer Howard Rosenman

Film, Latest

Yesterday veteran US producer Howard Rosenman came to Melbourne to share his wisdom and experience.

Rosenman has an extensive track record and has produced more than 35 feature films including Father of the Bride, starring Steve Martin and Diane Keaton. He is in Australia as a guest of the 2013 Israeli Film Festival. At present his passion is producing documentaries, for which he has won 2 Peabody Awards. As he said, his obituary will mention the Peabody awards and not his Oscar, for the documentary Common Threads: Stories From The Quilt, about the 1980s AIDS epidemic.

He has just remade Sparkle, a film he made originally in 1976. As he says, he is now so old he is remaking his own movies.

Rosenman said his motto was GIO – Get It On. That is what a producer must think of every day.

“Producing movies isn’t rocket science,” he told the gathering at Monash University. “99.99 per cent of the time you’re going to get rejected, but you have to push on until you find the schmuck who’s going to say yes to your project.”

Rosenman showed a clip of an audition with undiscovered actress Julia Roberts, at the age of 17. It was one of the few times that he saw talent in one of the many hopefuls trying out for a role. He took Roberts aside and told her to learn a part and return the next day, and he would make sure the director auditioned her again. She got the role and earned the enduring friendship of the actress.

Building relationships was a key to building his career. He conned himself into a job working with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, and once they realised his con they just thought more highly of him than they did before, and Elizabeth Taylor became his supporter. When he created an organisation in support of AIDS sufferers, Taylor was the first person to donate with a cheque for $50,000.

His first mentor was a powerful man who told him – I’ll help you but don’t ask me for anything. Apparently the mentor was sick of being asked for free tickets to this, for an investment in that. “Don’t ask me for anything, but you can ask me for one thing, and that’s all,” he was told. So when the time was right Howard made his request and it was granted – and it started his producing career.

Another time he met a young guy called Ari Emanuel who was only 22, and Howard could see his ambition shining through. He took Ari to a party full of the rich and famous, including Princess Caroline of Monaco. Rosenman showed Ari how to network. Ari is now one of the most powerful agents in Hollywood.

His recipe for networking? Find a point of commonality. Maybe you both went to school in Brooklyn, for example. “These days it’s so easy to Google the person and find out the commalities between their life and yours.” You use that as an initial bridge.

Asked about pitching, he said he teaches pitching in California – and it takes 15 weeks. for his own projects, he spends six months working on a pitch. For him it’s about telling the story in as compressed a manner as possible, and he dwells on the setup, skips over the second act and emphasises the climax.

Rosenman said that writing was the toughest of all the crafts. You have to be concise, you have to tell a story in 110 pages, and align the plot strand, the character arcs, the theme and subplots all at the same time, and you have to use an original voice. He said it was easy to see when a writer had a distinctive voice. He picked up the script for Buffy The Vampire Slayer, written by Josh Whedon, and knew immediately that the writer had talent. He recalled how he used to read 30 scripts over a weekend, as by page 10 he would know that it was a piece of shit. “Most scripts are shit,” he said. These days he reads them on his iPad, but the process is the same.

Rosenman talked about becoming an actor late in life, when he was asked by Guy Van Sant to play a small role in the film Milk. Before then, as a producer he regarded actors as those people who created unnecessary overtime bills by not doing the scenes within the schedule. He auditioned for the role and to his surprise was given the part. Then, on the day of filming, he was overawed by realising he was acting with the great Sean Penn.

Rosenman said that Penn saw the fear in his eyes and approached him, explaining that he saw the scene as equally challenging, but together they would support each other and it would be all right. “I was amazed by his generosity,” Howard recalled. By the time Van Sant had got the coverage he needed and asked for some improvisation, Howard had got into stride, and generated lines freely. At the end of the day the actors were all hugging each other, having been through this emotional experience. “I realised that actors are the ones who really call the shots in this industry.”

The session was hosted by Associate Professor Con Verevis from Monash University. Howard Rosenman is Adjunct Professor at University of Southern California’s School for the Cinematic Arts.