MY FILM SCHOOL

Welcome to my Film School!

I can't believe it! I forgot to go to film school!

Oh well, I've kept track of the lessons I've learnt over the past 20 odd years, to remind me of what I should remember. These are they. Perhaps they'll be of interest to you.

Many of them need relearning and re-relearning over a period of time. Quite a few people never learn them, it seems.

For example, reading other people's screenplays as an assessor, I believe there's a fundamental lesson we all need to learn. Here it is:

LESSON ONE: AUSTRALIA AIN'T HOLLYWOOD.

Australia is not Hollywood. Breathtakingly simple, self-evidently true, yet forgotten or ignored by many newcomers to our glorious industry.

Since anyone living in Australia is constantly bombarded by Hollwood, it's easy to believe (perhaps subconsciously) that we, too, make Hollywood films. Not so!

Take a look at the films entered in this year's AFI Awards. See any that would count as Hollywood blockbusters? I don't think so.

But what about 'The Matrix', I hear you cry. It's not an Australian film, I reply derisively. Okay, it was shot in Oz with Oz actors and Oz crews, but it ain't Australian, no matter how many times you spot the Sydney skyline in the movie.

The Boys. Head On. Muriel's Wedding. The Home Song Stories. These are Aussie films. Are you getting it?

If you want to be hardheaded about it, one big difference between Australian and Hollywood films is budget. Ours are cheap (less than $5 million mostly, and yes that's cheap.) Theirs are expensive (try $50 million plus.)

So. Get out all those Hollywood scripts with Hollwoods storylines calling for big star actors, and pack them off where they belong. Hollywood.

Australia is not Hollywood, okay?

Hollywood films won't get made in Oz, they won't get script development funding, not even New Writer funding. Our films are character based, low budget, slice-of-life, ironic, quirky. Watch 'Praise', then watch 'The Matrix,' then watch 'Praise' again.

LESSON TWO: MAYBE LESSON ONE IS WRONG.

Don't get mad at your teacher here for being a tad inconsistent, but maybe the Australian film industry is on the cusp of major change

Or maybe not.

Still, the release of Baz's film Australia is perhaps prophetic. If Baz can make a $180million epic, why can't the rest of us?

Lots of reasons.

But the recent merging of Screen Australia, the producer offset and the push to fund viable enterprises may mean that we are finally attempting to make films that make money at the box office, instead of critically acclaimed films that are obviously not going to make a dollar.

Maybe it's even more complex now, because in general Australia still isn't Hollywood, but a few producers may believe differently, and may even want to make Hollywood pics.

We live in fascinating times!