The first Writer’s Room for 2014 featured kiwi-born producer Helen Bowden (THE SLAP) in conversation with producer Philippa Campbell (TOP OF THE LAKE). Helen spoke about her experiences developing and making high-end television drama in Australia for Matchbox Pictures, with particular reference to the Emmy-nominated drama series THE SLAP (2011), the tele-feature UNDERGROUND (following the early life of Julian Assange) and her latest six-part mini-series DEVIL’S PLAYGROUND.
Helen’s work pre-Matchbox began in 1993 when she started producing shorts, documentaries, feature films and enjoying the privilege of working with some great actors like Cate Blanchett. “Like many New Zealanders I went to London after university. I shared a flat with a young Israeli director. She asked me to produce her film … and that was the beginning, a trial by fire really, but I loved it.”
After a four-year stint in London working on short films and waitressing, she made the move to Sydney and began a career making educational and corporate videos. It soon became clear to her that she was in the wrong ‘groove.’ “I realised it was just sucking up my energy. I knew I wanted to do drama.”
And so Helen began a gradual shift into the world of dramatic series and feature films. “I was a ‘suitcase producer’. I was essentially making one thing at a time and keeping my overheads very low. That was the only way to make things viable.”
In spite of the uncertainties that came with this territory, Helen enjoyed the ‘suitcase’ life. “You could do what you really wanted. Sometimes I had bigger overheads, an office, an assistant … but then there was often the pressure of trying to keep the cash flowing. This type of approach can be lonely at times, but I loved it anyway. You’re very mobile and can join forces with others. However you can be seen as being ‘successful’ – but after each project, you’re back at ground zero again. Disheartening, but that’s the nature of being part of a small industry.”
Then in 2008 the Australian government introduced the ‘Producer Offset’. Put simply, it is a tax rebate for producers, offering 20% of the total budget for television and 40% for film projects. The rebate is claimed back once the entire budget is spent, so you have to borrow against it to make the show.
A number of companies had been finding it hard to be viable prior to this initiative but the Offset meant that if a film made money, its creators would too, something that did not happen before. This form of financial support from government gave Helen and four other producers the certainty they needed to establish Matchbox Pictures in 2008.
Matchbox was set up to produce television drama, documentaries and some feature films. Friend and colleague Tony Ayres (Melbourne-based writer/director) approached Helen, asking if she would like to do something with him and his longtime producer Michael McMahon. The time was right with the Producer Offset. They asked Penny Chapman to come on board and she brought Helen Panckhurst with her as a ‘package deal’.
It was about this time that THE SLAP came into the frame, a book written by Christos Tsiolkas. At a suburban barbecue, a man slaps a three-year old boy (not his own child) across the face. The child has been misbehaving with no intervention from his parents and the book explores the reverberations of the incident through the voices of eight characters, each with their own chapter. The characters range in age from two year 12 students to a 71 year old man, four male and four female, and the book itself offers up an insightful portrait of contemporary Australian society.
“I ran into the office one day not long after we started Matchbox,” Helen said, “waving this book saying ‘I’ve found it! This is what we should do next!”. Tony and Michael were good friends with writer Christos and both agreed the book would make a great television series. There was stiff competition from others who thought it would be better as a film. We had to develop a presentation based on why we thought it would suit TV and how an eight-part series would do justice to the book. Fortunately Christos understood and agreed with us. When we secured the rights, ABC was in touch with us right away. The book was already making a splash and several networks wanted it.”
Helen and her colleagues knew ABC was keen. “We were lucky because ABC had received new money for drama. They’d been starved of funding by successive governments and the end result was no money for drama. They’d cut back from 100 hours a year to only 6 in 2007. Shameful … but Mr Rudd and a new government gave ABC a lot of money for drama and we were one of the first projects to benefit from that. The ABC wanted to do something multi-cultural and contemporary, so the timing was perfect.”
The pitch was a ‘dream’. “It was an easy pitch to make when I went off to raise the money. A man slaps a child that is not his own … the story resonates so widely because it is an urban one about child rearing that people really engage with … a child no one wants to deal with, and then a line is crossed. It’s very exciting when you have a strong idea that you can pitch. It makes your life so much easier – and the fact that potential financiers can then pitch it up the line too, is also really good.”
There were five writers on The Slap and Christos had input into the creative process too. “He was very good to work with, very modest and wanted to learn more about screenwriting and be involved. Tony and I met a lot of writers and eventually put together a team of five that we felt were a good mix for the novel and who showed a real willingness to collaborate. We wanted people who would put the project ahead of themselves and not think solely of their own episodes – some did one episode and others did two – but rather of the whole story. The book was ideal and inspiring, constructed around eight chapters and eight different points of view.”
To kick-start the process, Tony, Helen, Christos, a script editor and the five writers participated in a three- week workshop. “It was an expensive exercise,” said Helen, “Australian writers are quite heavily unionised, so workshop fees are high, but it was a fantastic thing to do. Essentially, we paid the writers to sit in a room and have their ideas go into a general pot, because then those ideas belonged to the company and the project. They received a ‘brainstorming fee’ which was different to their writing fee. Christos was very supportive of the workshop process. At the end, we had a storyline and a series outline and the writers went off to start first drafts. We then had another two-week workshop before starting on second drafts. We had a luxurious time frame for the writing because we wanted to do it well and give the writers enough time to write.”
With financing in place and the scripts at a certain point, the Matchbox team met with directors, once again looking for those who were the most collaborative in their approach. They then selected people they felt were best suited to the episodes. “Our set up director was Jessica Hobbs (another Kiwi), very accomplished, open, clever and thoughtful. She became a key member of the team in terms of setting up the series and working with Tony and me.”
The workshop approach was used with the directors too. They participated in a successful four-day workshop, arguing and talking around the table, generating ideas and discussing style and tone. “There was huge excitement from everyone. We felt we were making something special and important about contemporary life.”
Casting director Jane Norris rose to the challenges, finding ‘the most incredible people’ for every role. “We wanted good actors, of course, but we also wanted to be authentic to the culture portrayed in the book and to surprise people. It was great to find cast members that Australian viewers didn’t know.”
The series was not shot completely in sequence and each episode took approximately 7 – 8.5 days to shoot the 55-57 minute hour. “Christos was often on set. He was very trusting and had many useful things to say.”
Helen credits Tony with the idea for Underground, a tele-movie about the early life of Julian Assange. “He is like this fountain of ideas! I then started working with journalist Mark Davis who had done the most interviews with Julian over the years. He told me about the book Underground about hackers in the 1980s, written by a friend of Julian’s who was part of the Melbourne hacking scene. The book contained a few stories about Julian’s early life. We wrote up a two pager for the networks and pitched to the Head of Drama at Channel 10. They were interested but wanted a longer outline. This didn’t exist so we started working on it right away, got it into a form the Head was happy with and he agreed to make it.”
Once given the ‘ok’ the project grew wings and took off, something Helen felt it needed to do because of the nature of the story. “We had a three-day workshop in Melbourne. Matchbox had commissioned some research, which we often do, and that person did a breakdown of the book’s contents, a timeline of Julian’s life, and sourced some additional information. We started working on a storyline.”
While they were making the tele-movie, Julian’s real-time life ‘got crazier’ with the WikiLeaks issues and the accusations from Sweden. “It was mind-blowing,” said Helen. “Julian’s mother was very upset about the making of the film. Director Robert Connolly is a very ethical person, politically aware, left wing, and he found this quite distressing. We had heard she wasn’t happy and then she called him, talked for over an hour asking, ‘what are you doing?’ and ‘this is not going to help – it will damage him! Live your own life and leave us alone’. Robert was very diplomatic but she would not step back and wrote to the papers, saying she was unhappy and the truth wasn’t being told.”
The movie was completed, went to air, received good viewer numbers and was later released as a feature film which raised some money for Julian. “Julian’s mother did speak with us after that, saying she loved the film, it was the best one done about him. As a young man, Julian was very idealistic. His ideas have stayed the same but his life has become far more complicated, so telling the story of his early years was easier than trying to deal with the complexities of his later life.”
Helen said she has always felt very fortunate being able to bring important stories to the screen and the six-part mini-series Devil’s Playground is no exception. The series is a spin-off from the 1973 Fred Schepisi film which tells the story of a young boy growing up and going to school in a Catholic seminary, and realising that the priesthood is not for him. Helen explained that whilst the film shows an ‘affectionate’ portrait of the Church, there are hints that all is not well. In the series, Simon Burke returns to his role as Tom Allen – he is now a psychiatrist who is asked by the Church to counsel priests. Simon was also an executive producer on the film.
“The process to find the story was long,” said Helen. “We wondered what had become of Tom after he ran away from the Seminary. We wanted to know where he is now, what is he doing and explain why he left. It had to be something that people would turn on and watch, so the story also had to go into the contemporary problems within the Church but not overwhelm with those stories. Tom is like an ‘everyman investigator’ going into the world of this incredible institution.”
The series is yet to air on Foxtel but Helen is keen to see this happen before people become fatigued by the number of stories currently circulating about the Catholic Church.
In 2011 a 60% stake in Matchbox was sold to NBCUniversal and the remaining 40% was purchased in 2013. Helen said this was much needed and a very positive thing. “It gave us the money to develop projects and put in more infrastructure. Universal has huge distribution and they look for high-end drama throughout the world. We couldn’t believe the purchase in 2013. That we had started, built up and sold the company in such a short space of time, was amazing. I decided not to continue once the company was 100% American owned, so I left after Devil’s Playground and will move on to something else now.”
Written for Script to Screen by Jane Bissell
Join us this month for a Wellington Writers’ Room with Australian director and academic Robert Marchand. Robert will talk to story advisor and acting coach Brita McVeigh about the relationship between filmmakers and actors in the process of character-based improvisation.
Emerging filmmakers can feel bound by the orthodoxy of the filmmaking process. How can writers and directors get to the heart of the story by engaging their actors earlier on in the process? This discussion is aimed at writers and directors, as well as actors.
Join us from 5:30pm for a glass of wine and stay afterwards for a slice of Heaven Woodfire Pizza on us.
Wed 27 August, Nga Taonga Sound and Vision (formerly The Film Archive), 84 Taranaki Street, Wellington, 5:30pm drinks, 6-7pm talk, $5 koha appreciated, includes a glass of wine
Robert Marchand is currently in New Zealand working with co-writer/director team Andrea Bosshard and Shane Loader (Taking the Waewae Express; Hook, Line and Sinker) on their new film The Great Maiden’s Blush. Support their BOOSTED campaign here!
Join us for a discussion delving into the creative process of low budget feature films as experienced by recipients of funding from the NZ Film Commission’s Escalator scheme. This is an opportunity to feed into the NZ Film Commission’s discussion around different options for low budget funding moving forward.
Writer/director Max Currie (Everything We Loved), writer/director Paolo Rotondo (Orphans & Kingdoms), writer/director Gerard Johnstone (Housebound) and writer/director Guy Pigden (I Survived a Zombie Holocaust) talk to producer Tui Ruwhiu about how being part of the scheme shaped and changed their filmmaking process.
The Escalator low budget funding scheme was an initiative of the New Zealand Film Commission which ran from 2010 – 2012. Over three years, eight teams were given production funding of $250,000 to make their first feature film.
Join us afterwards for a slice of pizza on us and a drink.
Tues 2nd September, The Classic, 321 Queen Street, 7pm drinks, 7:30-8:30pm talk, $5 koha appreciated.
For our last Writers’ Room of the year we are thrilled to welcome award-winning Australian showrunnner, writer and director, Tony Ayres.
Tony talks to Fiona Samuel about his career as a creative dynamo, and his involvement at the helm of some of the most critically and commercially successful high-end television to come out of Australia (The Slap, Nowhere Boys, Maximum Choppage). Lauded for his skills in story development, Tony delves into the processes behind Australia’s recent high-end television success.
Thurs 30 October, 7pm drinks, 7:30-8:30 session, The Loft (upstairs), Q Theatre, 305 Queen Street.
A full bio for Tony Ayres can be found on the Matchbox Pictures website.
Half-day seminar: Creating Compelling Drama for a Young Audience with Tony Ayres
Tony will also share his expertise and insights on creating compelling and relatable screen drama for young people in a half-day seminar on the morning of Saturday 1 November. Whether you’re writing drama specifically for a young audience or want to develop children and teen characters in your drama, this is an essential session to attend. More details here. We’re proud to be able to deliver this session in partnership with Kids on Screen.
Presented by Kids on Screen and Script to Screen.
“Writing and directing for young audiences has been one of the most challenging, yet gratifying facets of my career. Not only are young audiences today far more savvy in terms of story, but they have a vast plethora of content options to choose from. This is what makes it so rewarding when you get it right.” – Tony Ayres.
Award-winning showrunner, writer and director Tony Ayres will share his expertise and insights on creating compelling and relatable screen drama for young people. Whether you’re writing drama specifically for a young audience or want to develop children and teen characters in your drama, this is an essential session to attend.
This intensive seminar will explore developing ideas into stories and making them relatable to different age groups – from writing authentic characters, to powerful, relevant themes, and crafting compelling drama that hooks the audience.
Tony is currently working on the second season of Australia’s teen drama Nowhere Boys. Series 1 of this award-winning drama series has just been nominated for an Emmy and has won an AACTA, Logie, and a Prix Jeunesse International 2014 Award.
Where: St Columba Centre, 40 Vermont Street, Ponsonby.
When: Saturday November 1st, 9.15 for 9.30 start, 12.30pm finish.
Tickets: $15 concession, $20 full price*
This seminar is brought to you with financial support from the NZ Film Commission.
* concessions available for industry guild members, students, and senior citizens with identification.
Script to Screen, the Screen Directors’ Guild of NZ and Actors’ Equity joined forces to present a very special May Writer’s Room event to explore the relationship between the director and the actor, and how directors can enable performances that brings words to life and create magic onscreen.
Actors Tandi Wright (Nothing Trivial, Out of the Blue), Jarod Rawiri (Harry, Fantail) and Stephen Lovatt (Top of the Lake, Fantail) discussed with MC and director Peter Burger what they have learned about the director/actor relationship and how that relationship has helped engender their best performances.
The evening began with some very fine clips showcasing the considerable acting talents of the panel, followed by a confession from Peter. “When I first started directing, I found working with actors could be intimidating – even talking to them was a challenge. Is there a secret code? What is it you’d like to hear a director say – what do you want from us?”
“Good communication, trust, a love of the craft and the project, an enjoyment of actors and a passion for working with others who want to do a good job too,” said Tandi.
A tall order perhaps? Stephen followed on with the ‘down-home’ advice, “Some manners go a long way too!” For Jarod an important part of his relationship is the director’s willingness to acknowledge the vulnerability of an actor, to be open to this, and have empathy for it.
The rehearsal process provides a ‘getting to know you’ opportunity for both actors and director and can also help to dispel some pre-existing barriers and preconceptions. As a director, Peter said the rehearsal process was not about setting the performance but more about being creative. “It shouldn’t be about getting the perfect performance during rehearsal. I want that for filming. I never ask an actor to put everything into it during rehearsal because they might put too much.”
Jarod wasn’t sure how to manage the rehearsal process when he fronted up for his first dramatic project. “Now my rehearsal time is 80% sitting down and talking about the material and 20% ‘let’s do it!’ For me it’s all about getting to know the director and establishing a language. I like talking with the director about what is happening in each scene, not touching the scene but retaining the idea of what we are trying to do with it, where we are trying to go.”
Tandi felt people can, in general, be intimidated by actors and the rehearsal process provides an opportunity to break down some of those barriers. “That’s when the trust process starts.”
Stephen agreed but said he had experienced rehearsals that ‘devolved into blocking sessions’. “The rehearsal process should be about getting to know each other and defining what we can all bring to the material. If it devolves into blocking, it becomes useless from that perspective.” Some scenes require different approaches in rehearsal, especially those of high emotion or drama, and Stephen prefers to rehearse those differently. “I don’t want to over rehearse the lines because much of the magic is in the words and the emotions those words can trigger. Talking around the ideas behind the words works well for me. Also, you don’t have the same amount of time in film to reach that emotional peak as you have in theatre, so you have to be mindful of that and be able to hit the peak at the right time. ”
After all of the groundwork and hard effort of establishing working relationships, there is a magic moment when the director can say, “That’s gone well!” … or not …. and so much of that outcome depends not only on the actors and director, but the entire crew.
“Feeling the energy of the whole crew in a positive way, everyone going, ‘Yes we can do this’, is so important,” said Jarod. “Nothing is actually said, but I can sense that unity with the crew as opposed to being separate from them.”
Directors are under considerable pressure and stress from multiple sources, especially the constraints of time. Stephen said there is nothing wrong with putting pressure on an actor to ‘get this done now’. “The sun is setting … daylight is leaving … and it’s ‘let’s get this done’. There’s nothing manipulative about it. Everyone on set is concentrating, putting pressure on the actor to make it happen and there’s nothing wrong with that. The actor has signed on to do the job, has seen the call sheet, it’s down to eight minutes and the sun is about to set. As an actor, you’re about to lay it all on the line otherwise we don’t have a show, so when you come to that point, you know you have the best wishes of everyone on set. The weight of that responsibility is a good energy to come from. The actor will do everything in their creative power to deliver the best they can. They knew it was coming, they’ve read the script, they have an honest relationship with the director and the crew so it will happen, but it requires that level of sincerity from all parties.”
When the chips are down, it means alot to Tandi when a director says, ‘Take the time you need.’ “It’s not helpful when the crew is running about like headless chooks so when the director says ‘take what you need’ I really appreciate that. To me, that says, ‘I have confidence in you’. I’m also into a director’s ‘horse whispering’. If I’m in the zone, in character, and the director comes up to me and has a quiet word in my ear, I like that. But I’m such an old trout now that I find it easier to just ask for what I need. If I’m not at the point I need to be, then I’ll ask the director to help me get there.”
Peter said directors should always have a firm respect for the actor, understand that he or she is a professional and can do their job. “The best thing I can do is not hang out in the actor’s face but try to be in tune with them just that little bit more, keep my energy a bit closer to them, be watchful. If I feel like I can be helpful, I’ll try to reinforce in subtle ways, reassure, try to give them a bit of a boost.”
Stephen said developing that creative trust with the director is essential for having such constructive conversations but ‘crossing the line’ into an actor’s creative process is not helpful. “It’s not nice if anyone tries to get involved with your process. That’s nobody’s business. You can ‘over-help’ an actor and that’s not good.”
Avoiding the temptation to become too involved can be a challenge for a director. “Sometimes you’re working with an actor who is a bit inexperienced and is finding it hard to get to a certain place,” said Peter. “That can be tough on set. In rehearsal it’s easier. I tend to bring out stories from my own experience and find that helps to establish the trust by laying out things that are personal to me yet relevant to the story.”
There were many actors in the audience. One commented that having a director who listened to his options, choices and questions was ideal and Peter stressed that the relationship is always one of collaboration. Tandi agreed. “Having that confidence in the director is very important. Being open to your ideas, not feeling threatened by them, that sense of true collaboration and the feeling that you are all working together to make the best thing you can.”
While collaboration is vital to success, a director must be able to clearly define the parameters of their role and that of the actor. Stephen said, “The director has a critical factor operating where they will say to an actor, ‘Thanks for the offer but I understand this story in a larger sense. That is my job whereas yours is to be in character from one moment to the next.’ That not only clarifies but also helps to build confidence and trust because it gives you the sense that the director knows the story they want to tell.”
And a good director will do their homework. “I still find shooting a frightening experience,” said Peter, “and it is the fear that makes me do alot of homework. If an actor has done his or her work well, the only way I can come back with a respectable answer to their question is if I know my end of the job equally well, so I can then say ‘yes, great’ or ‘no and here’s the reason why.’”
When a director has put in the work, Jarod finds that a challenge he enjoys. “If a director knows the material really well, they will challenge us as actors, test us to see if we know the material as well as they do. I like that. Sometimes it makes me think I don’t know the material as well as I need to.”
Tandi expects the same level of commitment from a director that she puts into her own work. “I butt up against a director sometimes, bounce ideas around, it can be a robust process because I am working hard here and I want them to do the same. I want to be able to think, “Yes, I will follow you to the ends of the earth.’”
She could only remember having one ‘stand up row’ with a director where she had felt unsupported on set. “It was a stressful schedule and he only gave me one take on a close up that was part of an important scene. We’re moving so fast … I’m still trying to hit my mark and it’s technical. Afterwards, I said to him that giving me just the one take wasn’t enough to ‘get the gold’ . I said it would be useable but not interesting and I couldn’t tell whether he really had too little time or just didn’t care about my performance and I found that quite gutting. Acting is a very exposing thing and you need to feel that someone has your back out there.”
Jarod recalled a time when he lost confidence in a director and never made it to the set. “A number of the cast walked away. There was an overconfidence with the project. The way the director talked about it gave the impression it was going to be ‘this’ and it just wasn’t real so I thought no, I don’t want to be involved. It’s great to be optimistic and excited about what you’re making, but it has to be real.”
Creating that positive environment of ‘sharing and caring’ is integral to a project’s success and Stephen offered a tip. “I like to assume that everyone there is doing their best to deliver things that are useful to the project, so taking what is offered in the positive spirit intended, even if it’s wildly off the planet, is the way to go. Saying ‘thank you, I appreciate your input here’ is a great way to get the best out of everyone, even if the input is not something you can use. It’s good manners!”
Offering some advice to other directors, Peter said ‘people skills’ and an appreciation of the actor’s craft and the emotional intensity needed from an actor to produce the result asked for are important. “If I say, ‘be more scary’, the actor needs to do that internal work to figure out how to be more scary. So before I give that external direction, ‘be more scary’, I try to put myself into the actor’s shoes, into the shoes of their character. So while I am talking on one level externally, internally I am feeling the character. A classic telltale sign of a newbie director is to say, ‘This is what I want to see coming out of you’ and the actor has to do all the work. Offering an internal motivation can be helpful.”
During question time, the panel was asked if, as actors, they give each other advice?
“Depends on the actors you’re dealing with, “said Stephen. “Some don’t but Tandi and I are old mates so we talk, have that trust in each other and know we are coming from a generous place. I think it’s quite common for Kiwi actors to do this. That’s one thing that makes working in our industry so warm.”
Tandi said that if she feels an actor isn’t serving the scene, she will speak with the director. “That way it becomes a collaborative experience. I would never criticise another actor. Sometimes I think that aspiring directors should have a go at acting because then they would realise how hard it is. Good actors make it look easy but it can be hard to understand how exposing it is and how vulnerable acting can make you feel.”
Do actors ever feel manipulated by the director?
“I don’t mind being manipulated as long as it is done generously,” said Stephen.” I don’t mind being treated harshly as long as it is done honestly.”
“Sometimes I feel a bit manipulative in the blocking scenes,” said Peter. “I block simpler scenes before I go on set. Complex scenes will take more time. As a director you figure out the visual as well as the acting. I might want an actor to stand under an archway because I think it’s a cool shot. If I can present it in such a way that the actor instinctively feels that’s the right place to stand, then that’s good, or I might arrange the chairs in such a way that they go stand under the archway without me having to say anything.”
Stephen said he would stand under the archway as long as the director wasn’t ‘bullshitting’ him. “I will stand under your arch but don’t make me do it at a bullshit point. I’ll do the blocking you want as long as it make sense. There has to be a reason for me to go somewhere in blocking.”
Jarod said he once worked with a director who had a writing background and didn’t understand how to block. “He relied on his DOP to determine the movement which gave us freedom to move however we wanted. It was scary and exciting but I enjoyed it because it gave us the opportunity to feel organic with it.”
“The more I do this job the more I love that it is not like a normal job,” said Tandi. “Actors can be weird and emotional and we should embrace that weird emotional stuff and not be afraid of it. When actors get upset or want a robust discussion about stuff, embrace that emotion because that is why we do that job. It turns into magic onscreen. Embrace it.”
Written for Script to Screen by Jane Bissell
Are you a filmmaker with aspirations to cut through the clutter in the global marketplace?
WIFT NZ and Script to Screen present a special discussion with Matt Baker (Director of Acquisitions at HanWay Films), Carole Sheridan (producer, founder of Singer Films, and former Exec. Producer Scottish Screen) and Joe Oppenheimer (Commissioning Editor at BBC Films). Join us to hear from these esteemed internationals as they talk to NZ producer and lecturer in screen (AUT) Christina Milligan about the films that are capturing their attention right now, and why.
Don’t miss this chance to learn from those with decades of market experience as they shed light on what distributors, sales agents, potential international partners and audiences are looking for in the current landscape.
Thurs 27 Nov, drinks 6pm, event 6:30-7:30pm, The Loft, Q Theatre, 305 Queen Street, $5 koha appreciated.
Matt Baker, Carole Sheridan and Joe Oppenheimer are here for WIFT‘s Finance and Co-Production Summit.
This event is brought to you with financial support from the NZ Film Commission.
Hillary’s successful ascent of Mt Everest in 1953 is one of NZ’s most important and iconic stories, and in 2013 the story comes to the big screen for the first time. Beyond the Edge, to be released 24 Oct, is NZ’s first 3D film and had record international presales.
What is it about the narrative approach of the filmmakers that turned a well-known historical event into a gripping cinematic tale?
Join writer/director Leanne Pooley (Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls, Shackleton’s Captain) and writer (screen story)/producer Matthew Metcalfe (Giselle, Dean Spanley) as they talk to chair Toa Fraser (Giselle, Dean Spanley) about how they found a way into this iconic story and how the use of 3D played a role in storytelling.
Stay afterwards for a slice of pizza on us and a drink.
Tuesday 29 October, 7pm drinks, 7:30 start, The Classic, 321 Queen Street, $5 koha appreciated.
Click here for more details on screening times for Beyond the Edge
Event Summary: A Spirit of Independence with Jake Mahaffy, chaired by Alyx Duncan, Auckland Writer’s Room, Tuesday 28 May 2013, The Classic, 321 Queen St, Auckland, 7:30-8:30pm, see the event listing here, and a video of the session here
Sure they can. Just ask innovative US filmmaker Jake Mahaffy whose shorts and micro-budget features have screened in A-list festivals all over the world. His project War, which he wrote, shot, directed, edited, and produced, screened at Sundance in 2004, and earned him a spot in Filmmaker Magazine’s 2005 ‘25 New Faces of Independent Film‘. He went on to make the micro-budget feature Wellness, which won the Grand Jury Prize at SXSW in 2008. His work has been called a ‘… a textbook case of how a solid script and great performances can transcend the lowest of budgets’ (Variety 2008) and the May Writer’s Room was fortunate indeed to have Jake in discussion with Alyx Duncan.
Alyx described Jake as an’ incredible film maker who produces his self-made films in a ‘handmade’ and independent way’, creating stories that have reached audiences around the world. Jake developed and established two film making programmes at American universities as an Associate Professor, and now teaches at Auckland University.
Jake and his family arrived in New Zealand about four months ago and he is impressed with the filmmaking culture here. “It seems to be the perfect environment to create innovative films. I’m still learning about it but it sounds like the Film Commission is great. There is nothing like it, on that scale, for filmmaking in the USA.”
Jake is well known for creating strong and honest character-driven films without the benefits of large budgets. First up for discussion was Miracle Boy, a 17-minute film based on a short story by writer Pinckney Benedict, a close friend of Jake’s. “It was shot over six days in West Virginia,” said Jake. “I wanted to knock out a short film and move on to other things. The original Miracle Boy story is excellent. I showed up in Appalachia where the story is based, used local residents – no actors – spent five days finding locations, getting a cast together, shot it in six days, edited for just under a year and then sent out rough cuts to a couple of festivals.” The film premiered at the 2012 Venice Biennale.
Pinckney Benedict is an award-winning writer and a local celebrity so the film project generated much community interest. Jake held a public info session at a local theatre and about 50 people showed up. “A co-producer, Jason Brown, put out flyers and blurbs in the local paper. A film had never been made there before so people really got behind it. Some offered set locations. I didn’t do auditions. I just talked with people. With this kind of filmmaking you use anyone who is willing and able.”
Jake needed to find children for the main roles and gave copies of the script to parents so they could approve their child’s involvement. “I never expect kids to remember the lines. I give them some idea of what is going on in the scene and feed them the lines as we go. ” Jake would direct, shoot, do sound, and prompt lines from behind the camera until he captured the performances he was after.
He said it was a pleasure to write the script because the story on which it was based is very tight. “The adaptation was mostly just visualising it. I know, for me, that when shooting, the screenplay is the first thing to go. I don’t hold on to scenes and dialogue as they’re written on the page. It’s more about what is available for the film at the moment in real life. The film is about that moment. The screenplay was the excuse to get people involved and to get the images I wanted. I try to fit things around what is available and that can be tough- it takes a facile mind to manage that process. You have intention and a belief in your original concept but must adapt to what is right in front of you, not what is stuck inside your head. You know going in that you won’t get exactly what you want … but you hope for something better.”
Alyx asked about Jake’s ongoing relationship to his completed films. “I care about the films. But I am not in control of what happens when they’re finished. Once the film is made, I can’t make people watch it or like it. So I’m willing to forgo that. A film takes so much time and effort to make, I cut my losses and just skip out on the exhibition end of things.”
Wellness began as a learning exercise for writing naturalistic dialogue but ended up generating enough material for a film. “I learned to let my ear tell me what was authentic. Working with untrained actors meant I didn’t have to deconstruct bad training. They were there because they enjoyed the process – it wasn’t about a paycheck or fame and fortune so I was able to say, ‘ Let’s do it again’ and they were willing. It does take confidence to insist on getting it right and keep shooting. I didn’t have a crew but that meant we could keep working until we got it right. It was never a case of someone demanding ‘Hurry up!'”
The central idea of Wellness involves a man who tries to sell something that does not exist, a financial scam. “The lead character of this film is based on a synthesis of people I’ve known. He was the only performer that could commit to the project long-term so I built the narrative around his episodic encounters with other people that may only show up for an hour or two. I shot it single-handedly, no crew, and edited it myself. To trick myself into getting involved in a feature film project, a massive endeavor, at the start I had to pretend I was just ‘screwing around.’ ”
The film was shot over twenty days during a two year period. ” I would shoot for a week or so, go back home, edit, then determine what I needed to change, refine, pickup, get more of. I sculpted the film over time, a great way to work if you can afford it, not having to cram it all into a 30-day shoot. But two years was a big commitment.”
There is a process of discovery for Jake in the film making process. “Having a script and then illustrating the plot with pictures on set is mind-numbingly dull to me. But as a director not knowing what is going to happen next, and the anxiety and excitement of trying to pull something together that is falling apart as you’re making it- that tension should translate to an audience. You won’t broadcast your intentions. It’s less deliberate and formulaic because I’m trying to keep up with the story myself. All bets are off. Go in with a plan but having that constant tension of holding things together was helpful for me. When you take what you have written and shoot it, there are limitations imposed on you and that is a good thing. When shooting and editing I always prioritise the performances of the actors. It’s not about people saying the lines right according to what was written. I focus on the performance and the character’s spontaneity.”
Jake came to film via visual art and drawing. He attending arts school in Chicago and studied filmmaking at RISD and the Russian State Institute of Cinematography in Moscow. The USA has a strong independent film culture and Alyx asked how this had influenced his work.
“There are films and filmmakers I like but no particular film making model . I don’t come from a wealthy background so had to make films as cheaply as possible. My films didn’t make any money so I couldn’t take other people’s money to throw away and I couldn’t pay people. I’m not great at the organisation side of things, building up the apparatus around film making to get a crew, funding. I just take the camera and go shoot by myself. I’ve made all my films singlehandedly but did have a bit more help with Miracle Boy. If you shoot on your own with no budget you realise what you don’t have control over, for example you have no control over who shows up and when … but with a budget I can get people to show up.”
Alyx asked Jake about the balance of art and commerce. “I have no idea about the financial side of filmmaking. People who have the luxury of considering making a film can likely get access to the gear they need to do it- cell phone or camera – there are different scales of filmmaking. My scale is very specific and and as an independent filmmaker I write my own job description- it doesn’t include commerce. I just make the best films I can in a given circumstance.”
Teaching at Auckland University is something Jake is enjoying. “It’s not big money but there is the time off, you have a steady schedule and great resources for research. Teaching is fun. Hashing out ideas in class keeps the brain active. It’s a great situation and I keep working on film projects too. I have several feature screenplays and shorts written, ready to go. I’m always working on something.”
Alyx invited questions and the first asked Jake to explain how he knows when an idea is a good one.
“Almost any idea can be good. It’s all in the execution. If you gave a cheesy soap opera script to a good director they’d make something amazing out of it. Or a great script with a bad director makes a bad film. For me it’s all about how the idea will be shot, what is visualised from it, because I know the shooting is what will make or break it. The more I talk about an idea and involve others, the more refined it becomes.”
Jake’s earlier films made as an undergraduate were praised for their raw expressionism. “Each image is a self-sufficient narrative. That first film I made was very raw and did something that I have never been able to recapture. Over time, my films have become more traditionally narrative and less expressionistic and this has come about as my interest in other people and their behaviour has grown. It’s a change of interest. I look at the early film and I’m amazed. It’s something I’d like to go back to at some point.”
When asked if there were challenges adapting someone else’s work, Jake replied, “With Miracle Boy the writer is a good friend. He trusted me. I sent him a copy of the screenplay and he was fine with it. It was a case of taking the best parts of the short story and visualising them cinematically. There was alot in the story that wouldn’t work on screen so it had to come out.”
If someone offered a big budget, would that turn his head? “I’d love to work that way. But at what cost? Here’s money- go make a movie! That would be great. It would be great to collaborate, work with creative actors and a good crew. But it hasn’t happened yet and it may never happen. So in the meantime, I’ll just keep doing it on my own. Time can be a big limitation as is one’s own talent and experience. Money will buy out reality. You can change the circumstances because you pay people to change it for you. You can pay for locations, pay to have things the way you want them… you can fire one person and employ another… but if you don’t have funds then you have to adapt to circumstances without compromsing your central concept. But money for nothing? I’m not at that place in the world.”
There is no doubt we will be hearing and seeing more from Jake in the near future. “It’s project to project for me. Each film has its own specific purpose and goal. It’s when a film exceeds your own intentions, developing into something that your mind could not even conceive before you began- that’s joy.”
Written for Script to Screen by Jane Bissell.
Pushing the boundaries of comedy in all directions, the characters of Super City‘s second season are at once more relatable and more outrageous.
In an era when more and more actors branch into writing and directing their own work, we look closely at this collaboration between some of NZs best acting/writing talent. What is the relationship between acting and writing? And how does the writing process change when you are creating characters for yourself to play?
Join us to hear Madeleine Sami and Tom Sainsbury talk to chair Leanne Saunders about the relationship between acting and writing, co-writing and developing the new characters for season two.
Auckland-based comedy TV series Super City currently airs its second season after a successful first season in 2012. The show is a collaboration between some of NZ’s best talents; actor/writer Madeleine Sami, actor/writer Tom Sainsbury and writer/director Oscar Kightley.
Stay afterwards for a slice of pizza on us and a drink.
Tuesday 24 September, drinks 7pm, talk 7:30-8:30pm, The Classic, 321 Queen Street, $5 koha appreciated.