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Review of Programs and Operations
Draft Statement of Intent 2008/09
Industry comments

Comments received Saturday 27 September

9.23pm from Glen Crawford
Firstly I'd like to express my dismay at the way this comment request has been handled. I just happened to be looking for your website tonight, and found this request completely by accident. If you go back to your previous two requests for feedback on the Aussie film industry, you'll find I was one of the only people who replied to both of them, and once again I find myself with only a very short time to get my thoughts together and submit them.

So First Up...

If you want feedback from people in (and out ) of the indusrty, make sure the request actually gets out to the people you want to hear from! (That is of course presuming you want to hear from people like me) May I suggest you put a link on the Filmnet website for any future requests for information, and make sure people like the PFTC forward information to their subscribers in a timely fashion.

OK, now onto the SOI...

So far so good. I see lots of encouraging words here, suatainable, commercially viable, rewards for commercial success, script development programs, accountability, etc.

The 'secret ingredients' in a good film aren't so secret after all. Good script, good characters, good lighting, camera, editing etc, but primarily if you're going to make a film that puts bums on cinema seats and ends up as the DVD in the Christmas stocking, it's got to be a good story. Have you ever looked at a list of Australia's top 20 or so films? (pinched from the AFC)

Crocodile Dundee
Babe
Moulin Rouge
Crocodile Dundee II
Strictly Ballroom
The Dish
The Man from Snowy River
The Adventures of Priscilla
Muriel's Wedding
Young Einstein
Lantana
Gallipoli
The Wog Boy
The Piano
Mad Max II
Green Card (Australia/France)
The Castle
Shine
Phar Lap
Crackerjack
The Man Who Sued God

They're pretty obvious really, and the common themes stand out clearly. Most of them are comedic, most of the rest are about what makes us Australians, and there's a couple of cool fantasy ones thrown in for good measure. None of them are mega-budget, although none of them qualify as 'low' budget  by any means either. 

We need to make more of these types of films. We need to get mums taking their kids to the cinemas instead of letting them sit in front of the TV on a wet weekend, we need to show grown ups who we are and where we came from, and we need to scare the pants off our youth, all on the silver screen.

We need producers who cab produce selecting projects that have the ability to put bums on seats, and we need the financial and political support to get those projects off the ground and onto the screen. We need to nurture new and emerging talent, and please don't limit this to 'young' talent. I've just hit 60 and I've got a headfull of stories I want to tell, and I believe I have the ablity to tell them. I also have the advantage of age in that I have read reams of Australian history and forgotten Australian novels, and there's a huge wealth of storytelling available to me. I just need the guidance to get it out of my head and onto the page.

Please move forward, the industry is incapable of moving back, it will simpy die complelety if it gets any worse. Please remain focussed on commercial viablity and sustainablity, if we start making good films again everyone will benefit.

Yours sincerely,

Glen Crawford.