Skip to main content

What's Wrong With The Oz Film Industry?


Possibly nothing. Maybe there are too many w**kers complaining that there's something wrong with the Australian film industry. Often you'll discover these people write columns in the trouble-free, profitable, circulation-on-the-rise world of newspapers. Attacking the ABC or the AFI, AFC or FFC is so much simpler than admitting you're on a sinking ship that is also on fire.

No comparison? Maybe. What seems to irk the newspaper experts is that public broadcasters and the state and national funding bodies are not as market-driven as newspapers have to be, by their nature. These public institutions often get it wrong. Newspapers often get it wrong. But no public money is expended when that happens.

So I guess the answer is to make The Oz Film Industry solely market-driven. Then all the films would be good like KENNY and not artsy, depressing, out of touch and terrible.

We should be as successful as Bollywood and Hollywood, obviously. Or at least other nations whose populations are similar to our own. Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Peru, Yeman and of course English-speaking CANADA! All these countries have thriving market-driven film industries whose product is sold around the world and is critically acclaimed at home and abroad. No?

Or maybe our film-industry is quite like the other faltering, government-assisted film industries of a number of other countries and this need to see us take on the world in equal terms comes from a 1970s notion of Australian filmmaking and its place in the world.

You know how we always feel a little cheated at the Olympics when Australia isn't in the top five of the medal count? You know that oddly endearing way that we don't consider it crazy to compare ourselves with nations that are sometimes 10 times larger than we are? (oi! Oi! OI!)

Might be a bit of that going on.

I think we're all a little too taken with Anthony Robbins style bullsh*t about living the dream and achieving it no matter what the odds are. I love the plucky way that Australia continues to believe the level playing field myth about trade.

The WHAT'S WRONG? story and the WASTING TAX PAYERS MONEY story is a lot easier to write than researching the big picture thoroughly.

I dunno the answer.

And neither do they.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Not the only white guy in Mumbai

Hi readers . . . and hi Mum! ;) I've been watching some pretty heart-wrenching documentaries here at the Mumbai Film Festival . Watching docos seems to be a fast track to learning about the world. Many documentaries have an Indian element, but a couple stood out. I tend to make friends with the people who make films I like, so I'm pleased to say that Rajdeep Randhawa is now a close and personal friend of mine. Rajdeep made a 47 minute documentary called, "Ek Tha Lal Pari." Shot mostly cinema verite, it documents the problematic relationship between a eunuch and her lover. It's an on and off relationship, but the two are still very much in love and have lived together for 20 years! In India, eunuchs live in enclaves. They are ostricised by society, but also revered and considered to have many spiritual powers. So they earn money by performing special rituals at marriages, births, deaths etc. It is a special honour to be blessed by a eunuch. To cross one would resu...
7 comments
Read more

The Three by Five Card Index System

Here's another approach to writing your screenplay. The screenwriter's friend. Introducing the infamous Three by Five Card Index System . Wow! How can I get one? In my case - I made it. What it amounts to is this: Three 90cm x 40cm sheets of chipboard hinged together so that the whole thing stands like a concertina on a table or floor. Every 5cm or so down, I have drawing-pinned small cardboard hinges (triangles if you will) made from old file dividers. These become placeholders for your cards. A couple of bunches of 3 inch by 5 inch index cards (available in packs of 100 at any newsagency) and there you have it. A sure fire way to make your screenplay bubble to the top of the pile . . . Not. But it's a tool and writers need their tools. Cool. How does it work? As you can see - each act has three mini-acts in it (fitting in with Australian script theorist Linda Heys' Second Act Story ). Or rather - going one step further and suggesting that all three acts have a begi...
1 comment
Read more

Giant CRX 1 Flat-bar Road Bike - A Metaphor

I've been working my guts out doing websites all week (day and night) and now I have to mark 50+ online student usability exercises. Ugh! I got a glimpse of my girlfriend this week. She lives really far away and - as I ride a CRX 1 Flat bar road bike - it takes me a good 2 hours to get there. Especially after riding from Como to teaching Saturday acting classes in Hammersley. I got to her place late and then had to leave at 5am to get to Freo on time - where my parents were celebrating their 4oth wedding anniversary. Hi Ma & Da. Congratulations! Now for the meat of this post. Read carefully: It's a nice ride. For every difficult hill, there's a downward slope. I top around 50kmh (peak at 60kmh) but try to cruise along at around 30kmh to conserve energy. You never know when you might need to sprint. I'm mostly on bike tracks - I don't like to ride on sand. My bike has no shocks, so my energy isn't wasted. I get to feel the ground. Whatever power I have go...
2 comments
Read more