Edwin James Lynch

Behind the beautiful Australian Writers' Guild (WA location) Some interesting facts: The average Australian film needs to take $1m at the box office in order to cover a distributor's Promotion and Advertising (P&A) expenses. Most Australian films (about 16) released over the last year or so took around $200,000 at the box office. Only Kenny , 10 Canoes and Happy Feet recouped these expenses and made money. An additional 10 or so credit card films that were made did not see the light of day or attract distribution partners (probably due to poor screenplays). When a distributor invests in an Australian film, they are taking a huge risk. A risk which is as much about passion and commitment to an idea as it is for the production team (writer, director, producer). Phil (w), Carmelo (p) and I (d) are in the middle of the AWG / ScreenWest's (weirdly titled) pre-VIZ consultation program with Beware the Stingray . The current screenplay has already been blasted by Victoria Tr...

In my 25 years as an emerging filmmaker , I've worked with many film editors - some experienced, some not so. Some newbies who would rather be directing and others born with a burning desire to cut film. One thing is for sure - all editors approach editing differently. As a director, I think it's polite to ask how a person likes to work - whether they have a tried and true process or not. "How do you like to work?" I ask. In many cases, the question is met with a blank or even perplexed stare. "I usually get the footage and start cutting," comes the (often embarrassingly predictable) reply. "What other way is there?" Obvious? ... Maybe. But we directors have to listen carefully to our creative accomplices, which often means learning to read between the lines. Here are a few other responses an editor might give you. 1. Process? Just give me the script and the original footage. This always works well with very experienced editors . Hand the script an...

So far, I have directed three short documentaries for DADAA 's the Lost Generation Project and apart from some minor technical hitches, everything is going really well. The sound and images are great and the personalities of our talent is coming over well. I'm lucky to be working with such fascinating characters - disabilities aside. This week we start editing the films and, while that is happening, I'm hoping to get the odd pick-up. We've already happily picked up a couple of shots which didn't work out in the original shoot - but we may have to get more in editing. Luckily all our subjects are in the one location, so it's pretty easy to run off and get a shot of someone while shooting someone else. Being filmed for the entire day - with a camera right up your nose - is irksome to say the least and already patiences have been tried and tested. I have asked the producer if we can shoot two films over two consecutive days - with each subject being shot in two h...

I directed a 5 minute film for DADAA on Tuesday. We are documenting the lives of mentally challenged and disabled people living in WA for the Lost Generation Project . I must say, it was a very lovely, humbling experience and the finished film should be amazing to watch. I originally wrote a narrative screenplay - but actually sticking to it for the doco format - was tricky. We really had to go with other things that happened on the day (as one might expect). We managed to capture the essence of the screenplay, however, and some of the scenes are very moving and emotional. Technical I shot 1.5 hours of HD with a Sony HDV camera throughout one day. What a lovely, easy-to-use camera. We literally switched it on and started shooting. I had to ride the exposure and focus a little, but the automatic functions allowed me to, literally, interrupt what the camera was doing by touching a dial and going manual - something like cruise control on a car. I was worried about sound (we used a simp...

Tomorrow I start filming the first Lost Generation project film for DADAA and I'm really looking forward to it. We're filming in a pool, in a bus, in the streets, in houses. And we're not quite sure how comfortable our subject will be. Hmmm.

Zeitgeisters, As Edwin saith, he will not wait by the 'phone. Well, nor am I; I'm doing bunches of other writing, for other people. Some of whome will pay me cash money. I am attempting this in the four days that I do not work for a salary. So my weekly financial set up is this: three days working for wages, four days freelancing as a script writer with the occasional magazine article thrown in. I don't even think about film funding in between times, I leave that to the director and the producer. Concentrating on what might be is quite pointless. And a waste of energy. The downside of my 3/4 weekly split is that sometimes the projects pile up. Hence,my being awake at 3.45am writing this blog when I need to be up by 6.30am. Deadline stress just adds to my unnatural insomnia. And I've got a paying project really pressing in right after I shuck the present monkey on my back (a short film script). This is actually a typical dilemma for any freelancer. Suddenly you have too ...

Well. I'll eat my hat! After submitting BTS to the AFC and Bluecat , I started struggling with a sci-fi no-budget screenplay, Yellow . I was scheduled to shoot in Feb / March, but the script wasn't exactly writing itself . Then. Life took hold. Cancer in the family and a new job writing screenplaysfor DADAA saw Old Father Time disappear. Last week, I had coffee with a mate of mine who says, "I've got a really good idea for a film". He saw the irritated look in my eye and backed down. But I needed the distraction and, two sips into a strong long machiatto, heard myself say "Go on." It was a beauty. Story, character, locations - everything. He told me a riveting story about something that happened to a friend of a friend. It had a complete screenplay structure - turning points, mid-points, Voglerian call to adventures - everything! On a plate. I wrote an outline with my mate in about two hours and we're shooting it at the end of the ye...

It's in! Or at least - the screenplay is finished and we've submitted it to the AFC's Indivision initiative (strand I) asking for $750K towards the $1.8m budget. I can hardly believe it's over. To some degree. Phil and I are happy with it, but we've yet to involve distributors, actors etc. I recently saw some notes for this script dated 1992 and almost none of the same characters were in it. I dunno what to say. Fifteen years.

It's been hot here in Perth, Western Australia. 104 degrees in the old money. With no aircon and the damp, sultry weather, I'm amazed I got another good pass in on Beware the Stingray . A pass? A pass is when a writer goes right through the screenplay again. It's not a spell-checking session. Usually it's a fine tooth comb looking for; structural problems, character inconsistencies and other believability issues. Phil read my pass and we're going to podcast about it next week. Once we're totally happy with the script, it goes off to our producer (who has already targeted actors and possible financiers etc.) and the rolling stone tries to gather some moss. So - barring a few minor fixes - Beware the Stingray (final draft) is finished and shoot-ready. Carmelo (of CM Films fame) just gotta raise the $2m now . . . Easy ;) Which leaves a great vacuum. Y'know the one. You're all apace and then ... nothing but the sound of wind whistling through the trees...

Hi, this is Phil Jeng Kane, I asked Mr Trivia (now M. Le Trivia for some reason) for a bit of space on this blog to provide a lightning sketch of Edwin Lynch. Yes, true to his last posting, Edwin is indeed a jock-wearing, shut-in weirdo who constantly peers through peepholes looking for a Godot-like postie. But he’s also a writer-director who studies performance and screenwriting; he networks with actors and filmmakers and has always kept up with filmmaking technology; he has a strong grasp on filmmaking skills, like how to break down and choreograph a scene. Why the resume? Because it occurred to me that his self-portrait was an ATOMISED version of Edwin Lynch the writer and director. I probably wouldn’t work with Underpants Man and yet, in reality, I have worked with Ed for more than a decade. Filmmakers are great storytellers. I realised recently that I’ve learnt to take most of what film people say, with a grain of salt. Not because they have lax moral or ethical standards, but...

Throughout my life, when I'm lucky enough to get a film into a festival, a certificate like this arrives in the mail. A participation certificate , an award or receipt of in-competition selection into this or that international film festival. I'm usually indoors when it comes - working on a screenplay. Sometimes it's arrives in a quiet email. Sometimes it's a letter which comes with great pizza deals and white good sales. Other times it's registered mail and I don't hear the knock (I check my peep-hole regularly but always seem to miss the knock ). This particular certificate is from Germany. It's nice. Maybe it's worth a frame. It arrived with a well-produced booklet, stills from A Stone Throw and a short synopsis. I always have to haul out myWorld Atlas to see where the city is. Sometimes I get the country wrong. It's always interesting to read how other cultures summarise a film you've been working on for years. I'm probably in bed - o...

Just uploaded a podcast with Gordy Hoffman - director of the Bluecat Screenplay Competition . Rather than putting my efforts into this BLOG this weekend, his talk was so inspiring, that I've decided to write my screenplay. I hope you don't mind. Also, I put up a rough site for our feature film, Beware the Stingray . Not quite sure what to do with it yet, but I guess I'll use it as a repository for all things related to the movie. It's a good year away from being shot, so I'm taking my queue from Richard E. Grant's Wah Wah Diaries : the making of a film , and I'm self-publishing the diary before the film is made. Had technical difficulties You-Tubing Indy Nile Investigates the other day. So stay tuned for that fun, 7 minute cartoon pilot (which screened on ABC TV in 2004).

This week, A Stone Throw was awarded Best Short Film at the Chennai International Film Festival in India. Chennai is home to the international headquarters of The Theosophical Society. The Theosophical Society (emblem pictured), founded in 1875, is a worldwide body whose primary object is Universal Brotherhood based on the realization that life, and all its diverse forms, human and non-human, is indivisibly One. The Society imposes no belief on its members, who are united by a common search for Truth and desire to learn the meaning and purpose of existence by engaging themselves in study, reflection, purity of life and loving service. While my stuff has sold and been shortlisted internationally, I have never actually won an award (other than encouragement awards and special mentions) outside of Australia. I'm very pleased about this particular win for two reasons: After making films since I was but a wee child, I can finally replace "has sold and screend his short films i...

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...

I just uploaded Bertolt. More people will seeing it via YouTube than will ever see it in cinemas. It's been up there for 5 hours and so far 5 people have seen it. I'm posting it here because I'd like your comments and feedback. Good and bad. So, please - don't be shy. Some great Open Source software has just been released for screenwriters, poets and novelists. It's called CELTX and seems to have mroe functionality than the much more expensive, Final Draft. Despite the focus on "creative contribution" (writers can upload a piece of writing, insert images, work with other writers and get feedback) it has a Hollywood standard, easy-to-use fully functioning FREE screenplay formatting software. I've been pulling my hair out with Word for the last two weeks. Download it writers!

In an effort to win a bit of our old presence on the web, a new podcast has been added, so be sure to check it out. I've started writing something very strange. Yellow Lipstick, Yellow Hair is the title of a new screenplay I'm writing - by myself. Phil is to script edit it when I have a rough draft. Carmelo (the producer of Beware the Stingray) is keen to do a no-budget feature and has offered his HD equipment so I will be shooting the movie before the end of March and editing throughout the year (between websites). In a futuristic world where more than 10 minutes of sunlight spells certain death, 3 strangers; an animist, a naturist and a paranoid neurotic spend their 4 week government-allocated holiday mooching around indoors. There's a little bit more to mooching around, but in the present draft - it's mooching around. I'll be podcasting a script session soon. So stay tuned.

Not to sound jaded, but I can but agree with Edwin. A good idea is nothing until it is turned into some kind of document. Only at outline, treatment or script stage, have you created something that other people (with money) can look at. Before that point, it is all locked in your mind where it's shiny and brilliant. The lighting, editing, performances, locations, dialogue and music are perfect. Note that only one of these elements - dialogue - will actually be in your script. If you see the film unfolding in your mind, with all the above elements working together in perfect unison, you may in fact, be a potential director rather than a writer. I remember saying in a room full of screenwriters, that it is the writer's job to create a blueprint for the film. This idea was not exactly greeted with applause or joy. I believe if you want to control all the elements, then you'd better get hyphenated and add "-director" to your title. Because no matter how excellent you...

I run a filmmaker's website and most of the queries I get about screenwriting (or even filmmaking) amount to roughly the same thing . . . "I have a really good idea for a screenplay". It's not what I want to hear because I know myself, in the early days, I said exactly the same thing - and often. I now know that basically - it's meaningless warm air . I dread the day someone tells me their idea and it's a good one and I go away and write it down - legally claiming all copyright to an idea they may have had in their family for generations . That's right. Your idea is only legally an idea if it is written. Of course, I wouldn't take someone's idea like that - not without telling them. But legally , I would be well within my rights. After all, I have reams and reams of evidence to say that I write screenplays. And for every screenwriter, life is research. Conversations are the best research. The "I have a really great idea for a film" sta...

I looked at my diary. I've recently started recording my time spent doing stuff (and not doing stuff) and I've always been under the impression that my day job (as a web designer /tutor) has always been at loggerheads with my passion (filmmaking). I don't think I'm the first creative person to have anxiety over this . However, according to time, it seemed that the opposite was the case. Out of 5 work days last week, I spent; 2.5 days working on my screenplay with Phil 1 day collating the information necessary for a SPAAmart application 1 full day doing websites and 0.5 days tutoring (or as I like see it - sharing knowledge acquired from above) I was an almost perfect balance. Try doing it. Record your hours for a week (or minutes if you're a lawyer) and see what the passion Vs. day job ratio is.

Films in Australia are mostly financed by the government. You need a distributor and around 40% of your budget sourced from the private sector before you can make a $2m+ feature film here. In an effort to keep the riff-raff out, the FFC have added another requirement to their list - a very high quality, developed screenplay. To this end, they employ a team of readers (usually writers) to vet scripts which ultimately land on the desks of two assessors. In other words - your screenplay had better be tight . . . and interesting. But do you think the private sector know any of this? Do the Mums and Dads of Australia know that by investing in Australia's film industry, they can write off 100% of their tax bill under the Taxation Department's 10BA tax-incentive scheme? No. But lawyers do and it's probably why the film industry is suffused with them. That and intellectual property protection . As you know, I had someone approach me recently with a whole lot of cash - like this l...