Encore Magazine articles from April 2007

Encore Magazine archives from April 2007

Stand by for the media carve up: the passage of the media reforms package into law is certain to result in new faces on the board of directors of many media outlets, as the main players square off.(Editorial)
April 1, 2007... As you read this, the media landscape in Australia is a changed place, thanks to the April 4 proclamation of the Federal Government's media reform package. As we go to press, analysts forecast a flurry of takeovers and acquisitions,...

Rusty backs 'Bra Boys' adaptation: Bra Boys narrator Russell Crowe is linked to a dramatisation of the project. Peter Galvin reports.(DEVELOPMENT)
April 1, 2007... RUSSELL CROWE WILL TEAM UP WITH Ron Howard and Brian Grazer's Imagine Entertainment to develop a feature film version of the hit documentary Bra Boys, which revolves around the controversial Abberton brothers (Koby, Sunny and Jai), and the...

Oktobor saved from brink of collapse.(BUSINESS)
April 1, 2007... THE OMNILAB MEDIA GROUP HAS STEPPED IN TO purchase Auckland-based high-end visual effects facility Oktobor, in a move that has brought the latter back from the brink of closure. Oktobor looked set to go under when its parent company,...

Venice, Adelaide winner to screen at SFF 2007.(FESTIVAL)
April 1, 2007... VENICE GOLDEN LION AND ADELAIDE FILM FESTIVAL NATUZZI INTERNATIONAL PRIZE RECIPIENT, director Jia Zhang-ke's Still Life, will screen as part of the World Cinema strand at this year's Sydney Film Festival. Organisers of the 2007 event have...

Hunter Valley fest to carry Australian film focus.(FESTIVAL)
April 1, 2007... THE INAUGURAL DUNGOG FILM FESTIVAL WILL BE held in the NSW Hunter Valley town of the same name from May 31 to June 3. The festival organisers aim to build an appreciation of local film with a program that includes a six-hour showcase of...

FFC funds slate with record external backing: five new features were funded at the FFC's March board meeting, with external financiers making a record contribution.(FUNDING)
April 1, 2007... FILM FINANCE CORPORATION AUSTRALIA (FFC) has completed its 2006/07 funding year by announcing investment in production amounting to $213 million, of wich a record 63 percent has been contributed by the FFC's market partners. The allocation...

Foxtel plans HD launch in 2008.(PAY TV)
April 1, 2007... FOXTEL WILL LAUNCH A HIGH-DEFINITION VERSION OF ITS SUCCESSFUL IQ digital set top box in 2008 following the successful transition to digital delivery, Foxtel chief executive Kim Williams announced at the opening of the Australian Subscription...

Kid's standards under review.(REGULATION)
April 1, 2007... AUSTRALIA'S BROADCASTING REGULATOR, THE AUSTRALIAN Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), has announced the terms of reference for its review of Children's Television Standard. ACMA will consider whether current quota levels, time bands and...

AFC funds veteran writer to develop alternate reality: after six month's incubation, a new media project penned by Stephen Sewell has received a leg up from the Australian film commission. Peter Galvin reports.(DEVELOPMENT)
April 1, 2007... ARTEFACT, AN ALTERNATIVE REALITY game developed by Mini Studios, veteran stage-scribe and screen writer Stephen Sewell and Vudu Mobile, has just scored development funding under the Australian Film Commission's Strand V. Combining traditional...

Cash for new production on offer at AIDC.(DOCUMENTARY)
April 1, 2007... A SPATE OF FUNDING ANNOUNCEMENTS AND NEW PROGRAMMING initiatives were announced at the Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC), which drew to a close in Adelaide on February 26. The AIDC opened as the Australian Film...

Drama in focus for Dear and Maier.(IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2007... Network Ten and the ABC TV have confirmed new arrivals to their executive suites. Ten is welcoming back Rick Maier, a network veteran of some 28 years, who re-joins the broadcaster as executive producer--development. Maier left Ten in 2003 to...

Madman swallows the AV Channel.(IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2007... DVD distributor Madman Entertainment has consolidated sister company The AV Channel into its operations in a move aimed to improve warehousing efficiency. Madman's product offering will also now be expanded to include interactive games and book...

'Black Water' posts overseas sales.(IN BRIEF)(Financial report)
April 1, 2007... The local feature Black Water has been picked up for distribution in 11 territories. The deals were done by London-based sales company AV Pictures at the European Film Market (EFM) in Berlin Written and directed by Andrew Traucki and David...

US AD giant partners with local outfit.(IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2007... Prestige Sydney-based commercials production company Soma has stitched up a reciprocal representation deal with the influential New York-based Moxie Pictures. Moxie Pictures is a big player in the ad world with offices in London and San Diego...

Law's 'Messenger' awarded in HK.(IN BRIEF)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... Clara Law's feature film The Messenger won two awards at the Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF), which was held on March 22, in conjunction with Hong Kong FILMART. The project collected the HAF Award, which is based on the creativity of...

Zealot sets up office in New York's Soho.(IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2007... Trailer production house Zealot Productions has opened an office in New York's Soho district to complement its existing bases in Sydney and London. Australian Mark Berridge will front the New York operation to service the company's US film and...

Correction.(Correction notice)
April 1, 2007... In Encore's March 2007 issue (page 30), the surname of youCan2 director, Richard Shepherd, was misspelled. Our apologies, Richard.

A glorious guy ... a glorious 'vibe': the film industry was shocked by the sudden death of cinematographer will gibson in march. Here, director Greg McLean pays tribute to his friend and colleague.(Obituary: WILL GIBSON)
April 1, 2007... I FIRST MET WILL ABOUT 10 YEARS AGO. I WAS JUST starting to make TVCs and he had already been doing so for some time. We did a couple of jobs together, and a short film, but it wasn't until he came on board to make my first feature (and his)...

The grass isn't always greener: the MacRae brothers have emerged from Project Greenlight with a gentle, cautionary tale about the benefits of appreciating what you've got. David Hull reports.(On Location: THE VIEW FROM GREENHAVEN DRIVE)
April 1, 2007... THE STATE OF DOMESTIC FILM FINANCE BEING WHAT IT IS, SUPER LOW-BUDGET filmmaking has become a market-driven trend rather than a statement of artistic experimentation. However, the constraints of a $1 million budget would challenge even the most...

The road to Hollywood is a two-way street: Ausfilm's Tracey Montgomery reports on the opportunities that individual success of Australians in Hollywood can have on the local industry back home.(LA Insider: TALENT)
April 1, 2007... EACH YEAR IN LOS ANGELES AS THE AWARDS season gathers pace, gatherings of the entertainment industry's Aussie community to celebrate the success of their peers are timely reminders of the size and success of expatriate Australians in Hollywood...

File sharers fight for right to exist: Julian Newby discusses the possible implications of Viacom's legal pursuit of user-generated content giant YouTube, and who might be best placed to capitalise.(Euro Insider: FILE SHARING)
April 1, 2007... YOUTUBE IS ARGUABLY THE MOST-WATCHED video-sharing site on the web. Korea's fast-rising Cyworld may dispute that fact, but when one considers the case of Viacom vs. YouTube, the fact that the latter is one of the world's most popular--if not...

No word on the review but plenty of electioneering: executive director of SPAA Geoff Brown reports on the latest representations to, and feedback from, the key players in Canberra regarding the future of the industry.(Above The Line: POLICY)
April 1, 2007... WE ARE NOW NO MORE THAN SIX MONTHS out from the next Federal election and for the first time in a while there are signs of a real contest. It's important that we work all sides of the political spectrum, especially in an election year, to...

Ancillary rights: the facts; The emergence of new distribution platforms is blurring the traditional definitions of 'ancillary markets'. Hamish Watson wades through the legal jargon to summarise the rights producers need to be aware of.(Legal: RIGHTS)
April 1, 2007... NATURALLY, DISTRIBUTORS AND SALES AGENTS ('DISTRIBUTORS') will try to obtain the broadest possible grant of rights to exploit a feature film and related ancillary rights ('distribution rights') to maximise their revenue. The distributor will...

FTO names scripts for Aurora workshop.(IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2007... The New South Wales Film and Television Office (FTO)'s Aurora 2007 workshop took place on the state's south coast late last month. The selected four scripts were: Mr Darwin's Shooter, the story of a friendship between a boy and a young Charles...

ABC issues call for jtv docs.(IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2007... ABC TV Arts, Entertainment & Comedy and the AFC have issued a call for proposals from emerging filmmakers nationwide for the $300,000 jtv docs2 initiative. jtv docs2 seeks fresh approaches to half-hour (up to $75,000) and one-hour (up for...

AWG opens entry to Foxtel Fellowship.(IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2007... Entry is now open to the Australian Writers' Guild (AWG)'s Foxtel Fellowship, which will provide a local writer with $25,000 to develop a new screen project Entry to the Fellowship, which will be backed by an annual landmark address to be...

Hollywood outbid for rights to the eBay man: for something that began as a joke, Nicael Holt's attempt to sell his life on eBay has become lucrative with the sale of rights to the story. Peter Galvin reports.(Script: DEVELOPMENT)
April 1, 2007... MELBOURNE'S MINI STUDIOS AND BRISBANE-based production company Head Pictures have successfully outbid several lucrative Hollywood offers in a joint venture to secure the life rights to the story Nicael Holt, the 24-year-old Wollongong man who...

Stenders tackles family dramas in 'Boxing Day': director Kriv Stenders used a hand-held digicam to get up close and personal with his actors in the tense drama Boxing Day. Peter Galvin reports.(Shoot: BOXING DAY)
April 1, 2007... "I'VE ALWAYS FOUND BOXING DAY A REALLY volatile time," said writer/director Kriv Stenders, explaining the roots of his new feature. He remembers, as a kid, riding around the streets of his home town Brisbane the day after Christmas and catching...

New initiative for VIC location shoots.(IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2007... All provincial councils in Victoria have signed on to participate in the Location Victoria initiative, which is designed to provide a co-ordinated policy approach across the state. Within the next six months, seven websites will be established...

Film Victoria names funded shorts.(IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2007... Film Victoria announced the recipients of its annual Short Film Fund at an industry event held on March 15. The chosen projects were the animated black comedy Lucy Wants to Kill Herself (written and directed by Andrea Brookes and written and...

ABC finds comedy between the covers.(IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2007... Husband and wife comics and filmmakers, Robyn Butler and Wayne Hope, have commenced shooting The Librarians, a new comedy series for the ABC that is set in a suburban library. The Librarians is a co-production between the ABC and the pair's...

FSM scores for Fox Sports rebrand.(IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2007... Sydney post production company, FSM, has just completed a comprehensive re-branding of the hugely popular NRL for premier sports channel, Fox Sports, which launched on March 17. Competition was fierce to land the job and FSM's brief was to...

Colourist Sansom joins the LaB.(IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2007... Post production and grading facility The LaB Sydney has recruited Martin Sansom from the UK as its new senior colourist. The LaB conducted an an international search for a colourist who had experience with both C-Reality and Spirit telecine...

New HD/SD multi-format switcher.(IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2007... Panasonic has launched the AVHS300E, a compact, six-input/four-output switcher for live events and TV production. The HD/SD switcher supports full-scale HD production, and those productions whose needs change as they make the transition to HD....

'Rogue' sound team tunes into the call of the wild: an adventure thriller about a group of travellers who are pursued by a crocodile presented a series of sound challenges for the Rogue Team. Tracey Prisk reports.(Sync: ROGUE)
April 1, 2007... DIRECTOR GREG MCLEAN'S $25 MILLION WOLF Creek follow-up, Rogue, uses the unique sounds of the Northern Territory to tell the story of a group of tourists menaced by a rogue crocodile in the mangroves 'up north'. The US-backed film, which...

Chinese market gears up for D-cinema.(IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2007... The China Film Group (CFG) has placed an order for 700 digital cinema systems in the biggest digital cinema rollout outside the US. Barco has entered into a development and supply agreement with GDC Technology Limited for the supply of 700...

'Romulus' to release locally next month.(IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2007... Dendy Films and Footprint Films will release director Richard Roxburgh's debut feature, Romulus, My Father, on May 31. Cinema owners got a sneak preview of the film last month at the Independent Cinema Owners Association conference, where it...

Saville's 'Noise' to hit screens in May.(IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2007... Madman Entertainment will release Matt Saville's feature film Noise in cinemas on May 3. The film stars Brendan Cowell as a traumatised police officer and deals with his response to a tragic event, and its impact on the community. Shot in...

Spanish Film Fest turns 10 in May.(IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2007... The Spanish Film Festival is celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2007 with events to be held in Sydney (May 9-20, Palace Academy Twin & Palace Norton Street Cinemas), Melbourne (May 16 -27, Cinema Como & Westgarth), Brisbane (May 23-27, Palace...

Rental giant combats VOD with rival delivery service: the DVD rental landscape is shifting towards acceptance of electronic delivery with Video Ezy running a trial of a unique service in Sydney.(Screen: DVD RETAIL)
April 1, 2007... DVD RENTAL CHAIN VIDEO EZY IS CURRENTLY trialling an electronic rental 'download' service in Sydney as it looks to offer its customers options beyond traditional 'physical' rental of DVDs. The model the chain has adopted veers away from Video...

Listings.(Production Report)
April 1, 2007... EVERY MONTH ENCORE's production report includes all known features and television drama and non-drama television programs which have a network presale. Projects in the planning stage appear once only and the listing ends when a...

Adelaide Film Festival.(People)
April 1, 2007... [WHAT] Adelaide Film Festival [WHEN] February 22-March 4 [WHERE] Adelaide

Oz kids TV showcase.(People)
April 1, 2007... [WHAT] Showcase of Australian children's television producers [WHEN] February 8 [WHERE] Australian Consulate, New York

New pay TV shows confirm the cliche: content is 'King'; It was smiles all around at the subscription TV sector's annual Conference in March, and new projects in the works indicate an abundance of local product. Harvey Shore Reports.(Hearsay: ASTRA 2007)
April 1, 2007... THE GHOST OF KERRY PACKER MUST HAVE SMILED over the annual Australian Subscription Television and Radio Association (ASTRA) Pay-TV Conference in Sydney last month. Packer invested millions in Pay-TV, but never reaped a buck while he lived....

Weathering the storm: everybody understands that crews are hurting ... but how are they surviving and would a rethink of the production method make a difference? Peter Galvin investigates.(Below The Line: WORK METHODS)
April 1, 2007... IT IS HARDLY NEWS TO SUGGEST THAT THE FEATURE 'INDUSTRY' AS WE know it is doing it tough. Production has declined to an average of 20 pictures a year and the $100m-plus runaway productions, which only five years ago bolstered the scene in New...

It doesn't rain but it pours: the worsening drought is having an impact on filmmaking techniques. Tracey Prisk reports.(Below The Line: LOCATIONS)
April 1, 2007... AUSTRALIA IS IN THE GRIPS OF ONE OF THE MOST SEVERE droughts it's ever faced and weather patterns are harder than ever to predict. However, location scouts and managers say there's no shortage of great locations; as always, it's just a matter...

Making up is hard to do: traditional arts remain integral to the filmmaking process. Sarah Jane Owen reports.(Below The Line: MAKE UP / STUNTS)
April 1, 2007... THE ART OF HAIR AND MAKE UP HAS EVOLVED IN RECENT TIMES WITH THE INCREASED USE of special effects and the introduction of new make up application techniques, as well as specialised products now available on the Australian market. However,...

Stunties cry out for action: Tracey Prisk reports on the dwindling levels of stunt work available to local performers.(Below The Line: MAKE UP / STUNTS)
April 1, 2007... THE STUNTS INDUSTRY IS EXPERIENCING ONE OF THE WORSE SLUMPS IN YEARS AS THIS sector, like the rest of the Australian production industry, grapples with tighter budgets and less production. Much of the work that exists is for stunt...

Spreading the message: unit publicity is a vital component of the overall campaign to find an audience for the finished product. David Hull picks the brains of some of the production industry's top publicists to find out what it takes to spearhead a successful publicity campaign.(Below The Line: PUBLICITY)
April 1, 2007... What led to you become involved in film/TV publicity? Tracey Mair: I was originally a magazine journalist, but not a particularly happy one. I had dreamed of making documentaries when I was a student and had always had a passion for news...

Dishing it out: caterers go to great lengths to prepare food for the crew on set, sometimes in the most remote locations. Fiona Williams finds out why.(Below The Line: CATERING)
April 1, 2007... IF YOU WANT TO KNOW THE GOSSIP ON A FILM SET, ASK THE CATERERS. IF THE film or television project is big enough to have one, the catering tent is always a hive of activity, where unit, cast and crew hang out in the down time. "Yes, the...

In the frame: photographs are the last thing on mind of the busy cast and crew--and that's precisely why you need a good unit stills photographer.(Below The Line: UNIT STILLS)
April 1, 2007... THE UNIT STILLS PHOTOGRAPHER IS THE ODD ONE OUT ON THE FILM set. Or so says Jimmy Pozarik. The US-born photographer says (with the benefit of some 15 years of experience) that the "stills photographer is the only crew member on set that is not...

A place for everything ... A keen eye and a strong sense of diplomacy are the secrets to good continuity, according to some of Australia's top script supervisors. Peter Galvin gets the lowdown.(Below The Line: CONTINUITY)
April 1, 2007... THERE'S AN OLD HOLLYWOOD STORY THAT SAYS A LOT ABOUT the dangers and responsibilities when it comes to working 'below the line'--especially if you happen to work as script supervisor. It took place during the last stages of the studio...