Encore Magazine articles from February 2009

Encore Magazine archives from February 2009

Here's for our nominees: awards don't mean anything, but it sure is nice when you get one.
February 1, 2009... THE OSCARS ARE JUST around the corner, and even though we 'only' have four Australian nominees (I can't believe the Academy didn't nominate Mandy Walker's work in Australia, but after all, there are not that many countries that can claim to...

Kiwis, innocent: Borland SPADA dismisses SPAA'S claim of a NZ invasion on Aussie TV.(AUSTRALIAN CONTENT CONTROVERSY)
February 1, 2009... * FOLLOWING SPAA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR GEOFF BROWN'S comments about lobbying the Federal Government to change the rules that allow New Zealand programs to count as local content, his SPADA counterpart CEO Penelope Borland released an official...

US facing analogue switch-off.(DIGITAL TELEVISION)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... * THE US ANALOGUE SWITCH-OFF, SCHEDULED FOR February 17, may be delayed a further four months. Democrat Senator and incoming chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee Jay Rockefeller sponsored a bill to delay the switchover until June 12;...

New year, new job.(IN BRIEF)(FTO has appointed Megan Simpson Huberman )(Screen Australia has appointed Martha Coleman and Martha Coleman )(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... A recap of the mass appointments made just before Christmas: -Megan Simpson Huberman was appointed to the new position of Director, Creative and Enterprise Development at the FTO. Megan was director of the IndiVision low-budget feature...

Endemol buys Southern Star.(IN BRIEF)
February 1, 2009... Netherlands-based Endemol will acquire the Southern Star Group from Fairfax Media, along with its 14,000 hours of content that includes Packed to the Rafters, Home and Away and other Australian hit shows. The deal is conditional to...

Private investment needed to make it work: with a number of potential hits on the horizon, Geoff Brown says it is time to attract private investment to the screen industry.
February 1, 2009... WE ENTER ANOTHER YEAR OF UNCERTAINTY BUT with renewed hope on the local box office front. Whatever we might have thought individually as industry members about Baz Luhrmann's Australia, it is now sitting at $30 million at the local box office...

Filmmakers become ambassadors: Tracey Vieira takes a minute off during the busy Australia week in Los Angeles to report on the event.
February 1, 2009... THE FIRST OFFICIAL EVENT DURING THE ANNUAL Australia Week in Los Angeles in January was the Ausfilm Industry breakfast. The event held at the Renaissance Hotel at Hollywood and Highland attracted more than 170 guests including producers,...

Allen, back to form in Barcelona: Vicky Cristina Barcelona is the best Woody Allen film since 1979's manhattan, says Bob Ellis. It was a month of cinematic Bliss that had a disgraced EX-US President and Brad Pitt growing young.(Rough Cut)
February 1, 2009... VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA IS ABOUT TWO SHY rich American girls cast up among bohemian Catalonia and brooding over their spiritual inadequacies, a storyline fit for Henry James that could equally have been set in 2009 or 1909, the date of its...

Law, Kimberley style: the circuit returns for a second season. Peter Galvin travelled to Broome, Western Australia, to see how justice is done in this critically acclaimed drama.(THE CIRCUTT)
February 1, 2009... ONCE A MONTH A MAGISTRATE AND A TEAM FROM THE ABORIGINAL LEGAL SERVICE make a 2000 km round trip across the Kimberley region of Western Australia, criss-crossing the far north of the state, hearing cases in many of the remote indigenous...

Western Australia, a world of their own: the state has experienced a growth in production as its agency offers new incentives to build a sustainable creative community. Peter Galvin reports from Perth.(Western Australia)
February 1, 2009... FOR SCREENWEST'S HARRY BARDWELL, A CORE PRINCIPLE for West Australia's state screen agency is the ideal of building a sustainable creative community. This is the basis for Screenwest's programs and strategies says Bardwell, who is the...

Custodians of the world's visual history: in a digital world, the archive footage industry's role becomes far more complex than that of just a ubiquitous facilitator of iconic, rare, specific or generic visual material Hernan Alcerreca reports.(Stock Footage)
February 1, 2009... FROM NEIL ARMSTRONG'S ICONIC LUNAR SPEECH TO THE FALL OF the Berlin Wall and Barack Obama's inauguration as the 44th president of the United States, or Kevin Rudd's apology to the stolen generations and Australian cricket legend Sir Donald...

Breaking old habits: greater media access means that screen-based artists/content producers must now take various platforms into consideration when creating their work. Paul Hayes found that there is no escaping cross-platform.(Production)
February 1, 2009... SCREENS ON WHICH PEOPLE ARE NOW ENTERTAINED STRETCH FAR beyond the traditional home television and cinemas. Computers, mobile phones, iPods, even screens on trains, buses and planes are now all potentially part of a person's everyday media...

The Persian connection: unofficial co-productions work better for smaller projects, the creators of the Australia-Iran my Tehran for sale told Miguel Gonzalez.(Co-productions)
February 1, 2009... THE STORY, ABOUT A YOUNG FEMALE ACTRESS FORCED TO LEAD A secret life in order to express herself artistically, takes place mostly in Tehran and is spoken in Farsi. It was not produced using one of the official treaties or MOUs, yet My Tehran...

United nations of film: "complex" is the word used by many producers to describe official international co-productions. Sonia Borella explores some of the legal and regulatory aspects and complexities associated with official international co-productions in Australia.(Legal)
February 1, 2009... WITH THE ABILITY TO GAIN ACCESS TO FINANCE AND INCENTIVES IN Australia and other countries, official international co-productions are becoming more attractive in this difficult time of obtaining finance, and tackling the associated complexities...

Aussie Cribs.(IN BRIEF)
February 1, 2009... MTV Networks International is looking to produce Australian versions of key franchises in their Viacom Channels portfolio--this entertainment group includes Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, The Country Music Channel and VH1. For the last few...

Looking for talent.(IN BRIEF)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... Zapruder's Other Films have put out a call to film and TV makers, thirty years and under, to pitch for a job on a new project Called Project Next, the actual content and style of the show has been kept vague, though from an official statement,...

National Aurora.(IN BRIEF)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... Entries have closed for the revamped edition of the NSW Film and Television Office's intensive script development program Aurora. For the first time ever, and in collaboration with the other state agencies, the program was open to national...

The Devil Wears Melbourne.(IN BRIEF)
February 1, 2009... Romantic comedies generate serious box office results for American and UK productions, yet Australian filmmakers seem to ignore their potential. Enter Centre Place. Directed by Ben Shackleford and shot on location in Melbourne, it's been...

Womantic comedy.(IN BRIEF)(All My Friends Are Leaving Brisbane)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... Shooting has wrapped for Louise Alston's second feature, Jucy, a comedy about two straight girls living a "womance". Accused of being weird, they decided to find boyfriends and jobs to prove their normality. The story is written by Stephen...

Music, ready to go.(IN BRIEF)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... Music producer and supplier company Audio Network's Australian office is now fully operational. The company is led by the former FTO Head of Development and Investment Linda Tizard. "It wasn't that I was unhappy at the FTO, but I realised...

Mobile trial.(IN BRIEF)
February 1, 2009... The Ai Group's Australian Digital Suppliers Industry Forum is trialling live broadcast television on mobile phones. Optus, Nokia, Nokia Siemens Networks, LG Electronics, Broadcast Australia and Australian Digital Testing, are behind the test...

Tropfest keeps growing.(BRIEF)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... There are many short film festivals, but Tropfest remains the most popular and the largest. Encore talked to its founder, John Poison, about the balance between Tropfest's artistic essence and corporate sponsorships. "We need to be...

Finding inspiration.(IN BRIEF)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... An Australian website is Inspiring' the world by showcasing the work of directors, photographers, graphic designers, postA/FX artists and other professionals. Their revenue is generated by listings, targeted email campaigns and customised...

Writers dodge Death Star but the war is not over: one of the minds behind Shrek 2, David Weiss, told Miguel Gonzalez that everyone thinks they can write, but being a hollywood writer is definitely not an easy job.(Script)(Conference notes)
February 1, 2009... "THE [2007-2008 WRITERS GUILD OF AMERICA] strike definitely raised the image and the perception of writers being more powerful, and it did so globally. However, it didn't change the reality that the studios are immensely powerful, and the...

One-way journey to Van Diemen's Land: 185 years after his execution, Alexander Pearce is more popular than ever, with the release of another film about Tasmania's infamous convict.(Sync)
February 1, 2009... "[WORKING TITLE] HELL'S GATES WAS A REFERENCE to Dante's Inferno (The Divine Comedy), and in writing the script we paralleled Alexander Pearce's journey through the depths of Van Diemen's Land to Dante's own journey through the depths of...

Virtual Studio model brings W.'s Bushisms to life: The financial structuring of W. Was grounded in the Omnilab "virtual studio" model Christopher Mapp told Genevieve Tait how art and business can go hand in hand.
February 1, 2009... WHEN OMNILAB MEDIA'S MANAGING DIRECTOR Christopher Mapp--who executive produced he film--was asked why Oliver Stone's W vas considered a bankable production, the response was simple: "Bush gets stoned". This statement may sound glib;...

Foxtel television centre, life beyond playout: the FTC has a new director, and Miguel Gonzalez talked to Adam Scott and central services manager carolyn booth about their plans to become a creative hub.(Shoot [FTC])
February 1, 2009... THE FORMER HEAD OF DIGITAL INTERMEDIATE AT Park Road Post Production has not, quite literally, finished unpacking after relocating from Wellington. With former director Mike Lilley moving to the new Olympic and Commonwealth Games Unit, Scott...

Every month.(KEY PLANNING PRE-PRODUCTION IN PRODUCTION)
February 1, 2009... ENCORE's Production Report lists features and television drama/factual programs that are currently in development, pre-production or production in Australia. Television programs must have a network presale in order to be listed and projects in...

Lifestyle/reality in production.(FACTUAL)
February 1, 2009... THE Biggest Loser-Series 4 Network: Ten Prod co: Fremantle Media Australia Pty Ltd Exec Prod: Richard Campbell, Paul Franklin Dir: Richard Smead Serious Prod. Tara McWilliams Spv Prod: Nick Colquhoun, Jonathon Summerhayes Script: Melinda...

Animation and visual effects.(Web Guide.)
February 1, 2009... ANIMATION AND VISUAL EFFECTS [safetyinnumbers] SAFETY IN NUMBERS http://www.sin.tv/ BUY BACK FILM STOCK Steadi Systems BUY BACK FILM STOCK STEADI SYSTEMS BUY BACK FILM STOCK www.steadisystem.com CABLE &...

Denton and Jacobs, busy partners: Andrew Denton and his producing partner Anita Jacoby will have a fantastic year, but Harvey Shore still remembers the inexperienced 22-year-old's first big audition.(Hearsay [ZAPRUDER'S OTHER FILMS])
February 1, 2009... FORGIVE ME FOR TELLING TALES OUT OF SCHOOL, BUT few people know that way back in 1982, a 22-year-old lad named Andrew Christopher Denton auditioned for a TV reporter's job on the top-rating afternoon magazine show Simon Townsend's Wonder World!...