All posts by Mark

About Mark

Mark Poole is a writer and director of both drama and documentary. His most recent film Fearless about 92 year old playwright Julia Britton recently screened on ABC1. His career began when the feature film he wrote, A Single Life, won an AFI Award in 1987. Since then he has written more than 20 hours of broadcast television drama, won a directing award for the short film Basically Speaking at the St Kilda Film Festival, and was honoured with a major AWGIE, the Richard Lane Award in 2008.

New Rules of Blockbuster Screenwriting

Star Script Doctor Damon Lindelof Explains the New Rules of Blockbuster Screenwriting
By Scott Brown – August 12, 2013 issue of New York Magazine.

Damon Lindelof, the ubiquitous screenwriter-producer whose name seems attached to all of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters, is doing his damnedest to get small. This summer, he (along with fellow triage artists Drew Goddard and Christopher McQuarrie) miraculously pulled Brad Pitt out of the mass grave that was World War Z’s zombocalyptic original third act and restored the regular-guyness that made Pitt’s character work. He also resisted the temptation to threaten Earth’s existence (yet again!) at the end of Star Trek Into Darkness, focusing instead on a personal vendetta—albeit one enacted via a dizzying mile-high pursuit across a 23rd-century cityscape. But, hey, you have to give something to get something.

“We live in a commercial world, where you’ve gotta come up with ‘trailer moments’ and make the thing feel big and impressive and satisfying, especially in that summer- movie-theater construct,” says Lindelof. “But ultimately I do feel—even as a purveyor of it—slightly turned off by this destruction porn that has emerged and become very
bold-faced this past summer. And again, guilty as charged. It’s hard not to do it, especially because a movie, if properly executed, feels like it’s escalating.”
Continue reading New Rules of Blockbuster Screenwriting

Ten questions: Peter Gawler

PETER Gawler has been the driving force behind the Underbelly franchise, the latest series of which, Squizzy Taylor, is screening on Nine.

The Underbelly series has proven wildly successful with audiences. Why do Australians seemingly love crime drama more than any other genre?

Underbelly is true crime drama, not crime fiction. I think people have a natural fascination for what really happened, particularly if they can relate to the story in some way – “I remember when Jason Moran was murdered”, “My dad used to point out the house where Squizzy was shot” or “We used to go the Cross and dance in that club John Ibrahim owned” and so on.

Continue reading Ten questions: Peter Gawler

100 Bloody Acres: What went wrong?

Australian horror/comedy 100 Bloody Acres tanked at six Australian cinemas last weekend. Producer Julie Ryan has some compelling theories on why that happened.

Ryan sees an urgent need to re-think the traditional film distribution model and for a campaign to convince Australian cinemagoers of the entertainment value of Australian films.

The producer identifies a number of factors which she believes militated against her film, including the release date, competition from The World’s End, a UK film in the same genre, piracy and file sharing, and lack of marketing support.

Continue reading 100 Bloody Acres: What went wrong?

Cannes 2013 Extra: branding yourself and your projects

Branding yourself sounds like Blade Runner, but emerging producers are being taught these android skills in the training for Cannes. Screen Hub’s Andrew Einspruch was there, reporting this, our final bit of coverage from Cannes.

One of the keys to success at a film market is presenting yourself and your project in the best way possible. Roshanak Behesht Nedjad of Flying Moon Filmproduktion gave a lot of insights at a session called “Branding Yourself and Your Projects” at the Cannes Film Market last May. Screen Hub’s Andrew Einspruch was there, reporting this, our final bit of coverage from Cannes.

Let’s start with some numbers. There were around 12,000 film buyers, sellers, agency representatives and wannabes at this year’s Cannes Film Market. Obviously, not all of them are empowered to write a cheque.

So let’s simplify for the point of illustration. Assume there are just 1,000 sales agents there who could actually make a decision, and they are there for the five main days of the market. Now assume they only have meetings with two people on any given day (which is absurdly low – it is more like five to ten per day, at least). So, 1,000 agents x 5 days x 2 meetings/day = 10,000 meetings. If they all saw the same people, that’s 5,000 projects being pitched.

The point being made by Nedjad? At a minimum, you are competing with at least 5,000 other projects. That’s your starting point, and probably a very low number.

Sobering. Continue reading Cannes 2013 Extra: branding yourself and your projects

Melbourne’s 37º South selects best pitches

A new project from the producer of Whale Rider, an adaptation of a US book and a Chinese-Australian co-production are to be pitched in the UK after being selected by Melbourne’s 37º South Market.

The three films will be pitched at the UK’s Production Finance Market (PFM) in October following a positive response at the seventh edition of 37º South, which runs as part of the Melbourne International Film Festival.

New Zealand producer Tim Sanders is to pitch The Guinea Pig Club at PFM and received $1,850 (A$2,000) from sponsor Film Finances to help cover expenses.

After learning he would be heading to London for PFM (Oct 16-17), Sanders told ScreenDaily: “It is the story of a Kiwi surgeon called Archie McIndoe who restored the bodies of badly injured fighter pilots in World War II and also gave them the will to live and hope for the future.

Continue reading Melbourne’s 37º South selects best pitches

The Business of Development

published in Screen Hub.

This week the Australian Writers’ Guild hosted a lively session on script development, with speakers from both Screen Australia and Film Victoria.

It was a timely opportunity to hear from three people central to development decisions, namely Jenni Tosi, CEO of Film Victoria, Veronica Gleeson, Senior Development Executive of Feature and Professional Development at Screen Australia, and the new person on the block, Jo Dillon who has just taken up her post as Development Executive at Screen Australia, based in Melbourne.

The session was pointed at times, if not outright heated, and each participant spoke from the heart about what moved them in a screenplay, which was fascinating to hear. However it also reflected the development limbo we’re in at present.

Continue reading The Business of Development

TV Networks Play to ‘Second Screen’

AMC Networks has been shooting material for its crime drama The Killing but it will not be seen on TV. The material is for second-screen viewers.

LAST weekend, members of the cast and crew of AMC Network’s crime drama The Killing were on location in Vancouver, British Columbia, shooting material for Sunday’s season premiere. What they produced won’t be shown on television, though. It is meant for smartphones, tablets and laptops.

The video vignettes are for an online application AMC channel is launching this weekend to promote The Killing, one of a number of increasingly ambitious such efforts being produced by TV networks.

Designed to be watched on mobile devices and computers, the services show videos, photos, games, trivia and other content when the affiliated TV show is on the air.

Continue reading TV Networks Play to ‘Second Screen’

The Writers Guild of America Names ‘Sopranos’ Best-Written TV Series Ever

Tony Soprano is a made man. The Writer Guild of America East and West on Sunday night revealed its list of 101 best-written TV series ever, and David Chase’s The Sopranos, which aired on HBO from 1999-2007, came in at No. 1.

Landing at No. 2 was Seinfeld, created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, which aired on NBC from 1989-98.

Rounding out the top five are the original Twilight Zone, All in the Family and M*A*S*H.

“At their core, all of these wonderful series began with the words of the writers who created them and were sustained by the writers who joined their staffs or worked on individual episodes,” WGAW president Chris Keyser and WGAE president Michael Winship said in a joint statement. “This list is not only a tribute to great TV, it is a dedication to all writers who devote their hearts and minds to advancing their craft.”

The top 10 shows, as determined through online voting by WGAW and WGAE members, can be found below. For the entire list, go here:

Continue reading The Writers Guild of America Names ‘Sopranos’ Best-Written TV Series Ever

Mystery Road takes a new (distribution) path

Ivan Sen’s new film Mystery Road, which will open the Sydney Film Festival, is bypassing the established theatrical distributors in a rare departure from the usual distribution model. Producer David Jowsey and writer-director Sen have decided to release the murder mystery on August 15 via Dark Matter, a company they own with Michael Wrenn.

The rationale: If the film turns a profit, that will go to the filmmakers, not the distributor. The producers are paying for the marketing costs, avoiding the standard 25%-30% fee charged by distributors. They’ve hired the Melbourne-based Backlot Studios to negotiate terms with exhibitors for a flat fee. Distribution veteran Alan Finney is a consultant and Tracey Mair is coordinating the national marketing and publicity campaign.

The film stars Aaron Pedersen as an Aboriginal cop, Detective Jay Swan, who’s called on to investigate the murder of a young Indigenous girl and realises a serial killer is at work. The cast includes Hugo Weaving, Ryan Kwanten, Jack Thompson and Tony Barry.

The $2 million film was financed by Screen Australia, Screen Queensland and the ABC. Gary Hamilton’s Arclight Films has world sales rights outside Australia.

By Don Groves – INSIDEFILM – [Tue 04/06/2013 08:32:57]

More Here:

http://if.com.au

Alec Baldwin: ‘The movies are abandoning serious acting to television’

The actor has been at Cannes making a documentary, Seduced and Abandoned,
about the film festival. Here he talks about the state of his profession today

Where I’ve ended up, I’m pretty content. I see the people at the top of the movie
business today and I compare their careers with those at the top 40 years ago. I wouldn’t trade places with those that dominate today; I don’t necessarily want what they have. I want the choices they have but I look at some of the films they make and think: “You could get anybody to play those parts.”

They’ll roll out a film like Lincoln every now and again with Kushner and Spielberg and Day-Lewis – who is someone I worship. I saw him at the SAG awards and I said: “Do you realise what your career means to other actors? You give them hope that there is still some purity in acting.”

Those movies are exceptions to the rule. When I started out in the early 80s, twothirds of the movies made were very cast specific, meaning: “We need that woman to play the psychiatrist and that man to play the judge.” Now that’s down to one quarter. Now they have a line item in the budget that says: “Here’s how much money we’re going to spend for that part – get whoever you can that’s acceptable.”

Cable TV is the bastion of great acting now. This is why you have this riotous celebration of Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Homeland – all these really seminal dramas.

The motion-picture business is more and more abandoning serious acting to television. If they want a serious experience, people have been raised over the past 20 years to depend less and less on movies for that.

However, the apex of this business is still to make a great, great film. When Marty Scorsese said to me: “Come do The Aviator with Leo” – I adore Leo and I admire him, he’s probably my favourite young actor around today; and Ryan Gosling, I love Ryan – I was elated. I wept. To go and make great movies is still the ultimate. But it’s like musical chairs. They’re taking away more and more chairs but the number of people circling the table trying to sit down when the music stops is the same. And now people are fighting and fighting and fighting. Now my agent calls me and says: “I got a phone call from some famous director …” and I’ll get very excited and become so happy. “What did he say?” “Only five other guys have to die and you can have this part.” And I go: “Oh my God, thank you.”

As told to Catherine Shoard – The Guardian, Thursday 23 May 2013