When I was a kid, us Gen-X-ers (thanks for that term Doug) only had to worry about getting bullied by real kids – ones with real fists. These days poor Gen-Y-ers lives in a world of cyberbullies. Not all of the threats are real. And only some of them human.

I knew it! Although I didn’t think it would happen so soon. E-readers are taking off in a big way! Manufacturers are astounded. Understandably, book-publishers and distributors are nervous. You can buy a Kobo (electronic document reader pre-loaded with 100 novels) at Borders in Australia for $200. And it uses e-ink just like the Kindle. Actually – scratch that. No you can’t buy a Kobo because they’re out of stock! (more…)

There are many arguments regarding the piracy of movies, games, music and television. Many of us do it (but this isn’t a confession, copyright cops) and we are in breach of a slew of international copyright agreements when we do.

The Old School system way back in the pre-digital era had clear cut institutions for composers, producers and other owners creators of intellectual and creative products to enforce their copyright and collect a fee. (more…)

After finishing a bunch of website interfaces, I turn from my computer screen to daytime TV and there before me – was the legendary Barry Crocker. I know he’s getting on, but my personal disillusionment with the Australian Film & TV industry seems never-ending. There was THE infamous Barry McKenzie, dressed as an old wizard in an afternoon kids’ TV show called “Magic Tales”. (more…)

Cupid geoff

Ed says: I don’t earn a living making films. I wouldn’t dare. It would kill the love and passion I have for filmmaking. No. I teach and build websites for a living. But I do make films regularly.
(more…)

Perth’s not exactly Hollywood, but it is on the West Coast . . . of Western Australia that is. This is where we live. The heat is dry and the air, sandy. It’s possibly the most conservative town in the whole of Australia. Maybe that’s not a bad thing. And it’s where some filmmakers choose to make their movies.

But . . . Perth?

Sure – in Perth, every time you go location scouting, you get a call from the cops. One or two km’s over the speed limit, and you’ll be chased down – while your house is being robbed.

But that’s Perth. We roll with the bogan king-hits and the random, alcohol-fuelled stabbings.

It’s your life, pal. I’m chasing the stars. I’m off to Sydney first . . . or Melbourne. And then it’s Hollywood or Bust.

Good luck to you!

There’s one really great thing about Perth, besides it’s small population (1.5m), only 245 rain-free days per year, magnificent unpopulated beaches and an average yearly temperature of around 24°C . . . Nobody knows it’s here.

So – shhhhhhhhhh!

Ed likes to wear close-fitting garments

Slow but steady wins the race. This is a pic of me (Ed) wearing my new podcasting outfit. Please stand by as we tune in to the web / film digital interface. Just a matter of a few short, codey moments. Moments during which you may like to write a love poem – or get out that old screenplay and finish working on your main character arc. Moments, like this one – that will pass by all too soon.

Hey, Phil. You jacked in yet, Pal?

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 many paying jobs to do all at once. Woe is me.

The upside is suddenly I can afford a new Sunbeam Cafe series 2 slice toaster – the old TA9200. Go here to discover more.

Many in the arts in Australia make their money with a ‘patchwork quilt’ of teaching and freelancing. It can lead to many hours of soul-searching. Teachers and arts administrators who began as artists often discover they are devoting most of their time to pulling down a wage and sending their kids through school.

This leads to the age old questions. Am I a ‘painter (or whatever) if I am not actually painting. This is dealt with by people such as Julia Cameron in books like her 1992 blockbuster The Artist’s Way.

So, not waiting by the ‘phone, taking on too much freelance work and that affecting the stable paying job. That’s this particular artist’s way and I know through many conversations over the years I am not alone.

Crack The Script!

Mr Trivia

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 because they see reality through an imaginative lens. They’re fantasists, embroiderers, hyperbolists, analysers, searchers-for-truth, attention-seekers, spin-doctors, entertainers and sometimes complete bull artists.

Filmmakers spend their lives looking to create a world, through writing, performance, directing, editing and post-production. After this process is complete, they might have a behind-the-scenes story to tell and this becomes part of the creation myth that they then use to publicise the film.

So there’s before-the-film, behind-the-film, during-the-film and after-the-film. Filmmakers will use all of it to persuade you to see that film and this will help them to make their next one. They love to tell a story.

There’s a line in the 1987 movie OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE (not to be confused with the very funny New Zealand soap on Network Nine that SPAA protested against.) The 1987 film is an odd-couple pairing between Bette Midler and Shelly Long. Long plays a pretentious actor and to get under her skin, Midler’s character says “Actors are just bullshitters who get paid.”

All filmmakers need a bit of the bullshitter in them. And with any luck one will get paid. It’s not considered an adult occupation because it calls on all the skills and imagination you used in order to play when you were a child. And therefore its not fully respectable until you get paid. But who wants to be respectable anyway?

Phil Jeng Kane
C/- Mr Trivia

P.S. Of course, I’m an unreliable narrator, myself. I often use a pseudonym and don’t even reveal as much in print about myself as Edwin does. But one day I just might.

Until then I have ventriloquism and my addiction to prescription painkillers to sustain me.

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 – or writing – or web-designing or having a coffee with friends when my films screen.

I work from home – so I’m usually here.

I’m about to shoot Yellow, a no-budget feature film – right here in my house. I’m writing this BLOG on my non-linear editing machine and the finished film will be streamed online to a distribution server in HD quality. I’ve had my eye on several online distributors and I’m watching Telstra (yes, the phone company). By the time Yellow is cut, scored and mixed, I will probably YouTube the film for international festival pre-selection, do a few podcasts for publicity and then walk around the corner to post my Blu-Ray disc for big screen viewing.

Most of this time, I might as well be wearing underpants.

In the Can
Short Film Screenings
Saturday 13th, 8pm Bar 138, 138 Barrack Street Perth

The In-the-Can people offered to donate teh door sales at a local film night. Come along if you’ve nothing to do this Saturday night and you’re in Perth. We’ll probably make enough at the door to pay for batteries, sandwich bread and tape for the Yellow shoot.

I’m really keen to make a no-budget film before I do the budget one. I want a fun, creative, happy experience before I embark on another Kafka-esque procedural nightmare.

Hope to see you there.