Writer/director Shirley Barrett talks about her career from the 1996 Cannes Caméra d’Or winning Love Serenade to opening night film from the Sydney Film Festival, South Solitary, and the delicate craft in balancing drama and comedy.

Time: 5-6pm
Date: Friday, September 3
Event: Friday On My Mind
Venue: AFTRS Theatre, Fox Entertainment Quarter

– with a free screening of South Solitary!

An inspiring AFTRS event bringing you face to face with the industry’s brightest thinkers.

Free entry. All welcome.

As her new show Spirited launches on Foxtel, and with a slate of new projects in the pipeline, we talk to screenwriter Jacquelin Perske (Love My Way, Star Wars TV) about the creation of TV drama that is rich in character detail, high in ambition and epic in scope – and how the writer can take a front seat role in steering its development.

Time: 5-6pm
Date: Friday, August 27
Event: Friday On My Mind
Venue: AFTRS Theatre, Fox Entertainment Quarter

– get in early to secure your seat, after three consecutive weeks full house!

An inspiring AFTRS event bringing you face to face with the industry’s brightest thinkers.

Free entry. All welcome.

Internationally celebrated screenwriter Stuart Beattie (Collateral, Pirates of the Caribbean) talks about his directorial debut Tomorrow, When the War Began and what it takes to make films in which people and studios want to invest.

Time: 5-6pm
Date: Friday, August 20
Event: Friday On My Mind
Venue: AFTRS Theatre, Fox Entertainment Quarter

– first come first served, so get in early to secure your seat!

An inspiring AFTRS event bringing you face to face with the industry’s brightest thinkers.

Free entry. All welcome.

[In Australian cinemas August 26 through Transmission Films]

Having already overtaken Whale Rider as the highest grossing New Zealand film of all time, this hilarious tale of the underdog combines finely drawn characterisation with the understated humour of Beached As; the same classical composition and mesmirising child performances of Taika Waititi’s Oscar nominated short Two Cars, One Night (one of my favourite shorts of all time) and the quirky, indy sensibility of his first feature Eagle Versus Shark.

In my Q&A last night, writer/director and actor Waititi explained that his homage to the ’80s stemmed partly from his own childhood experience but also from a filmmaker’s desire to avoid the all-too-fast obsolecence of technology; opting instead for something that was “already daggy.”

A touching coming-of-age story of family, identity and national pride – in tight pants and fluorescent tights.

See the mashup here that saw a nationalistic anthem go to number three on the charts. Guaranteed to make you smile, moonwalk and/or twirl a poi.

As former head of the Film Finance Corporation, Brian Rosen spent years deep amongst deal negotiations for Australian films. Now working on his own at an international level, he will talk about what the likes of Lionsgate and Summit Entertainment want when they consider deals with Australian projects.

Time: 5-6pm
Date: Friday, August 13
Event: Friday On My Mind
Venue: AFTRS Theatre, Fox Entertainment Quarter

An inspiring AFTRS event bringing you face to face with the industry’s brightest thinkers.

Free entry. All welcome.

The brainchild of the South Australian Film Corp, the TV Mini Lab will help up to ten TV projects reach pitch readiness, with the ultimate aim of stimulating local production for their new studios.

From the perspective of both a writer who developed a drama project with Southern Star and now a development exec helping the company shape drama projects for network pitching, I’ll be outlining various processes, models and creative approaches undertaken at Southern Star for making drama projects network friendly.

Applications close August 6 through the SAFC, so get yourself a form (and hopefully a South Australian based producer) and I hope to see you there.

The ’80s was the era of the “historical miniseries”, and particularly the political one (remember The Dismissal?). Now, with Hawke having taken centre stage, and the Whitlam-esque Cleo to come, producer Richard Keddie (Hawke, Curtin) looks at the rise and rise of the period telemovie and the real-life aspects that make them so powerful.

Time: 5-6pm
Date: Friday, July 30
Event: Friday On My Mind
Venue: AFTRS Theatre, Fox Entertainment Quarter

An inspiring AFTRS event bringing you face to face with the industry’s brightest thinkers.

Free entry. All welcome.

Known variously as one of “10 Digital Directors to Watch” (Daily Variety) and “the subculture guy”, America’s Jon Reiss produced and directed Bomb It!, a feature film about graffiti and the battle over visual public space. Based on his experience releasing with a hybrid strategy, he wrote Think Outside the Box Office: The Ultimate Guide to Film Distribution in the Digital Era.

Using examples such as The Age of Stupid, Jon will share innovative tools and strategies for filmmakers to distribute and promote their films in an overcrowded marketplace.

Time: 5-6pm
Date: Friday, July 23
Event: Friday On My Mind
Venue: AFTRS Theatre, Fox Entertainment Quarter

still from Bomb It!

An inspiring AFTRS event bringing you face to face with the industry’s brightest thinkers.

Free entry. All welcome.

Alice Bell is known for creating explosive and unpredictable characters, from the murderous “Hurricane” Katrina in Bell’s first feature Suburban Mayhem which screened in Un Certain Regard at Cannes, to the risk-taking schoolgirl Violet, in last year’s AFTRS film of the same name. She talks here about the importance of breathing life and surprise into a script, drawing from all of these projects and her next, Gin & Tonic.

Time: 5-6pm
Date: Friday, July 16
Event: Friday On My Mind
Venue: AFTRS Theatre, Fox Entertainment Quarter

An inspiring AFTRS event bringing you face to face with the industry’s brightest thinkers.

Free entry. All welcome.

In order to attract finance, most Australian films these days are having to secure internationally renowned talent. Belinda Chayko, the AWGIE winning writer (Saved) and second time director (City Loop) tells how this project went from being a university script to securing John Hurt (Harry Potter, Alien) – all through having well-defined characters.

Time: 5-6pm
Date: Friday, July 9
Event: Friday On My Mind
Venue: AFTRS Theatre, Fox Entertainment Quarter

An inspiring AFTRS event bringing you face to face with the industry’s brightest thinkers.

Free entry. All welcome.
* Special screening of Lou in full after the Q&A