David Jowsey is reading 'Heat'!

.

I made it to the Maleny Festival of Australian Film last friday, partly because I really wanted to see Aaron Pederson in 'Mystery Road', and also because the producer, David Jowsey was guest speaker.
Hoping that he would be an approachable kind of guy, I printed off the screenplay of 'Heat', and emailed him the sysnopsis in advance.
David started it off with an amusing talk on the making of this low budget movie. As Holden wouldn't sponsor them by giving them a police car, they hired one from Avis, replaced the new panels, mirrors and windscreen with second hand ones, shot the hell out of the car, put the original bits back, and returned it to Avis.
'Mystery Road' was a stunning movie: beautiful, powerful, riveting and menacing.
Aaron Pederson's performance was utterly convincing. The director, Ivan Sen, has conjured outstanding realism, not just from the stellar cast, but also from aboriginal children in the Queensland towns they were filming in.
As soon as the movie finished, I spotted David on the pavement outside, congratulated him on the film, and asked him to read my script.
He couldn't have been nicer, and promised to read it within the next few weeks.
I now have my figers firmly crossed and am checking my emails three times a day, in hope.

Re-Write of 'Heat'

I finished reading 'Screenplay: Writing the Picture' by Russin and Downs, and found it brilliant, particularly on the structure of screenplays, and how to build up the suspense (Part 2).

I learnt so much I had to rip my screenplay 'Heat' apart, again, and re-structure. Just by deleting the scenes that had nothing to do with my central theme, and by moving half of a particularly dramatic scene to just before the climax,  the whole thing became much more intense.
 
Not sure what to do with it now I've finished it. A deep breath, a few days painting, and then I'll think of a strategy.
Someone once told me that the writing was only half the work, selling it was just as much work. I would say its more like 20:80. Getting through the door of Screen Queensland has proved impossible so far. Maybe I should just track down Jane Campion and thrust it at her!