Rachael Turk

Character and Concept
Jacquelin Perske

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.

Explosive Scripts
Stuart Beattie

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.

International Film Finance
Brian Rosen

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.

Rise to Power of the Telemovie
Richard Keddie

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.

Thinking Outside the Box Office
Indie Strategies for Success

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.

Creative Force
Alice Bell

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.

Defining Characters
Belinda Chayko on Lou*

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

Foreign Correspondence
Claire McCarthy and Jamie Hilton

Likened to Monsoon Wedding and City of Joy, The Waiting City (starring Radha Mitchell and Joel Edgerton) is an ambitious depiction of a couple’s growing intimacy with a city – and each other. I talk to writer/director Claire McCarthy (Cross Life, Sisters in Calcutta) and See Pictures producer Jamie Hilton about the performance and production challenges of bringing this relationship to the screen.

Time: 5-6pm
Date: Friday, July 2
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.

Making It in Music Television
Jakub Jacko (MTV World Stage)

After working for over a decade with MTV, MCM and Channel [V] and making an AFTRS short with Angry Anderson, Jakub Jacko directed a one-hour launch special for MTV Classic, featuring rock legend Slash. Such was the reception that MTV requested additional shows, the most recent for MTV’s global series MTV World Stage that aired on June 11 in 550 million households across more than 160 countries.

He shares some short cuts on the long way to the top.

Time: 5-6pm
Date: Friday, June 25
Event: Friday On My Mind
Venue: AFTRS Theatre, Fox Entertainment Quarter

A free and inspiring AFTRS event bringing you face to face with the industry’s brightest thinkers.

Free entry. All welcome.

The New Television
Kim Vecera and Peter Rose

In 2007, Foxtel and Austar launched showcase – the premium channel with
landmark Australian drama such as Love My Way, Satisfaction, Tangle and the soon to be
seen Cloudstreet.

With their strategy to attract subscribers with high end, high concept, high quality content, two of the industry’s most influential leaders Kim Vecera and Peter Rose talk about what they refer to as Australia’s “New Television”, about what makes “showcase material” and the ways in which the HBO model can or can’t be replicated here.

TV is definitely cool again.

Time: 5-6pm
Date: Friday, June 18
Event: Friday On My Mind
Venue: AFTRS Theatre, Fox Entertainment Quarter

A free and inspiring AFTRS event bringing you face to face with the industry’s brightest thinkers.

Free entry. All welcome.