Professional Profile - June 2010 - Local Focus

"The Filmmakers Factory" is a new Sydney based collective committed to making a self sustainable Australian film industry.

The strategy for doing this is via their website www.thefilmmakersfactory.com

Beginning humbly as a Facebook group in early April 2010, within a few weeks 2000 members had joined. Later, when the official dot com website was launched, over 1500 people visited it within the first week.

Part of the plan is The Factory - a live filmmaking venue - where professional filmmakers can network with cast, crew, clients, ad agencies, investors, financiers, executive producers and distributors.

Says founding member Marc Windon:

"The need for the live filmmaking venue came from the current depressing state of the industry. The idea for it was inspired by a group of 6 young filmmakers and the way filmmaking once was in Australia".

Windon, a 3rd generation Australian cinematographer, and one of those 6 filmmakers. recently photographed a film for the creator of the Ozploitation genre; Brian Trenchard-Smith. Brian directed 14 feature films throughout the 70’s and 80’s in Australia. In those days, the Australian film industry was self sustainable under the 10BA tax scheme and the constant production of television commercials.

Marc's father, Ron Windon ACS, was one of the highest profile director/dp’s from this era. After the beginnings of his career at Cinesound, Movietone and Eric Porters’, he shot over 2500 television commercials and employed almost everyone that ever existed in the industry for close to 35 years.

Times change, Marc says his Dad used to wear a suit to set and shot with an Arri 2C for most of his career. nowadays new generation DOP Denson Baker ACS will wear shorts and a t-shirt and use the RED camera as his tool. But, the transition from film to digital shouldn’t mean a transition from an overflow of work to none at all. The Filmmakers Factory wants to bring back the work that once was.

Windon: "Young directors like Ben Phelps and Marc Furmie are the future Peter Weirs, editors like Gabriel Dowrick are the future editors and Carl Robertson, Judd Overton and Jules O’Loughlin are the next generation of Aussie DP’s set to win Oscars."

Already they have industry support from Panavision Asia, Cutting Edge Post, Showreelfinder.com, PiiP Creative Industry Charities, Sydney Graphics, The Actors Pulse, Lucid Law and dare2audition.com.au

Through the power of the Internet Marc has found incredible support from people he has never met  – iconic character actors like Roger Ward included. His regular collaborators: Gordon Waddell, Simon Morris, Mal Booth, Nick DeLaine, Christian Luxton and Brett Tracey have been right behind this from day one. His younger brother Scotty and Internet maestro mate Jesse Press are the brains behind the website. Scotty also designed the logos.

Says Marc "The network that has been built by all of these people, companies and organisations is now worth 20 000 people. The will to push forward is incredible. I hope that we can soon be in the position my dad and Brian were once in… and I also hope the generation after mine will take it to another level."
 

1.Ron Windon ACS (top of car far right) in his Movietone days.2.Roger Ward and Jimmy Wang-Yu on the set of The Man From Hong Kong (1975) directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith 3.Brian Trenchard-Smith on the set of his last 10BA film in Australia, The Siege of Firebase Gloria (1989) 4.Gaffer Nick Delaine 5.Denson Baker ACS 6.Marc Windon and Gordon Waddell