SCI FI PI

Many of you may have seen the Aussie Sci Fi/Vampire movie, Daybreakers, written and directed by Michael and Peter Spierig. Whilst funded by Canadian studio Lionsgate, it was, in all aspects, a local production, stars Willem Dafoe and Ethan Hawke notwithstanding. The success of the film, both critically and commercially, once again begs the question - why isn't more Sci Fi made on Australian soil?

We have some of the best technicians, crew and facilities in the world. Our special effects, post-production and acting talent are legendary. Yet, for some reason, there seems to be a lack of will at the producer or the funding-body level. Young genre filmmakers are forced to go rogue, completely independent, outside the 'system' that we have in Australia, by either making micro-budget films like Gabriel, or going directly to Hollywood, like Saw. The idea that a Sci Fi or genre film would get the attention and funding reserved for a 'typical' Australian film seems insane. It seems preposterous.

But why?

Many people have many theories. One is that there's a cultural cringe. The birth of the Australian film industry in the early 1970's was one that was tied intrinsically to our national identity and culture. Australian films had to be Australian, and about Australia - because they could be, for the first time. Names like Weir, Miller and Noyce rocked the world with their new movies - Australian films became their own little genre, a powerhouse of iconoclastic originality.

After the initial heyday, the 80's brought in 10B, the tax scheme that allowed for anybody to invest in any movie and make their money back, no problemo. Unutterable rubbish was created. Creatively, Australia's film industry suffered, but at the same time, 10B did create more of an industry of people who actually made films, rather than just the first few graduates from AFTRS (Noyce et al among them). Films like Crocodile Dundee charmed the world, but they were few and far between in large steaming pile of dreck. Ironically, it was genre that suffered the most, with (all respect to Quentin Tarantino) films that gave Aussie Sci Fi/Horror a less than stellar name. Turkey Shoot may be a guilty pleasure now, but at the time, it was just guilty.



Daybreakers - a good Sci Fi/Horror movie. Made in Australia, starring Australians, by Australians.


From both these decades emerged the idea of the 'worthy' Australian film, typical of what we see funded today. This, coupled with a government system that saw funding for around thirty films a year drop in the nineties drop to around five or ten in the noughties, means that the opportunities for a filmmaker to have 'legitimate' money spent on their film have dropped to almost zero. Even then, the difficulties for even well-established, award-winning directors, writers and produces to get their work to the screen make their chances mathematically impossible. You have to know and be liked by everyone, and still it's the luck of the draw.

So if you DO want to get your film up, you play the game, and that means playing the only game in town - the one run by people who have a cultural agenda that has its roots in the 1970's. There's nothing wrong about that - the only problem is - people don't want to see those kind of movies any more.

Let's make it crystal clear. If America only made movies about Americans being American, their industry would die.

Oddly enough, movies like Transformers are just as 'patriotic' if you will, as something like The Hurt Locker, and this really is the thrust of the argument that may one day make a difference to the mechanics of Australian film funding. No matter what genre, what story, or where or when it is set, if the film has been created by Australians, then it will ALWAYS celebrate and promote Australian culture.

Look at Farscape, for example.

Shot at Fox studios and Homebush in Sydney, it brought millions of dollars of production value to an original and lively story. Even though it was initially the product of an American production company, by halfway through the first season, it had become completely Australian, with writers, actors and crew infusing it with a unique culture. Treated terribly on its original airing by Channel 9 locally, it has gone on to become a cult phenomenon, celebrating its ten year anniversary with a panel at last year's San Diego Comic-Con to a full house.

The Australian attitudes to working on a film set, the inventiveness and the uniqueness Australian mind mean that Sci Fi made in Australia is fascinating - no matter the budget level. If the dream that we could make genre films (like the upcoming Mad Max 4) on a regular, business as usual, level was realised, it would mean two things.

One, more Australian filmmakers would get more work, doing films that they all love.

Two, more Australians would see Australian films. Around 80% of the top grossing movies at the Australian box office history fall somewhere in the Sci Fi or 'genre' category. For an average 'bloke' or 'sheila', the groan of pain that comes from hearing an Australian accent coming from a film trailer is something that sounds remarkably similar to the groan of pain that comes from a trailer with subtitles. If they saw someone flying a kick-ass Animal Logic-created spaceship in a movie by any number of Academy award-winning or nominated writers and directors, and starring Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman - there would be a box office tsunami.

If Australia had been New Australia, set somewhere near Alpha Ceti 5 - damn!

So - the plan.

Fund Australian Sci Fi. That's it. Australian funding bodies, producers, film banks, announce to our filmmaking community that you're in the mood for 'pew pew pew'. The top men and women of Australian film (both here and abroad) will drag themselves and millions more American dollars to our shore to make films that ask the eternal question - 'what if?', but with an Australian accent.

When Australian filmmakers make Sci Fi, Australian (and worldwide) audiences will watch it. When Hollywood producers see Australians making fresh genre, they will flock with bags full of money, because in the dog-eat-dog world of American cinema, they know that Sci Fi is a sensible choice when it comes to getting a return on your investment.

If the film is good, and is well made, it becomes 'important'. You can't do it the other way round. No one ever made an Oscar-winning movie by trying to make an Oscar-winning movie. Thus, given its freedom to explore all genres, and particularly Sci Fi, Australian culture will again becomes a byword for freshness and originality.

Fingers crossed.


Here's a recent interview with Daybreakers directors, Michael and Peter Spierig, at Popcorn Taxi, where they discuss the good (and bad) working in (and out) of Australia.


CLICK HERE to see how many Australian Producers spoke with the Spierigs after Daybreakers released in the US and Australia