Peplow to head screen content at AFTRS
British producer Neil Peplow (River Queen, Waking Ned Devine) has been appointed as the new director of screen content at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School.
“[Peplow] brings with him a fresh eye, an international vision and a unique perspective on training for the creative sector. He will make a significant contribution to the School and the industry and AFTRS is thrilled that he has agreed to accept this role,” said AFTRS CEO Sandra Levy.
In addition to his production credits, Pelow recently worked as director of film at Skillset, where he collaborated with the UK Film Council to develop and implement A Bigger Future 2 – the UK film industry’s skills strategy for 2010 – 2013.
Peplow will be responsible for developing training for the directing, screenwriting, documentary, screen business and screen studies courses. He will start on May 2.
Interesting. Tugging the forelock to Britain is still alive and well.
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Any further information on why John Maynard left?
A number of us ex-students and staff are watching the school with growing concern.
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Maynard was reported as saying ““AFTRS is unable to take producing seriously – and this is a crucial problem for both the national film school and the industry it is supposed to serve.”
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AFTRS…why bother? you can learn everything you wnat to know about filmmaking off Vimeo..you can surf the net and find an abundance of screenwriting tutors…all of this much cheaper than any full time course offered at AFTRS. Filmmaking is about trial and error, not networking in some absurd elitist bubble. John Maynard exited because he saw the writing on the wall.
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Dolly the Sheep, Concerned, Anonymous
Why don’t you attach your names to your comments? I could take a guess but I’d rather hear it from you all. Please tell us?
If there is to be robust debate about any topic of concern to the industry it must, it seems to me, be had by filmmakers who are prepared to cop some flack if what they believe ruffles some feathers or if what they believe runs counter to what most others believe.
Anonymous commentary is cowardly.
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Firstly…anonymous commentary is cowardly? Since when is attaching a name to a blog post added any gravitas to any kind of argument on any blog? The robust debate comes from the opinion expressed not the name…whats in a name? Didn’t stop Deep Throat giving Richard Nixon a kick in the pants..was he a coward? Hardly..okay..look I’ll write under my real name from now on okay…..Clyde the Cow…there..are you happy? I bet you are…MOOOO to you James Ricketson…MOOO to you..I stand by my opinion on AFTRS..even if it is on four legs. If you’re an aspiring filmmaker…get your hands on some HDSLR and go and make your film…keep making them and try and write a page a day…slowly…after a few failures and some minor successes, you’ll make something good…build on that…fail on your own terms, you don’t need a film school to guide you..do it yourself and build on the talent of those around you.
Cowards?…what tosh..robust debate…as if anybody takes any notice anyway?
Besides, all we’re doing is making films…I think we all know there’s far more important stuff going on in the world..and personally the older I get and the more chaos in the world I witness, sincerely pushes me towards the arena pulsating in bright neon that shines with a decaying sign that reads “I couldn’t give a stuff about our cottage industry”…other than that I hope those that are truly passionate, talented and have something original and entertaining to offer, succeed, and that all the sycophantic self promoting hacks, who couldn’t give a F$@K about craft slide off the nearest cliff like deranged Lemmings wired on the crack of their own self important smugness.
Hope that tickled your funny bone “Jimmy Ricketts.. the coward hunter”
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Cowards Cowards…they all shall rot in the robust swampy debate of infinite change!!! As they flap their flack ruffled feathers…OUT dam cowards OUT!!! (insert horrified scream)
Check this bitching out Jimmy Ricketts:
http://www.encoremagazine.com......donym-7139
identity hint #1…I have a bachelors degree in toilet humour.. (insert farting noise)
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Please note that Encore allows its readers to post anonymous/pseudonymous comments because we understand the nature of the screen industry and, most importantly, the nature of the internet. While we applaud those who use their real names to raise their voice and discuss important industry issues, we certainly do not believe that those who choose not to reveal their identity are ‘cowards’. We welcome their contributions, which are no less worthy than any others.
We provide these boards as a space for open discussion, not for name-calling. Any further messages of such nature will be deleted.
Thank you.
Are we that worried that someone at Screen Australia might see our ramblings on Encore and decide not to invest in our project? If that’s true then there’s something seriously flawed about the Australian entertainment industry. You shouldn’t feel like you have to use a pseudonym on an application form (you’re not Jane Austen and this isn’t the publishing industry) or on a blog that provides the opportunity to comment on things that directly impact you. Using a fake name instantly makes me want to tune out, who wants to read a comment by Dolly the Sheep?
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Who wants to read a comment by Dolly the sheep? Not me…and I have to write the friggin things. Its tough this blogging bullshit in the shadows I can tell you that much..its just blog blog blog blog blog blog blog blog blog..tied to the keyboard with no respect..especially from myself or for myself (are they the same thing?)…blog blog blog blog blog blog.. you know, even a pig needs to take his snout out of the trough from time to time..blog blog blog blog…blog blog blog
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I don’t expect a thing from Screen Australia or any other funding body, I stopped applying..I simply stopped believing that I might win that lottery…weirdly enough.. I still believe that fairies live at the bottom of the garden…go figure?
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Dolly, Clyde etc. Here, for what they are worth, are a few more thoughts on the ‘anonymous comment’ question.
I do understand the reasons why people make anonymous comments – just as I understand why, in Egypt until recently, critics of the regime kept their opinions to themselves; why critics in any dictatorship speak in hushed voices behind closed doors. However, change in Egypt (and Tunisia) only came when enough people were prepared, literally, to lay their lives on the line for what they believed. It is only because of the sheer numbers of Egyptians and Tunisians prepared to say that the Emperor(s) had no Clothes, that change occurred.
I think the time has come within our own industry when all those who are sick of the lack of transparency and accountability within our funding bodies stand up and be counted. 100 anonymous comments, 1000,10,000 anonymous comments from people who refer to themselves as Molly the Sheet, Clyde the Cow etc. are not going to change anything. However, if there were a critical mass of filmmakers prepared to say publically what they say privately (in hushed tones behind closed doors) there is some hope that our collectives voices may be listened to. At present we are a quiescent industry – most of us fearful that if we speak our minds we will be biting one of the few hands that might feed us.
Incidentally, I use the terms ‘filmmakers’ to refer to producers, directors, screenwriters, script editors and all technicians and crew involved in the process of developing an idea from its inception through to it’s screening in a cinema or on whatever other means might be employed for distribution.
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James you simply bank upon the fact and premise that we and I simply write under the one name under the one blog and aren’t addressing these issues in the public or private domain..actions really do speak louder than words…watch this space.
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Dolly, I make no no presumptions and I will watch this space with interest!
If enough of us address the issues in both the public and private domain (as I am also) perhaps change is possible. It’s a long shot but not impossibe!
Single voices are great but the combined voices of many are usually more effective.
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Single voices are but a bleep, so I get where you are coming from, but there are many ways to recommend change and slowly force transparency and accountability, one of them is to utilize the very thing we are typing away on here…as we all no social media can play a very important role in this. But still we must acknowledge that there are those that see nothing wrong with an industry that has allowed them to keeping dipping into the public trough and at the same time eroded the tastes of the general public. The media do what they have always done, which is divide and conquer, stir the pot, dilute the waters..and artists by their very nature are an individual lot, so its very hard to harness the focus to enforce the kind of change needed to push our industry towards the same direction we all want:
Diversity
Quality
Entertaining and informative content that rewards and potentially educates
Accountability
Transparency
The fact of the matter is the rot has set in and the constant mantra we hear from funding agencies that what they are offering is generous, rewarding, fair, cutting edge, brilliant, ambitious etc etc..because it isn’t… this needs to stop. The problems are obvious, major distributors in this country say the same thing. the quality narratives aren’t being written, scripts are going into production half baked… so if the rot is at the seed level, how can anything grow…until we continue year in and year out to try and discover potential writing talent, cut the red tape involved in trying to apply for funding to access this funding
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Not sure what happened there, my post just uploaded so..cut the red tape involved in trying to apply for funding associated with script development we will continue to fail and on a generational level this will get worse. Now you hear Screen Australia and every other funding agency saying how bewildered they are about the level of professional technical ability of the next generation of filmmakers…and yeah I agree…camera tech and colour grading, CGI, editing and animation etc etc is staggering in terms of what can be achieved from a home computer…but all this tech brilliance aside we are still failing to notice that stories are told in a dramatic context and this writing process is often solitary and very hard work that few really want to tackle with the kind of artistic maturity required. Writing is like driving along in the dark…you don’t need to see the whole journey ahead.. just a enough to get there…and to get there you need support…so where are these ambitious screenwriting programs that allow writers to see in the dark?
Oh that’s right, they’re wrapped up in red tape and approachable only to those that tick the boxes.
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Dolly (the bleep or sheep!?)
I agree with all you write and would expand upon it, throw in some other thoughts, but I wonder if more than half a dozen fellow filmmakers are even reading this.
Yes, its great to be able to have this online debate but if only a handful of people are taking part in it, its hard to see how it is going to change anything.
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Man look at the comments on this!! Spare time???Maynard left because he couldn’t create his own curriculum and he has no tolerance for guidelines and policies. AFTRS lost massive talent acquisition by letting him loose. He is the eye for new talent of all forms not just film.
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