Victoria: victorious at filmmaking

There were no major controversies when Laine Lister spoke with Victorian industry figures; they all share a sense of community and pride in their state agency’s work.

Film Victoria’s chief executive Sandra Sdraulig doesn’t exactly have the best luck. In the past week she has taken a tumble during an early morning run and broken ribs. Fortunately, luck doesn’t come into play in her work or in the success of Victoria as a filmmaking state. Rather, it’s a mix of charm, elbow grease and passion, which Sdraulig and her team at the State Government agency have in spades.
In recent years, Film Victoria has hatched dozens of initiatives to ensure the local industry has a running start.  It has invested around $2 million annually to support Victorian businesses as part of its digital media prototyping program – it’s the equivalent of script development in film and television for the digital sector.

And then there is the script writing development initiative that gives writers not only financial support but also hands-on advice in the form of training workshops and through consultation with experienced practitioners.  “We try to equip the team of writer/director/producer by helping them to understand how to antagonise a text and to develop the tools to do this for themselves rather than bring in the experts from different fields that come, provide insight and then leave,” Sdraulig explained.

The agency is also funding a writer’s fellowship – worth $50,000 over two years – to six applicants, to save writers reapplying for funding in stages.