Sydney news

Short+Sweet and The Australian Film Commission have announced a mouth-watering creative collaboration.

The four-part initiative will create a bridge between the stage and screen for some of Australia’s most promising new writers and directors.

The first part of the joint programme is the introduction of a “Writing Short Film Scripts” seminar in the annual education programme offered to participants of Short+Sweet. The question and answer forum will be presented by the AFC under the guidance of film-maker and project manager Stephen Wallace (Turtle Beach, Blood Oath, Olive, Hunger, Stir, Mail Order Bride, Love Letters from Teralba Road).

The announcement also includes a $2000 cash development prize offered by the AFC and to be announced at the gala final of Short & Sweet Sat 23 February at the Seymour Everest Theatre.

Acting head of AFC Film Development Lori Flekser said “The AFC supports this initiative with Short + Sweet because we want film directors and producers to get together with good creative writers. Our aim is to encourage better short film scripts but of course we are also thinking, long term, of feature script writing.”

The third initiative is an invitation from Short+Sweet to five emerging film makers to each direct a theatre piece in the play festival.
 
According to Short+Sweet founder and Artistic Director Mark Cleary the initiatives will benefit both art forms.

“Many writers, directors and actors cross the film-theatre divide regularly but the art-forms generally stay on their own turf. This is a great way to mix it up and share the skills,” he said.

Finally, in a move that will benefit both directors and actors, the AFC’s database of film makers will be invited to attend the Short+Sweet auditions taking place over the weekends from 24 Nov to Dec. These regularly attract hundreds of highly talented artists, keen to participate in this most exciting and large-scale of dramatic festivals.

There will also be a seminar run by the AFC during Short and Sweet entitled “From Short Play to Short Film”.

Stephen Wallace said “I believe there are a lot of potential film writers involved in Short and Sweet but a short play is not a film script. I’m hopeful this initiative will encourage playwrights to branch out and film directors and producers to work with these talented newcomers to tackle the art form.”