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What making Brain Shocks taught me about my own head.

In 2014 I was building a new business. I wanted to create a 24/7 online TV station with the goal of providing locals with continuous local content - sport, news, lifestyle shows, quiz shows, short films - it was ambitious but possible. On a cool night in September 2015 we officially launched the first regional online TV station, with guest VIPs, volunteer hosts, champagne and lots of support from local businesses. During this time, I stumbled across a podcast called StartUp b

It's hard to believe that with so much content being published in streaming and at the cinema, we are still finding it difficult to watch things we all like as a family. And it's not just because of our age differences and the era we are living in. My wife, Melinda and I, born in the late 70's (don't worry she won't be reading this to care I said that), and our kids all born from 2007 to 2013, do, believe it or not, have similar tastes in film and TV. We really enjoy watching

Watch this space. I keep saying it. So here is me actually showing you the space. If you have followed along, you know I have stopped trying to do this industry solo. Part of building a tribe is turning up to the rooms where your tribe already is. And right now, some of the best rooms are online, which means it does not matter if you are in Sydney, Perth, or out here in the Riverina like me. You just need to register and show up. Here is what I have signed up for, and why it

Recently I’ve been surrounding myself with other producers, directors, writers, performers - creators. Most of them operate as a “solo filmmaker”. One person, one laptop, one dream. I get it. I've been that person too. (I am that person too?) But here's what I've learned: the Australian film industry doesn't survive on solo operators. It survives on collaboration. And if we keep burning out our solo creators, we don't have an industry left. Carrying DOP Peter Szilveszter's ca

This was the question I was asked today at the Committee 4 Wagga School Leader’s Mentoring Session, (it’s one of my favourite things to participate in throughout the year.) I didn’t even hesitate. My biggest regret was wasting so much of my younger years getting drunk, feeling hung over, eating too much of the wrong things and generally not hitting my full potential until much later in life. Of course no one would have been able to have convinced me of this when I was younger

Well, I’m getting a taste of what it’s like to be an independent producer. After attending Screen Forever 40 this year, I have returned to put my head down and my butt up, and just bite the bullet and go for it. (How many cliches can you fit into one sentence?) So this week alone I have been working on a pitch for my first feature documentary seeking a co-producer or co-production house, my first reality TV show with some awesome collaborators, my first scripted TV show, two

It started in Moulamein. I was six years old, dressed as the Big Bad Wolf in a production called Mixed Nursery Rhymes, and something clicked. Not a small click, a full-body, tunnel-vision, this-is-what-I'm-here-for click. For the next two decades, everything I did was pointed at a single destination: acting. How could I turn away from the adrenaline of being in front of an audience who clapped and laughed on queue? What a feeling! I skylarked through my teens as a self-appoin