Australian Screenwriters Podcast

Andrew Anastasios co-wrote the hit film The Water Diviner and is currently working on the Jack Irish TV series as writer and Producer.

We begin talking about how one small line in a war diary prompted him to create this story. We're soon joined by his co-writer of the film Andrew Knight.

We learn heaps about the background of the Water Diviner before the discussion turns to all aspects of the industry and how writers benefit from getting away from their desks and learning to collaborate with all areas of a production.

This Ep is something very different. Instead of a sitdown interview, thanks to the AWG I was lucky enough to interview winners backstage at the 48th Annual Australian Writers Guild Awards (Awgies) last Friday night, 11th September 2015. There are 21 short clips which encompass most of the winners on the night.

1. Andrew Anastasios
2. Tommy Murphy
3. Brendan Cowell
4. Dave Wade
5. Tim Pye
6. Aden Rolfe
7. Josh Thomas (for Kate McCartney & Kate McLennan)
8. Bruce Griffiths
9. Sandy Cameron
10. Joel Slacksmith & Nazeem Hussain
11. Josh Thomas
12. Michael Lucas & Stuart Page
13. Louise Bowes
14. Nicole Ash (for Alan Seymour)
15. Charlotte Rose Hamlyn
16. David Witt
17. Nicki Bloom
18. Katherine Thomson
19. Jan Sardi & Mac Gudgeon
20. Shaun Grant
21. Andrew Anastasios

The Sullivans, Prisoner, The Man From Snowy River, All The Rivers Run, The Far Country, Seachange and Underbelly, to name but a few.

This episode of the podcast we take a look at screenwriting from a different perspective. That of the actress. I was privileged to talk to acting legend Sigrid Thornton. We talk about what she looks for in a script and find out some favourite memories from her career.

Senior Drama Producer at Screentime Peter Gawler has had a long and successful career writing and producing numerous shows, most notably the Underbelly franchise. Peter talks about his path into the industry via some less than safe stunt shooting and then as a trainee at Crawfords. He also discusses how the upcoming Wolf Creek series came about and his enjoyment of writing in the horror genre.

This episode is something a bit different than normal in that my guest is a living legend of Australian Screenwriting, Tom Hegarty.

Tom was a writer during the glory years of Crawfords during the 60's, 70's and 80's, working on such influential shows as Homicide, Division 4, Matlock Police, Eureka Stockade, A Town Like Alice. Tom also worked through the 90's on E Street, Stingers and Blue Heelers.

Tom talks about his journey into screenwriting (via theatre and BBC radio plays) and tells some great stories of working at Crawfords and especially with Hector Crawford himself.

Debra Oswald has written on many local shows, Police Rescue, Wildside and even Bananas in Pyjamas to name but a few. She has also written numerous plays, young adult novels and has another novel Useful, out now. But it's as creator and head-writer of the highly successful Offspring that she is best known.

We delve into all things writing; Debra talks about tips and tricks to get into writing each day and of course we discuss Offspring.

Kelly Lefever comes from a long line of screenwriters and got her start on Prisoner as a 17 year old. From there she has written for numerous productions including Neighbours, Blue Heelers, The Circuit and Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries to name but a few.

In this episode Kelly discusses many topics including her writing routine, dealing with the anxiety of delivering scripts, the benefits of the Writers Guild and her life-changing experience working on The Circuit.

How do you get a job working on the biggest soap in the UK? Tell the truth and admit you've never seen the show! It worked for Peter Mattessi, but he's also a talented, hard-working writer. While writing for Neighbours here in Australia, Peter still writes for Eastenders and Holby City back in England. Peter talks about writing those popular shows, the pitching and development process in England and he also shares some great insights into balancing such a demanding workload in both Australia and the UK.

Adam Zwar has appeared on our screens since the late 90's, but it was when his sitcom about a man in a dog suit (Wilfred) first aired in 2007 that his profile exploded. Since then, he has been a constant in the comedy scene in Australia with The Agony... series of shows, Lowdown and even a US adaptation of Wilfred.

We talk about how Adam writes, how Wilfred and Lowdown came to be and what his next projects are.

Kristen Dunphy started her career in the ABC script department, back when broadcasters did everything in-house. She quickly moved up the ranks and got her first script on GP. Over the years Kristen has written for numerous crime dramas including White Collar Blue, the acclaimed Wildside and East West 101 amongst many more.

In this podcast, Kristen relates stories of her days at the ABC, the encouraging words given to her by a mentor after she won an AWGIE and like all writers, she still gets insecure about her scripts once she's turned them in.