CSB has been working for months on an exciting project with film journalist Andrew Urban of Urbancinefile. We’re interviewing film and television practitioners about their business experiences.
Our aim is to develop a deeper understanding about the history of business decision-making in film and television and to share with our audience the wisdom from the accumulated mistakes, experiments and achievements of the contributors.
Rachel Ward - biography
Rachel Ward is a writer, director and actor. She gained international recognition for her role as Meggie in The Thorn Birds, and has starred in numerous international films and television series over the last 20 years including Against All Odds, Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid, After Dark, My Sweet and The Umbrella Woman. She has received several international drama awards and nominations including a Golden Globe nomination in 2001 for the mini series On the Beach. Rachel has now channelled her wealth of film-making knowledge and experience into writing and directing. Her two short films Blind Man’s Bluff and The Big House have been well received, winning awards and being selected for screening at Film Festivals in Australia and overseas. The Big House won Best Short Fiction Film at the Australian Film Institute Awards, Best Australian Film at Flickerfest and Best Director at the St Kilda Short Film Festival. In 2002 Rachel directed Martha’s New Coat a 50 minute feature for SBS, which won the Film Critics Circle award for Best Short Feature. Rachel also directed an episode of the Two Twisted series for Channel 9, produced by Bryan Brown and Karen Radzner. Rachel’s first feature film, Beautiful Kate, was released nationally in 2009.
Audio download
Chapter 1 - From acting to writing and directing - 15 minutes
- Haven’t worked with female directors in Hollywood
- Male and female narratives and sensibilities are different
- Being in Australia and exposed to women directors was inspiring
- First taste via children’s school as mentor to make a Tropfest film
- Daunted at first, but fell in love with the process in post
- Started to write my own
- A help to have Bryan Brown (husband) there
- Studied writing and found my voice that way
- I soon developed discipline
- Have to take risks and know the odds
- Am aware of marketplace and what the industry is looking for and budgets
- You must be aware of budgets and what you can achieve
- Relationship with producer – kick them for more money
Video downloads
Chapter 2 - From shorts to features - 17 minutes
- A push to do longer shorts – 25 and up to 50 minutes
- But shorts are a calling card and long shorts don’t give you access to many festivals
- Beautiful Kate – as feature directing debut, wanted a story already there (based on novel)
- Good to look for material that’s slipped through the cracks
- It’s a father/ son reconciliation story with a lot of guilt and blame
- A parallel narrative – I wanted back story and front story equally powerful
- Primarily a female audience – but crosses over
- I want to move people
- As an outsider I always recognised our unique export is the outback
- No interest in being a producer - no aptitude for it
- I expect a lot from a producer –they must be excited by the journey
- Do like working with Bryan – but we need someone in the middle as mediator
- Love telling stories and finding out motivations
Video downloads
