The Knowledge - David Lightfoot
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.
David Lightfoot - biography
David Lightfoot commenced a traineeship at the South Australian Film Corporation in 1982. Subsequently, he worked in numerous roles in the film industry including location manager, production manager and 1st assistant director before becoming a producer. He has worked with renowned directors including Rolf deHeer and Paul Cox, and has supervised production on a number of notable TV shows and feature films including Bad Boy Bubby, Innocence and Japanese Story.
More recently, he produced Wolf Creek, which was bought by Miramax/ Dimension Films, screened in competition at Sundance and Cannes, and debuted in the top ten films in the US on its release on Christmas Day in 2005. He has most recently produced, with Greg McLean and Matt Hearn, the action/thriller feature film Rogue for The Weinstein Company. Lightfoot is also the founding director of Adelaide’s Garage Shorts Film Festival.
Audio download
Chapter 1 - Discovering film - 14 minutes
- Out of the Army, into the SAFC as Assistant Studio Manager
- Fell in love with film, became a location manager
- Working with Rolf de Heer on Dingo and Bad Boy Bubby - developing budget while shooting
- Caring for major star Miles Davis in the WA outback
- Doing everything on the shoot
Video downloads
Chapter 2 - The accidental producer - 4 minutes
- The accidental producer - thanks Rolf de Heer
- Learning on the job and line producing
Video downloads
Chapter 3 - Wolf Creek - 17 minutes
- Coming to produce Wolf Creek, meeting Greg McLean
- Working relationship with an auteur-type filmmaker
- Financing Wolf Creek and facing opposition
- A tough, breakout horror film
- Everyone quietly confident
- Accepted for Sundance, copies unofficially sent around
- Ignited interest - $1.4m budget, world sales $7.8 million
- Flood of meetings with studios, agents, lawyers
Video downloads
Chapter 4 - After Wolf Creek - 10 minutes
- Greg & I a united front
- Greg clear on what he wants … to be the Robert Rodriguez of Australia
- After Sundance, on to Los Angeles - 52 meetings in 8 days
- Had invitation from Directors Fortnight, Cannes – a wait & see reaction
- Deciding on Rogue as next film – with a budget of US$25m
- Time/season pressure to shoot it
- The complexity of financing through the private market
Video downloads
Chapter 5 - Rogue - 9 minutes
- Wolf Creek profits – investors made 3.5 times their investment
- Rogue deal - small share of gross
- No business structure, free to do films separately
- Dealing with the Weinsteins
- Why Rogue release was delayed from August to November 2007
Video downloads
Post a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.