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Typical main street in a town in outback Western Australia. Very peaceful and quiet.

Here we are in February, 2021, already. And here in Western Australia – Perth, we have recently finished a very sudden and hard five-day lockdown. It took everyone by surprise but we got through. We were plunged into the lockdown on a Sunday evening about three weeks ago, at 6 pm (we were told about it just before lunch that same day) and the next day, a massive bushfire started up in the hills north east of Perth. A lot of animals and properties were destroyed but, luckily, no humans. Very sad though. There were a couple of other bushfires in other rural areas around the state. And then we had a cyclone up north, which caused massive floods and a lot of destruction. The tail end did come as far south as Perth but it pretty well fizzled out by then and we just got a lot of very welcome drizzle.

And again, as with lockdowns the world over, everything just stopped. No gym, no tennis, no paddling. No going out at all, except for essentials and the usual things. Oh and one hour of exercise. But after five consecutive days of no new cases, the main lockdown was lifted on the following Friday night, with some restrictions remaining for a further week. For that week we had to wear a mask at all times and for anything – except swimming and showering and eating and drinking. My little mask has a funny little plastic thingy built into it which I am thinking has something to do with letting air through, so I won’t suffocate. I haven’t seen that on anyone else’s yet but I guess similar masks are out there. And we have our new app – SafeWA. We have to either use that to scan the code thingies at the entrances to all businesses – and if that doesn’t work (mine seems to go on strike occasionally) there is a sheet you have to sign instead. Either way, you have to register for contact tracing. Just in case.

Dawson’s Burrowing Bees. Found near Mt Augustus in outback Western Australia.

Sooooo – having all this happen recently did give me a chance to get a few things done for our film, ‘No Looking Back’. And I think things are gradually starting to move. It is very exciting and all going well, 2021 has the potential to be a really good year. 

Logo for ‘Media Productions – AUSTRALIA’. Owner: Steve Fitzgibbon

We had our first ‘groundwork’ meeting last month. These meetings will be monthly and the other two attendees are and will be Rod Manikam (of ‘Rodman Pictures’) and Steve Fitzgibbon (of ‘Media Productions – Australia’) – we get along very well, have lots of laughs (and snorts – ooooooh yes, they are both learning to snort – it’s just part of this film – nothing like finishing a good laugh with a snort) but are completely professional and serious when the need arises.

We are in the process of organising the second and final audition for the girl who will be playing me in my teens and perhaps early 20s. She’s doing a terrific job so far – she does need to learn to snort too. We have approached an actress from Qld who was a leading actor in the 1970s and has appeared in various things since, to play me as I am now and she will take the film out. I am working my way through the cast list at the moment, trying to find bigger names to play me and a few other more major parts as well as smaller parts. 

Logo for ‘Rodman Pictures’. Owner and Producer: Rod Manikam.

We are determined to try to give rising WA actors, many of whom are pretty well still unknown, a chance with this film. As well as our Indigenous people. We have chosen a few bigger Indigenous names too – these will be looked at further as we progress. And other Indigenous people to act as extras – and children, for School of the Air and secondary school extras and others, scattered through the film. And crew of course. The list is quite extensive.

We do have a few ‘aims’ with this film. Given the current COVID situation the world over and the fact that so many nationalities cannot fly out of their own countries at the moment, including us in Australia – well, this leaves one area for any holidays, any travel at all, for the foreseeable future. Australia! While the domestic borders are open, at the moment anywhere in Australia is reachable, as far as I know. But we really have just so much to see in our own back yard. I am not referring to the well known tourist spots around the nation. I am referring to our amazing outback and all that it has to offer. However, as we have already experienced, the borders can be slammed shut at any time, without notice – so going interstate is probably not the best idea at the moment.

Giving an idea of how big distances are in the outback of Australia. How far people travel to do anything…

So, as has been mentioned in previous blogs, ‘No Looking Back’ is planned to be filmed almost completely in outback WA. The opening and closing scenes will be shot in SA but the rest of it, including one special scene, will be in WA. We have tentatively chosen three stations to use in the film here and I am in discussions with these three at the moment. I wanted to use working stations that have also become stations stays, giving people a chance to see how pastoral stations and the people on them, work and survive. There are some that are well known in WA, have quite high profiles – we did not really want to use them. Instead we want to use some that are not so well known, but should be. 

We really want to showcase our magnificent and spectacular outback. Again, not just the known and popular tourist spots, but so many other areas and places that are not so well known. Another area we feel very strongly about and are giving a lot of consideration to is for music – our soundtrack. We plan to work with either the WA Symphony Orchestra or the Perth Symphony Orchestra (which has already shown interest and – yes – they are two completely separate entities). There is also a third contender for this. We also plan to have one very special scene in which we hope to bring in a Canadian actor with whom I am in discussions about both writing and singing a special song for this scene. 

There really is so much involved and planned for this film, so I am hoping that everything will go reasonably smoothly as we progress. It continues to be a massive learning curve, with many challenges and I continue to thrive on it.

And a fun notice to finish off with.

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