Tag Archives: COVID

Dawson’s Burrowing Bees. These little fellows were found in the middle of an outback road in Western Australia.

Well, here we are over half way through 2021 and still no film. We are getting nearer though and the funding is starting to improve, but nothing is going to happen until next year. And having said that in the heading – telling COVID to go away – sadly, I think it is here to stay and as much as I hate to admit it, we might/do have to learn to live with it.

A few weeks ago, I met with the two (so far) production companies involved and have been told that this is going to be a big-budget film with all stages (pre-production, actual filming, post-production and distribution) expected to take months/years. I will admit that this certainly sounded more possible than the original timeframe that was described to me – just a couple of weeks for the actual filming and not a lot more for the other stages. The funding has never been in question – although the way we were going to try to raise it has been but I made an ‘executive decision’ about that some weeks ago and think the new approach will help to move everything forward. Even if it does not happen until next year but I am constantly working on it. 

‘Big Bell’. One of many ghost towns in the mining areas of Western Australia and scattered across the nation.

Some info about the ghost town of Big Bell. Might be too small to read though. If you are interested, you can google it.

Two of the parts have been cast which, to me, is a huge step forward to start with. If you are receiving this blog it does mean that you are still on our list to be considered for a part in the film (although there are a number of people whom have subscribed to this blog and are not involved in the film itself at all – thank you for subscribing), so please don’t worry that we have already cast these parts and that you weren’t contacted about them. Both these people are playing me, at different ages and while we are actually introducing a new talent, this person has some experience and does her own filming as well as having won awards for her acting. But NLB will be her first feature film. The second person is an actress who was very well known on Australian TV in the 60s and 70s and has appeared on and in different things through the years since.  This latter lady is one of Australia’s big names. We are working on several others as well. And if you are on our list, you should eventually be called for an audition.

And a couple of our famous native budgies, peeking out of their doorway to say hello…

As most know, given that our international borders are still firmly closed and that the internal borders can be snapped close almost without warning, while I come from South Australia, we realised that the only way we could make this film was/is to shoot 99.999999% here in Western Australia. Both the opening and closing scenes have to be shot in SA.

Ancient Indigenous carvings cover this rock, although not easily seen and there are spectacular wildflowers surrounding it.

Some caterpillars – not sure what this is all about, but they are on a tree in outback Western Australia.

I will admit none of this has been easy – there have been some amazing challenges, including of course, COVID itself – but I have really never given up. Not really. I have been VERY close to it but I have always had the wonderful support of both production companies as well as a few others whom will be involved in the film – you all know who you are – thank you so much. The ‘thing’ is – I am really passionate about this film and I think all the above-mentioned people are too. I am told the idea is ‘different’ and ‘unique’ and really, now and in the coming couple of years, is the perfect time to get such a film made. Completely and absolutely Australian. 

Site of the outback annual Landor Races. A similar race event will be covered in the film.

We are slowly but surely putting locations into place. The three stations that are involved are being kept up to date on progress as well as other places that will be in lieu of the places that featured so much at various times throughout my life, to date.

We still plan to have some Indigenous actors involved as well as an actual Indigenous community if we can. And the good old local races which were held in three of the ‘nearby’ (the nearest one being 22 ks away, the furthest being half way up to Broken Hill) towns, annually – one of these needs to be included as they have always formed such a big part of the social life of those in remote Australia, particularly, as well as rural Australia.

So much to do and all still so good. I just refuse to give up. I won’t give up – not bad for a 65 year young granny!

The spectacular ‘Wreath Flower’ – one of our many beautiful wildflowers.

I don’t know why, but for some strange reason, I thought 2021 would be a heck of a lot better than 2020. I thought COVID would magically vanish on New Year’s Eve and everything would be honky dory for the new year. Not so. I do think it is better but this disease has really kicked the world right out of balance and it’s going to take a L O N G  time to recover – if ever. 

As with most industries, entertainment has taken a beating. Lockdowns, closing of borders, both state and international (which I am completely in favour of actually – and NOT inviting debate on this) have all hit hard. I know a lot of production companies which were shooting films when lockdown started last year – and then just had to stop. Full stop. And only now they are gradually trying to get moving again but it is taking a long time. 

And we haven’t given up – we are still fighting through COVID like everyone else in the world is. There have been a couple of times when I have been very close to giving up. I have to thank those extras with whom I have had regular contact – some of them have repeatedly contacted me to see how things are going and I THINK I have always been positive with them. Thank you to the above people and others for this. 

Also a huge thanks to the two production companies which are collaborating with me on NLB. While I think both were wondering when and how NLB would ever be made (but, no, they were not giving up – they have NEVER given up) I felt that was more because we were trying to raise the funds and had some very good ideas about how to do this – but the timing was completely wrong. And again, I think COVID can be blamed fairly and squarely for this. I made a couple of executive decisions earlier this year and when I tabled them at my last meeting with the two production companies, the latter seemed a lot more positive about NLB than they have recently. They have just finished shooting another film, mainly in outback WA I think and are in the editing and post-production stages for that. After that, I believe they will be turning to NLB. Meanwhile, I am working on a list of potential sponsors and it is growing quickly. All of which is very positive. 

As always, I am including some photos with this post – but something different this time as they are not of the outback. They were taken on a very cold, overcast and eerie Thursday morning a few weeks ago, when my friend and I tried to have our usual paddling outing. Overcast conditions and rain, sometimes heavy, were forecast and that’s exactly what happened. And it seemed that the river had flooded in places. On the whole, the water was like glass – superb to paddle on. And usually I would have, but I did not feel like being out in the middle of the river when the heavens opened up and down came the rain – and that’s exactly what happened to my friend. So I didn’t go out – I wanted to take photos of these unusual/eerie conditions and try to capture the feeling of that morning, but my friend did go out – but luckily for her, when the heavens did open up, she found a small cave in the river bank and sheltered in there. There are now two platforms for paddlers to launch on and off but the main one of these had been raised to try to keep it out of the water and the second one was partly submerged and the water was gradually getting higher and higher. The picture to the right is of a paddler launching himself from the larger platform with his kayak sitting on the smaller platform, which was becoming submerged. 

Anyway, back to NLB. Things are starting to move a bit more positively now and at this stage, it looks like it will be made in mid-2022. It will still all be shot in WA, much of it in the outback. And we are still hoping to employ rising Caucasian and Indigenous actors from WA, as well as some bigger names from the east for the main roles. We have got some pretty ‘unique’ scenes planned too. Hopefully, a lot of fun and laughter as well as some major drama.

What a strange year it has been and continues to be. But I am sitting here on my laptop, which means I am alive and well and – presumably safe – for which I am truly grateful, given how many people world wide have lost their lives to COVID-19. Absolutely awful.

It was Halloween recently, not that I particularly encourage that. It’s not an Australian tradition. Only my opinion. But it also means Christmas is just around the corner. And there seems to be a baby boom in our family, with one due on Christmas Day itself. 

And, HOPEFULLY, ‘No Looking Back’ is starting to look good for next year. The WA border has been softened ‘conditionally’ – and that lasted two whole days when SA suddenly had an outbreak. Now SA has been banned from WA, except for people with exemptions which are very rare. With huge concern about SA’s outbreak and people from there having already travelled far and wide throughout the nation, it is looking increasingly likely that our premier could close the border tightly again, to the whole nation. And it seems this could happen very quickly – with a moment’s notice.

As I said, things can and do happen at a second’s notice and this is the case currently. NSW is now battling a cluster outbreak, which appears to be growing – so premiers of the other states are watching intently and borders are changing as the outbreak grows. And Christmas is less than a week away – wow – what a year! The other issue that I can see is complacency – so many people across the nation (and world I think) have become quite complacent and this is a worry – that virus is still out there. 

When I first heard that the border was going to be opened, I thought that we would be able to bring in actors from South Australia, my home state, after all. But I think if I tried to do that, I would be jumping the gun a tad. Disappointing still but the risk of this virus is just too high.  

And, sadly, with COVID behaving the way it is nothing can be guaranteed, so we also had to rethink the production companies that are working on NLB. This did mean that the one in SA has been taken off our list and we are now sticking with two WA companies: Rodman Pictures (Owner/Producer: Rod Manikam) and Media Productions – Australia (Owner/Director: Steve Fitzgibbon). However, I do plan to work with the SA production company as well as many of the SA actors on our list and the few from the eastern states, in the future. And the project in mind is already being planned. I am, therefore, including all the SA actors (and some from other states) whom have indicated that they are still interested, given the chance, in the recipient list for this. This list includes a few Indigenous actors too. But I really have no idea what is going to happen – who does???? – I just live in hope and still do want to give all aspiring and rising actors in SA and WA a chance, as well as a lot of other people in the industry. 

I have been receiving emails from quite a few actors from other states recently – while I will respond to them individually I am hoping that by receiving and reading this you will get some idea of what I am still trying to do – all the time remembering that COVID seems to be ruling the world at the moment and everything could change so quickly. Thank you so much to those people whom are still showing interest. That is really appreciated.

Most of NLB will be shot in WA – we have three stations involved with two others as backups. We have a good list of extras and I am now working on ‘bigger’ names for the more major roles. 

Ok, it’s now Tuesday 17th and it seems ‘things’ have changed again. Obviously I didn’t finish this in one sitting, which is something that is becoming increasingly common these days. I am hoping that NLB will start shooting pretty early next year, but nothing – absolutely nothing – is guaranteed.

My goodness, life is confusing at the moment. I keep thinking I will finish this and get it out – then I get interrupted and leave it for a couple of days and in that time, several things have changed. And things continue to change. It’s now December (what in the heck happened to the rest of November – actually, what happened to the rest of the year????) and Christmas is just there. And more and more things keep happening and changing.

See? Told you. I left this yesterday and already things have changed. Not sure for the better or not. But we have now set out date for our first pre-production for our meeting in January, which is a big step forward at the moment. Just so exciting and much to do. 

However, I am going to leave this here and get it out. I do plan to get the next blog post out after our meeting in January.

In the meantime, I will take this opportunity to wish everyone a very merry, albeit a tad different, Christmas and may the coming year be a heck of a lot better than the current one. 

And please stay well and safe – and if you are not well, I hope you recover quickly.