Ep. 1: “Great idea...don’t do it!”

Two Aussie producers start a journey to solve the big issues facing the screen industry, but will this challenge be too much for them? Adam Drummond rang his mate Pirie Martin to quit. By the end of the call he was more in than ever. In the first episode of Chasing the Screen, a producer from Wagga and a filmmaker from Adelaide set out the problems facing the Australian screen industry: inflated budgets, the loss of mid-budget films, government money that funds projects but never finds them an audience, and an Australian share of the box office of only 2%. With Kirsty Stark, Kate Separovich and Nick Hayes's report ‘Made, Not Seen’, they dig into the numbers, land on the idea of a slate of horror films, and decide to build a new model in public, while you listen. Subscribe for free: https://chasingthescreenpod.substack.com/subscribe Listen and follow everywhere: https://linktr.ee/chasingthescreenpodcast Instagram TikTok Facebook LinkedIn Our guest's links: Kirsty Stark's podcast 'We Interrupt This Broadcast' Kate Separovich's Australia in the Cinemas Nick Hayes' 'Made, not seen' report Chapters: 00:00 Cold open 00:26 The call that started it all 01:12 Video diary from Screen Forever 01:31 Welcome to Chasing the Screen 01:56 Acknowledgement of Country 02:17 Something's broken 03:12 Who are these two blokes? 03:32 Meet Adam 04:55 Meet Pirie, and Psychosis 06:05 Meeting on the set of Ballad of a Sundowner 07:27 A small online group 07:54 The first meeting: "It just all seems very bleak" 08:28 Scott McDonell's challenge 08:57 The usual problems 09:34 Kirsty Stark and the million-dollar myth 10:53 The vanishing middle 11:29 Funding that never finds an audience 11:53 Nick Hayes: Made, Not Seen 12:31 Kate Separovich crunches the numbers 13:21 2% of a billion dollars 14:21 Two films and the outlier effect 15:01 A24 and Blumhouse 15:38 Alister Grierson and the slate 17:14 Art versus finance 18:00 Where we landed 19:31 Taking it to Screen Forever 20:19 Bonus episodes 20:42 This could be you: sponsor spot 21:40 The phone call to quit 22:02 Melinda: "You've got a lot of things on your plate" 22:33 Doubt sets in 22:58 The feedback: "Why you?" 23:18 Pirie on going full-time in the arts 24:33 Burnout, ADHD and new tablets 25:12 The catch: "This is too big" 25:41 Pirie talks Adam back in 26:26 Building in public, and StartUp 27:27 Alex Blumberg replied 27:40 Where to next 28:33 Coming up this season 28:54 Next time 29:17 Get involved 29:44 Credits Other links: Ballad of a Sundowner film: https://www.filmink.com.au/the-sun-comes-up-on-the-sundowner/ Psychosis film: https://piriemartin.com/en-aud/pages/film Independent Cinemas Australia: https://independentcinemas.com.au/ Hosted by Adam Drummond and Pirie Martin. Edited by Pirie Martin. Produced by WAGGAWAGGA.TV Pty Ltd. Also heard: Monika Lapka, Melinda, Kirsty Stark, Kate Separovich, Alister Grierson, Matthew Holmes and Scott McDonell, plus grabs from guests coming up this season. Thanks to Mary O'Neill for our Acknowledgement of Country. Read Mary's first book, Bipo and Roo: https://www.melissamaryoneill.com/ Music: licensed from Envato and the Free Music Archive. "Buffering" by Quiet Music for Tiny Robots, 2015, CC BY 4.0 "Dark Cinematic Ambient" by Splashkabona, CC BY 4.0 "Find a Peaceful Place" by ROZKOL, CC BY 4.0 "25 Keys Dream" by Tommaso Croce and Jangwa, CC BY 4.0 "Away" by Meydän, CC BY 4.0 "Flying Economy" by Tommaso Croce and Jangwa, CC BY 4.0 Chasing the Screen is recorded on the traditional lands of the Wiradjuri people in Wagga Wagga and the Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains. Views are the speakers' own. General information only, not legal or financial advice. Support the show