Mark, I admire your persistence, clearly sour grapes are a potent source of renewable energy. However, with respect, if anyone can now make a film and find an audience, what on earth’s all the moaning about? Off you pop and make a film and find yourself an audience. No need for funding at all, it seems.

Great pragmatic suggestions. I always respect someone willing to stand up to the cronyism and substandard results of Tasmanian funding institutions.  And Gremlin, why don’t you put your real name, if you have anything useful to say? The results of the independent review were disgraceful, and anyone who received funding and didn’t complete projects SHOULD not receive further support.

But gremlin IS my real name, “Robert”. Don’t be so presumptuous.

What the whiners fail to understand is that cronyism and substandard results are inherent in ALL arts funding. It is also by nature elitist, inefficient, humiliating and cumbersome for the artists involved and of course totally unfair. If you seriously cannot grasp these self-evident truths, then, real name or not, nothing you say will come anywhere near approaching useful and go and get a real bloody job.

That said, the situation in Tasmania is actually not too bad, considering the small talent pool and the relatively short span in which Screen Tasmania has been active. Good on them for conducting the review and I hope they take the recommendations on board.

The eponymous Mark Shea is a serial complainer because and only because he hasn’t been given a piece of the free pie which, like all artists, he fervently believes he is entitled to, hence he wants to pull the whole thing down and rebuild it in a form that suits him. Fair enough, but let’s all at least acknowledge where the righteous rage is coming from.

If you read between the lines, in fact if you actually met the guy, you would know that Mark, like myself is in favour of an organization that oversees projects in both the film and video industries.

Mark and a handful of others are directly responsible for the issue coming to the attention of politicians who in turn demanded an inquiry.

Unlike others, myself included, who just sat back and said “yeah something should be done”, Mark persisted with the issue, revealed the truth and has brought about change.

Mark Shea is not a serial complainer, he is a self funded innovator who makes money from informative travel videos he posts on Youtube.

An inspiration to us all.

Hi gremlin

Have you googled Mark Shea ?

He has been making content for many years the hit counter is over 2,828,061 views.

Will others is Tas be guided down this path ?

It is true that a new medium has finally landed in Tasmania, albeit a clothes line strung between power poles. High speed broadband can put video content before a wide audience, that much is true, however, what sort of business model asks the producer to carry the vast expense of making a film and then try to get paid via net ads? The Australian model of course. Whatever state you live in, the funding policy is the same. First get a pre-sale from one of the networks or distribution from a cinema chain, then apply for funding to fill the gap. This does not take into account the newly trained film makers, trying desperately to join the system. In WA from where I trained, broadcast credits of at least half an hour on TV are a prerequisite for funding. Having a producer on board, willing to buy your script, is required for development. The problem there is that TV networks consult funding body listings before buying content and cashed up producers do likewise… Catch 22, I guess.
What is really needed is introduction funding for smaller projects (as with FTI) or partial funding up front, to at least help out with some of the costs. I know many film makers, myself included, who have gone without personal income for the duration of a project and have desired help with the lay out costs. It seems larger projects, by well established companies, take precedence over smaller projects. Being a recent blow in to Tasmania, I may be talking out of hand but surely, it would be better to partially fund many projects and allow more content to get made than to keep looking for the next Underbelly or Home and Away… And yes, internet content is good but help is needed there too.

I always read theses and never comment.
Some may know who I am and others not.

First off Screen Tasmania is Department of Economics not Arts, so their overall policies are financially driven rather than artistic, like Wide Angle Tasmania.

I agree with some of Mark Shea comments and others not so much. The rift between Commercial and Indie film makers in this State needs to be fixed; both industries can benefit and support each other.

There is a lot of work that goes unnoticed in Tasmania and honestly I am more concerned with the Broadband Network, which will allow my company to work with national and international clients on a competitive level…

Adrian