STEPHEN CLEARY
Some recent Films
I was fortunate enough to get to design and develop a slate of films in Adelaide with the FilmLab initiative.
FilmLab was a $4.2million development initiative of the South Australian Film Corporation funded by the South Australian Government. It was one of a suite of initiatives introduced by CEO Richard Harris, in 2007.
“We are just blown away,” said SAFC CEO Richard Harris. “FilmLab is such a unique program but it has been something of a leap of faith for all of us, so it is incredibly gratifying to have the first film greenlit from the program, get this recognition. It’s amazing what can happen when you decide to genuinely back talent.”
Stephen Cleary is key consultant for the FilmLab initiative and has collaborated closely with the SAFC team to create a unique filmmaking development experience. “The success of the films shows that FilmLab really works, and because of it South Australian films, and filmmakers, are on the rise. FilmLab is the realisation of a shared vision between the SAFC, myself and my team. We are delighted that work produced through FilmLab is winning international acclaim”, said Stephen.
FilmLab Projects
I have worked on many TV projects and feature film projects - for more details please contact me via the contact page.
SWEET COUNTRY, directed by Warwick Thornton and written by Steven McGregor and David Tranter, won the Jury prize at the Venice International Film Festival.
David Tranter, the director of 'Willaberta Jack' (2007), and screenwriter and sound recordist for 'Sweet Country' (2017), has said: "-'Sweet Country' comes from my family. It was story from up in the Territory, north of Alice Springs and Philomac was my grandfather. I made a documentary about him and his older brother called 'Willaberta Jack'. Then I was in the Tiwi Islands with Steve McGregor and Murray Lui working on a film as the sound recordist. After the shoot we went back to the house and had a cup of tea and Murray said that Willaberta Jack story, that would make a great movie. And I said yeah - but I'm not a writer. But I wanted to try so I went and bought myself a couple of sketch books, and I started drawing the story in pictures and it took me about two weeks. Then I sat down with Stephen Cleary who helped me type it up into a treatment. I took it to the Ignite Screenwriting workshop and they helped me get 128 pages written in four days. I was real proud of myself. In the end we did three drafts and I sent each draft to David Jowsey and Steven Mcgregor, and Stephen was the one who got the script to the point of making it. Me personally, I'm just happy to share the story with Australia, with the rest of the world. I'm just pinching myself too, you know, there's been great reviews. But I just really hope that Australia will embrace it, and have a look at their past because it's not just our story, it's everybody's story."
I would gladly do this again and again. So proud to have been involved in this film.