Warren Ryan made his rodeo drama Shadows of the Past outside the government funding system for $820,000. As the film opens across regional centres, he tells Simon de Bruyn how the filmmaking team overcame many setbacks to make a film that connects with audiences.
Why make a film specifically for regional audiences?
I strongly believe the regional Australia is largely ignored when it comes to entertainment they can relate to. Distributors cater solely for the city market and yet a huge slice of the box office comes from regional cinemas. When I got into film making it, I spoke to a lot of people from all over regional Australia about what they would like to see in an Aussie film. I took a lot of their feedback on board when I was writing this script.
We made sure the film was authentic, grounded and believable. The reaction so far has been phenomenal with many country folk admitting they enjoyed Shadows of the Past more than Australia. I don’t believe the two films can even be compared. Our film is a grounded simple drama made for under $1 million, where Australia was a grand fantasy piece. Regardless, it’s nice to hear it.
Where did the idea for the film spring from? And why did you set it in Queensland?
My family was originally from Moree, NSW and my father was a bull rider. I spent a lot of my youth at rodeos and got to learn about ‘cowboy culture’. Their threshold to pain always amazed me. They also kept their emotions well and truly hidden and didn’t say much. Not unless it was important. I liked that. It was always going to be a great backdrop for a love story.
When we were scouting for locations in 2004 we came to Warwick, QLD to discuss the rodeo scenes with the Australian Professional Rodeo Association. We had been to Warwick many times before to see the rodeo, but had never really got to spend much time in the town. We liked it so much; we sold up on the Gold Coast and moved our family out here. From that point on, we knew we would shoot the entire film on the Darling Downs.
Did you write the script as well as direct?
Yes. I wrote the script back in 2001. I originally had a director friend in mind when I wrote the script, but unfortunately he was determined to bring back the hillbilly country-hick stereotypes to the film, and I was just as determined to avoid it. So I decided to direct it myself, and avoid all the ‘crikeys’ and ‘cobbers’.
Had you done short films, other films, TVCs, or theatre before? Where did you draw your film directing knowledge from?
I hold a degree in Film and TV from Griffith University in Brisbane and had been doing TVCs for a decade or so before I started putting this together in 2001. I had won some awards for shorts over the years but was always frustrated by the lack of time to develop the story. From the first time I ever picked up a camera, I wanted to do long form projects.
What did you shoot on?
We shot on the Panasonic HPX3000 with Fujinon Cine lenses at full raster 1920×1080 HD. Pro-cam QLD looked after us with a great price on equipment hire. The images it produces are just beautiful. We cut the film on a Macbook Pro and mastered to Apple Pro Res HQ. The team at Cutting Edge did a great job on the final grade.
I understand the film was made for $820,000. How was the film financed – did you seek government money, 10BA/offset etc?
I applied for funding at every stage, but we didn’t seem to fit their criteria. So the production was fully funded via mortgage on my home and some private investment funds gained through the use of the promo we shot the year before. Screen Australia recently approved some funds under their Alternative Distribution Funding program to assist with some marketing expenses. We are really excited to get anything, so we thank them for recognizing the potential in the project.
How long did you shoot for? What sort of tricks did you use with locations or sets to stretch your budget?
We actually started shooting a year earlier in Sept 2007, but got caught up in the Equine Flu and were quarantined. We managed to salvage a promo trailer, but the horse flu essentially cost me a block of land that my wife and I had planned to retire on.
We regrouped and recast as many of the original actors were not available the following year. We had some amazing last minute finds though including Jordanna Allen who plays Dannii Kelly, and is an amazing horse rider and actress. David Barry was another late signing and he turned in a fantastic performance as the classic country larrikin.
We shot for seven weeks, six days per week, 10 hours per day (some days were more like 18hrs). The local Warwick people got behind us and offered up their farms and equipment to help wherever possible. We are deeply indebted to them.
Most of the crew was made up of guys I had developed relationships with making TVCs over the years. The DOP Dave Russell was phenomenal to work with. Coming from a TV background, Dave knew how to make things happen quickly and add a lot of production value to a scene without spending money. We had always worked well together on other projects and he was the first person I hired when we set a date to shoot Shadows.
You have taken the film to regional cinemas yourself and got great responses. What’s the news on the distribution front?
We’ve been very happy with the cinema release we’ve put together ourselves and we have an extensive plan for the DVD release in October. Counting this weeks release in Tamworth, Orange and Wagga, we’ll have been through around 20 cinemas and we are approached each week by more.
If we had been able to afford a 35mm print, we would have been able to go to many more core audience country cinemas, as unfortunately many of the regional cinemas are not equipped for e-Cinema HD. Because of this, we are currently planning taking a portable HD Cinema rig to rural QLD through town halls which should be interesting.
We have also received several US distribution offers which is great. I hope to finalize the North American deal this week. The distributor we are leaning towards has a proven background in westerns and I believe will be a great fit for Shadows of the Past. We have another US company that wants the remaining world wide rights, so we’re currently negotiating that as well. We don’t look like we’ll get an official Australian distributor which is surprising, but it doesn’t overly concern me.
What have you learnt for next time?
I learnt that if you want to make a film, don’t sit around waiting for funding. Just find a way to do it. The funding bodies are inundated with requests and can only service a very small percentage of these.
If you are going to spend your own money however, be sure you have a market for your film, or make sure you do it for next to nothing. I was very confident I had a market for Shadows of the Past and the way things are shaping now, means I’ll have a return on my funds sooner than later.
You also have to be prepared to do what ever it takes to finish it once you start. I’m currently back working in the banking industry to service the massive debt I incurred, and I had to be prepared to be paying it off myself for the next 30 years if the film didn’t work. Lucky for me, the US distributors are seeing something the Australian distributors didn’t. To be honest, most Australian distributors didn’t even respond to my requests to send them a screener!
Anyway, no-one held a gun to my head and said I had to make a movie. If you want to do it, then do it, but don’t expect help from anyone!
Shadows of the Past is playing at the Tamworth, Wagga Wagga and Orange multiplexes this weekend.