Richard Lane receives posthumous OAM

Richard Lane, former President of the Australian Writers’ Guild (AWG), has been posthumously awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours announced yesterday.

The OAM in the General Division was awarded to Richard for services to the arts as the writer of screenplays, radio and television scripts, and histories of Australian radio drama.

His writing career began in the mid-1930s when his first radio play, “No Escape”, was broadcast. By the 1940s he had become Radio 2GB’s leading scriptwriter known for his great skill in adapting plays and films for radio. He was also the writer and producer of the long-running radio serial “Dr Paul”.

From 1958 Richard worked as a scriptwriter and editor for television, writing and producing the first local TV serial, Autumn Affair. Richard went on to adapt John Cleary’s novel You Can’t See Round Corners for television and film, and later worked on Bellbird, The Sullivans, Carson’s Law and The Young Doctors. He was the recipient of four AWGIE Awards for writing excellence in 1968, 1975, 1977 and 1985.

Richard was instrumental in the establishment of the AWG in 1962, serving as Vice President from the year of its inception and then as its third President from 1964 until 1968.

During this time he successfully lobbied to increase Australian television content to 50%, was involved in the first industrial challenge over writers’ fees and residuals resulting in the first formal signing of an agreement between the AWG and television management, and consolidated a range of different contracts and agreements with individual networks and production companies into a standard industry-wide agreement.

He was granted life membership of the AWG and in 1988 the Richard Lane Award, presented annually for outstanding service to the Guild, was established in his honour.

President of the Australian Writers’ Guild, Tim Pye, says, “This well deserved honour is in recognition of a great writer whose work entertained generations of Australians. It also recognises his exceptional work and dedication in the formation of the AWG for which Australia’s performance writers collectively owe him an enormous debt. It is no accident that the highest award the Guild can bestow upon its members is named in honour of Richard Lane.”

Richard Lane OAM died on 20 March 2008.

 

[release from AWG]