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Well folks,

Life goes on here in sunny Melbourne and I thought it was about time for me to say hi again and give y'all an update. This close to September 11th, I thought it good to remember happier things that occurred around this date. In 2000, I went to the US to attend my friend Oonies wedding to Peter in Chatham on Cape Cod on the 9th of September. This is one of the pictures from the wedding day.

School is booming and in the last few months. We have three subjects for the year - Business of Producing and Producing and the creative process which are both in first semester, then Collaboration is the second semester. I passed the first two pretty well, which I am happy about and now I am working on my films with Directing students from the school.

I have Produced two which means I am involved from the script development stage through production and into marketing and distribution. The most fun bit is production - once you have gotten all the bits together and the filming is actually taking place. Its quite a buzz to pull it off.

Working on student films means using really tiny budgets so there is a lot of wrangling and deal making to be done to get the things off the ground. We work with a nominal budget from the school of about AU$5,000 and then add what we can get from outside which is mostly deals and some money from families.

There really isn't any significant chance of return on investment so its pretty much impossible to get money for the films, but that said when we calculated what my first film would have costed if we had paid full price for things (including crew) it would be worth about AU$50,000 so we do pretty well on the deals we do get.

This is a shot from my first film - Serenade, a film about the lengths one couple will go to in the song of love. We shot all over melbourne across nine days, a lot of it at night in the dead of winter. Our first night was the coldest on record in Melbourne and the crew froze their butts off, but we had arranged all of the things we could to deal with that - blankets, jackets, a warm unit base, hot food, hot soup and drinks as well as hot water bottles for the cast who could not be rugged up all the time.

This is a shot from the second night on location. Its amazing how much equipment we need, even for a student shoot, just to make things look natural.

This is a shot from my second film, Wally. A story about a strange little girl, her very ordinary dog and an extraordinary chocolate cake. As well as being Producer, I was stills photographer on this one. Sorry of the picture is a little dark, its REALLY hard to get good ones outside the lights. This is actually shot during the day, but the windows are blacked out to give us complete control of the lighting.

This was a shorter shoot, but we still occupied a house for two days and COMPLETELY rearranged everything.

Some relaxation and a getaway in the last month, as part of my school course my class all attended the SPAA (screen Producers Association of Australia) conference on the Gold Coast in Queensland. Eight of us attended and all up it was a pretty fabulous time. There were a few high lights, not the least being that I was flirted with by a federal member of parliament - and all together we say...EW!! To my credit as an up coming producer, I flirted back. And then beat a hasty retreat. Nice enough woman (for a politician with cracked ideology) even if she does look like a cross between the penguin and Evita Peron. You didn't need to necessarily repeat that if you meet her.

This is my class (or most of it). Sacha, Kate Beverly, Kylie, Miranda, Rob (or lil' Rob), Adrian and me. I am the only gay boy. Can you tell?

Melbourne is a small town in a lot of ways, but there are some wonderful people here. I have a great group of friends and my relationship with James family has continued pretty much as strong as ever. They are wonderful people and a joy to have in my life. Sadly however James grandmother, Iris, passed away a few weeks ago after a progressive illness and a few months in hospital.

Iris was an amazing woman. Gentle, kind, sweet, loving and quirkily funny. Those of you who know James would have seen the resemblance. I was really glad to have been able to spend time with her since I have been back in Melbourne, and it was an honor to be able to help take care of her while she was sick.

I have a very small family, and that she welcomed me (and my mother for that matter) into her family means a lot to me. I will miss her.

My mother spent the last five six christmas' here in Melbourne with the Mitchell's, she got to know all of them very well and to this day trades pretty much daily emails with James' grandfather, Ron. Sadly she couldn't get the the funeral, but nothing much stops my mother showing her love and showing it exuberantly. Mums become a great gardener in the last five years and her garden has recently started blooming with beautiful white Irises in memory.

While I was on the Gold Coast I got to spend some time with my mother. Of all of the things that have happened in the last year, the best bit I think is that my mother and I are closer than ever. This is her current favorite photo of herself (far right), her with a group of her friends. She is a bit of a social hub on the Gold Coast.

 

 

 

The circle of friends here in Melbourne continues to widen, although getting them all together at the same time is a bit tough. With school and such I don't have a lot of social time, but what I do have is filled with some fine folks, including the very handsome Joe. Kind and sweet and funny.

 

 

Joe and I headed up to the Yarra Valley with a bunch of his friends for a great Sunday lunch. Mt Rael Retreat has a great restaurant and we were lucky enough to get some great spring weather. Top down convertible, bunch of friends, great lunch and then singing ABBA songs all the way back.

All up the year is going well on the school and social front. There are a few things I would have different (one actually) but nothing to be done about that for now, so I am enjoying the stuff I have. I am spending more time with Saxon now he is living around the corner with Marie which is FAB, I have missed him heaps. Money is still very tight and will be until school ends in late November, but as soon as I can I will be getting a larger place so I can take him back. In the meantime Marie really adores having him.

I mentioned my job waitering last time and since then things have changed a bit. I left the cafe and have been focusing on school which has meant I have been surviving on savings and some government student support. I have also been doing a little IT training which has filled in a few gaps. I cant say I love having no spare money, but its not really been bothering me. There is plenty to do, I am busy and have good friends. All up I am pretty happy and enjoying the life I have.

This may be an open letter, but it is sent with some care to a group of people who are important to me, so I hope you are well and I would love to hear how things are going. Until I see you again, take care.

Love

R

PS In case you are interested in calling me at some point, my Skype address is bravecreatures