A generous man and great loss to entertainment. Long ago and far away, Garry awarded a short film made from my script ‘Love You Mum’ and offered to ‘see more’ from the filmmakers.  Although his focus was on the young student filmmakers, a small moment of indirect personal validation from such an august and revered writer/producer, gave me great heart and kept my hopes alive. Thank you, Garry Marshall.

From The Hollywood Reporter:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/garry-marshall-dead-happy-days-912665

And from The Guardian:

Garry Marshall: a genuine mensch who made everything improbably joyous.

This short film of my script was produced and directed by students from Adelaide Centre for the Arts and awared more than 30 times by various festivals in the America, Canada and Australia. I will always treasure the very kind words from Garry Marshall – a director whose many films I have loved.

#FrancesMacaulayForde #GarryMarshall #LoveYouMum #MyScripts #ACAFilmStudents #Scriptwriting #FilmStudents

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In 1985 Peter Aquilina got me a 6 week temp assignment as Secretary to the Managing Director Mike Dorsey (‘Daddy’ of No 96 fame) for a the regional TV Station in Tuart Hill, Mid-Western Television. After three days, he discovered I was also a Writer, Director and Producer of my own small projects through Sphinx Productions, out of hours. From then on, I wrote the news for Liam Bartlett, wrote and made in-house ads in the production studio and stood in for Prod Manager Pam Borain when she was away. Then when the ‘star’ of the studio flounced out one day, I was told to gather all who wanted to be on-air for an audition upstairs. The boss asked me to write and demonstrate a ‘for instance’ script, which I did and he told all the others to go – they didn’t even get a chance. I did NOT want to be on camera – hated every minute. The only thing that saved me was the banter Peter (my cameraman) kept up, trying to make me ‘lose it’ on-air! So here’s a laugh from way back when :o))

#SphinxProductions #FrancesMacaulayForde #1985MusicVideo #PerthRailStation #SwanBrewery #SwanRiver #DramaMusVideo #MusicVideo

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Here’s a blast from the past – the one and only music video Sphinx Productions did, when adding story to music videos was a new thing. We shot the 1985 video in the (then) burnt-out Swan Brewery site on the Swan River, Perth City Railway Station and Fremantle streets. (Apologies for some of the presentation. It was transfered from an old stretched video tape to DVD.)

#SphinxProductions #FrancesMacaulayForde #1985MusicVideo #PerthRailStation #SwanBrewery #SwanRiver #DramaMusVideo #MusicVideo

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Thank you, Cathy746Books for writing about a book by one of my favourite screenwriters – love her books and films! I’m about to order it and can’t wait to read before watching on screen (as I am sure it soon will be).

#Cathy746Books #NoraEphron #Screenwriter #NewBook #Heartburn

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• Ah, the good old days… so much more complicated to shoot a 6min story. Now we do it on our phones!
• ‘Some Folks’ Folk’ was filmed in 16mm in 1986… It was a first production for Peter Aquilina and I as we set up Sphinx Productions.
• Although I scripted the doco (a new thing in those days) and Peter edited, Friends Film Productions helped me direct and produce it.
• Thanks to Heather Williams, Chris Lynch, Mathew Kelly and Roland Smith. This project was sponsored by P. Tilli & Assoc.
• Of course many thanks go to Iris Jones and members of the Hills Folk Club without whom the whole thing would not have happened. Iris and I were folkie-friends so what better introduction to 16mm for me than a dramatised documentary!
• If anyone is interested in watching the finished film on You Tube, here you go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHXCMRlfplA40m

#FrancesMacaulayForde #SomeFolksFolk #16mmFilm #SphinxProd #PeterAquilina #FriendsFilmProd #HeatherWilliams #MathewKelly #ChrisLynch #RolandSmith #HillsFolkClub #PTillyAssoc #FilmShoot1986 #DramatisedDoco

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