Vice-Pres Report: October 2020
Article by: John Fairhead
Although I’ve found the first two weeks somewhat fatiguing, I am so grateful to be shooting long form drama again, alongside my film family on the Itch 2 production. Many familiar faces and quite a few new ones are doing a fantastic job of delivering on an exciting creative vision within a tight schedule! All this under the umbrella of a COVID Safe Risk Mitigation Plan being supervised by a proficient and supportive COVID Safe department.
The market-led proposal for screen production facilities in WA received many tender applications of various scales prior to the September 25th deadline, which was extended after some feedback and concern expressed over the original much shorter tender period.
Obviously, the devil is in the detail of the tender bids, and all will have strengths and weaknesses in their proposals. Consideration should be given to the critical factors that impact on the viability of potential screen infrastructure – such as appropriateness of the location, design of and actual building elements, experience of a proposed facility operator and their ability to access a pipeline of an appropriate slate of production projects.
Vital to ensuring that the most appropriate tender proposals are shortlisted is having screen industry professionals with relevant experience and knowledge, involved in the evaluation process. A shortlist of suitable industry professionals has been provided to Screenwest and the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries tender coordinators.
Efforts are being made towards collecting and collating information pertaining to departmental requirements and needs of a production facility. It is intended that this information will be made available to any, all potential groups seeking to build production infrastructure.
Keep in touch with how things are progressing with the local screen infrastructure issue by following the Voice for WA Screen Infrastructure Facebook page.
Stay safe, healthy and happy.
John (Jb) Fairhead
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