Make It Australian

Yesterday, around the country, Australia's screen industry united to launch the Make it Australian campaign.

Australian screen industry luminaries such as Gillian Armstrong, John Edwards, Nadine Garner, Ben Elton, Scott Hicks, Joanna Werner, Helen Dallimore, Holly Lyons, Ana Kokkinos, Stuart Page, Marta Dusseldorp and many more spoke and attended the launches.

On an historic day, members of the Australian Directors' Guild, Australian Writers' Guild, the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance and Screen Producers Australia joined with members of the general public to launch the campaign. Nearly 1000 people attended launch events in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Hobart.

The huge crowds heard screen industry professionals, including performers, producers, writers, directors and crew speak about what it means to them to work in Australia making Australian stories, the link between government policy and their work and the importance of continuing to fight for Australian content.

For me, last night was a timely reminder of why we all do what we do. We have come together and that is a great achievement, but now the real work starts. Yesterday was just the beginning. We need people to get involved with the campaign to ramp up the pressure. We're at a tipping point and we don't want to lose more of our talent overseas.

Matthew Deaner, CEO of Screen Producers Australia, said.

It was clear from last night's launch in Sydney and around the country that the production industry stands united on wanting the government to maintain Australian content on our screens. We need to keep the pressure on the Government to achieve this and this was only the beginning of a longer campaign. As Gillian Armstrong said last night nothing changes without a fight . Kingston Anderson, CEO Australian Directors' Guild said.

Zoe Angus, Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance said: Yesterday's campaign launches were a reminder of how much talent we have in this country and how hard we must fight to ensure every opportunity for that talent to survive and thrive. If we want our actors, crew, writers, directors and producers to be the best in the world and deliver powerful, original stories that audiences want to see, we need the government to step up and show support. Our united lobbying efforts will be intense and relentless until we secure a safe future for our screen industry.

We saw yesterday a gathering of talented, unique Australian storytellers united behind the fight to Make It Australian. But last night was only the beginning. Now comes the real battle as the fight for Australian content enters a new, critical phase,' said Jan Sardi, president of the Australian Writers' Guild. We look forward to taking the campaign to Parliament House next month to remind our politicians that the industry stands united in the fight to tell our own stories for future generations. Now is the time to remain engaged, to raise awareness and to encourage the industry and community to get involved to ensure our Australian stories and voices remain on Australian screens.'

The campaign is encouraging people to upload a selfie to show their support for the campaign - www.makeitaustralian.com/take-action

More campaign announcements to follow.

Download the release.

Media Enquiries

Screen Producers Australia

James Cheatley 0419 482 680 or james.cheatley@screenproducers.org.au

Australian Directors Guild

Kingston Anderson 02 9555 7045 or Kingston@adg.org.au

Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance

Lizzie Franks 0400 717 505 or lizzie.franks@meaa.org

Australian Writers' Guild

Shannen Usher 02 8036 6009 or shannen@awg.com.au

LINK:	https://screenproducers.org.au/news/make-it-australian/...
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