Sydney Film Festival & Knowing Your Audience

Anybody who knows me, knows that I'm a massive 'Pop-corn' movie fan. Bringing 'Choc-tops' to Sydney Film Festival photoshoot pretty much sums me up.

But here's the thing, I like my 'Pop-corn' movies to have depth and relatable characters that I care about. Something that seems to be missing in most Hollywood blockbusters these days.

Now sure, I can rattle off a number of films which have these attributes - these are the ones I usually like but with the recent news of 'Star Wars Rogue One' going back to re-shoot 40% of their film because Disney watched it and went... ah... no, scares the crap out of me. I mean, how could people so high up in the Hollywood chain get it so wrong? Is the idea of 'Bayhem' (the Michael Bay explosion technique and who cares about the storyline) coming to an end? Probably not. But last nights Sydney Film Festival film gave me a little hope.

The film I saw with my acting pal, Patch May last night was 'Blood Father' and sure, you could see all the twists and turns way in advance but this film was awesome. Why? Because it knew what it was. It knew it's audience and therefore delivered exactly what I (the audience) was hoping for.

Mel Gibson was fantastic in his role of a recovering addict who wanted to do right and Erin Moriarty delivered a stunning performance as the wayward teen on the run from a Mexican cartel.

The use of handheld establishing shots mixed with locked off camera work gave a sense of indie meets Hollywood. It had a smaller budget feel but was so littered with Hollywood greats as cameos that you couldn't help but feel you were watching a higher budget movie.

It just goes to show that making movies should be focused. If you make a film that knows what it is... the audience will appreciate it.

So head down and back to writing my new flick!

Focused and knowing the audience...