Ten Questions: Robert Connolly

ROBERT Connolly is experiencing the fickle nature of show business as producer of Nine’s struggling Gallipoli and director of the hit Paper Planes.

Robert Connolly, above, says of Gallipoli, ‘there are extraordinary episodes ahead that we look forward to showing’.

ROBERT Connolly is experiencing the fickle nature of show business as producer of Nine’s struggling miniseries Gallipoli and director of the hit family film, Paper Planes. He splits the difference with Michael Bodey.

Congratulations on Gallipoli. How are you feeling about the response thus far?

Working on Gallipoli has been a career highlight, a real privilege to be part of the team entrusted with this epic and important story and I am extremely proud of the result. We set out to depict the duration of the Gallipoli campaign, told largely through the eyes of a young 17-year-old Australian boy, and the response to the scale of the series and the emotional journey of this young hero has been wonderful. In episode two last week the depiction of the Turkish point of view during the armistice was a personal highlight in the series. There are many more heartbreaking and compassionate sequences like this in the episodes ahead which have never been depicted on screen before.

No expense appears to have been spared; does it rank as your or John Edwards’ biggest undertaking as producers?

Gallipoli is the largest project I have ever been involved in. It was a huge undertaking that took us to Turkey, brought together hundreds of talented crew and cast, all embracing wholeheartedly the ambition to depict the scale and emotional tragedy of the Gallipoli campaign. It was challenging at all times, an epic production made possible by the creative team we assembled, with director Glendyn Ivin at the helm. One aspect that was important to us from the start — and that took huge production resources — was to depict the period of time the men were there by showing the seasons. One episode shows the snow drifts and winter months in the trenches.

Despite great reviews and opening night audience, the live audience dropped off in the second week. Do you have any clues as to why? Any lessons learned about the release on Nine?

I’m excited by the opportunities. Commercial TV now has to give audiences a chance to catch up with shows and audiences are increasingly choosing to watch screen content in their own time. Disappointed as we are with last week’s ratings, there are extraordinary episodes ahead that we look forward to showing Australian audiences. The key battles of Lone Pine and the Nek and the August Offensive for example, are standout episodes for me in the series. I’ve had a terrific experience working with Channel Nine and have really enjoyed engaging with commercial TV, the challenges of timing and competitive schedules, and the long game of reaching audiences across a seven-week run.

The whole series is released on SVOD service Stan. Do you have any information about viewing figures on that platform? Did it knock off Better Call Saul?

I understand Gallipoli is the first drama series to be released in this way. It’s very exciting to be at the pioneering end of this massive innovation in television since House of Cards debuted this way on Netflix in the US. I think it is an impressive decision by Channel Nine to release a major TV production in this way, and I understand it has been massive on Stan as one of their most watched shows.

As a producer and director, do you believe SVOD services will add to the pie or do you fear it only makes it harder to aggregate a big audience?

I’ve always taken the view in my work in film and television that the audience should come first, and as the way audience’s viewing habits change, we need to adapt the way we screen our work to them. There’s no point forcing audiences to be constrained by the status quo for its own sake. The fact that a commercial network has embraced and established a new platform like Stan is evidence that the network is conscious of this and making an exciting step to keep its audiences happy!

On another matter, your film Paper Planes has become a cultural phenomenon. Are you happy to take the blame for the paper planes now littering the nation’s schoolyards and backyards?

I’m just back from the Berlin Film Festival where we opened the Generations section of the festival to an audience of 1200 kids. We’re now enjoying the next stage of taking Paper Planes to the world. Out of Berlin we are fielding offers from the US and the UK and hope to release the film all over the world in the year ahead. On the home front, I heard today from a friend that their school now has a paper plane club. That has to mean something! In week five of release and long after the holidays it is still doing extremely well in cinemas; we’ve felt extremely supported by exhibition across the country.

Is its success beyond your grandest hopes?

It’s my most successful film at the box office (after The Bank, Three Dollars and Balibo) and great news considering its humble origins as a film for my daughters Kitty and Alice! I can’t thank Australian audiences enough for racing out to the cinema to support an Australian film for our children.

Have we ignored Australian kids films for too long or have they just not been good enough?

I think there should be Australian kids’ films in the cinema all the time. Hopefully the box office success of Paper Planes will help make this easier for other films to get made. I believe strongly in the value of our national cinema and how important it is to tell our own stories. My favourite Australian film is Storm Boy, I saw it as a nine-year-old on a school outing and it has stayed with me all these years, and created in me at a young age, a love of cinema.

You’re in the weird position of having a film that’s connected and a TV series having trouble connecting. Does that just emphasise the fluky nature of the screen business?

It has been an exceptional start to the year, to have Paper Planes in the cinema and Gallipoli on television, both reaching audiences in different ways with Australian stories. Audiences can still see both of them if they want, Paper Planes at your local cinema this weekend and Gallipoli on Channel Nine tonight at 9pm!