IB Woman
Issue No. 40 - April/ /
Cutting edge of creativity
by Penelope Herbert
Artistic integrity is not confined simply to those who pursue creative projects but a widget maker may not have the same sleepless nights as Jennifer Jones, a partner in The Cutting Room, one of Adelaide’s newest post-production facilities. Even a widget maker must make a widget that customers want to buy, and Jennifer concedes that whilst she may wish to profile artistically credible work she must also understand the consumer and try to find a balance.
“If I did make widgets that were popular but unsafe then my integrity would be compromised,” she admits. “There are things that make money, such as pornography, but I wouldn’t want to make it. Conversely, there are projects that have a very narrow customer base but artistically I’d like to push the envelope; I just wouldn’t eat.”
Such is the dilemma for the writer, film editor and director who has worked on commercially successful projects such as McLeod’s Daughter’s and The Fairies but who admits that self-created projects are virtually the only means to gain a foothold in a competitive and financially constrained industry.
“Previously, investors put up money for films because they could get a tax write-off even if the production was less than commercially viable,” she says. “Now, the tax incentives are minimal so investors must make informed choices about projects that have every reasonable chance to make money. We all wish we could be involved in projects like ‘Wolf Creek’ a very low budget film that stormed the box-office. That project knew it’s target audience. Similarly the horror movie ‘SAW’ which was totally made with private equity, but those projects don’t come along that often.”
So the issue of balancing what the business wants to give the customer with what the customer wants to buy seems universal. Jennifer says that, for her, a line must be drawn as to what she will and won’t do to bring a projec...
