by Dov Kornits
After doing the hard yards on Aussie TV institutions like Neighbours and Home and Away, cinematographer and director Tony Gardiner moves to LA and makes the darkly funny short film DIY, starring Damon Herriman, Claire Lovering and Alexander England.
Tony Gardiner’s spiky short black comedy DIY features perhaps the best use of a power drill since Abel Ferrara unleashed The Driller Killer upon the world way back in 1979. Said power drill is a truly essential element of this darkly surprising story in which Claire Lovering’s bereaved previous dog owner is hurled into the orbit of Damon Herriman’s wisecracking hitman, with very surprising results. Boasting terrifically sly and amusing performances from Lovering (Gold Diggers, C*A*U*G*H*T, Wolf Like Me) and character actor extraordinaire Herriman (Justified, The Bikeriders, The Nightingale, Never Tear Us Apart); a bitingly tart script from Lachlan Marks; and a tasty, twisty ending, DIY is a striking debut from Tony Gardiner, who grinds plenty of mood out of his limited locations and lots of class out of his low budget. With a canny little calling card like DIY in his back pocket, expect big things from Tony Gardiner…
Where did the idea to make DIY come from?
“The idea to make DIY spawned from wanting to push forward my career and to create something to showcase great Australian talent, hopefully on a world stage. I have been directing and DPing well-known Australian institutions like Neighbours and Home and Away for a good amount of time, but I’ve been struggling to get in the room with other production companies either as a director or DP. I wanted to make something to showcase that the skills you learn on shows like Neighbours and Home and Away are transferable to what is perceived sometimes as more complex storytelling by the industry. I qualify that I am incredibly proud of my work on those shows and that I firmly believe no matter what department you are in, if you can successfully navigate your role on those shows, you can succeed on any production anywhere in the world. They are unrelenting, and the demands from networks and production for high quality work are just as high if not higher than other shows I have worked on.”
How did you finance it?
“I have chosen the riskiest investment of them all, myself! I am very lucky to have an amazingly supportive wife, Amber, who has gone all-in on our journey. Instead of using our savings to buy a house, we have chosen to back ourselves and our careers. I see this film as an investment into my career and hopefully pushing that forward.”
How’d you get such a top-notch cast?
“I had the amazing fortune of working with Claire Lovering when I was DP on the ABC show The PM’s Daughter. We had both recently relocated to Los Angeles as two new expats, so we caught up for coffee. Claire asked what I was up to. I’d had this script from writer Lachlan Marks for a while and I’d been waiting for the right opportunity to make it. So, I pitched the film to Claire and she amazingly agreed to come on board. Claire had been workshopping with some Australian actors in LA and mentioned that she thought Damon would be perfect for the other lead role. She asked if I would mind if she forwarded on the script to him, and I obviously blurted out yes straight away!”
You didn’t know Damon?
“I hadn’t met or worked with Damon before, so I wasn’t holding my breath that he would agree! But he really liked the concept of the film and agreed to be in it. Damon also came with a bunch of fantastic ideas and really committed to the film. We spent hours and hours on zooms together with our writer Lachlan working on the script. Claire introduced me to Alexander England too, and he also very kindly agreed to appear. Originally Jerry, Alexander England’s role, was a non-speaking part, but in subsequent drafts Jerry ended up with a monologue. I honestly can’t thank the whole cast enough for not just agreeing to be in this film, but for committing 100 percent to the project.”
Where did you make it?
“The film was shot in a single day in Los Angeles. From my initial meeting with Claire to the shoot day was only three weeks! Damon had a hard out to go back to Australia to shoot pickups on Mortal Kombat 2, so he agreed to be in the film as long as we could shoot it before he had to leave! At that stage, all I had was me and an amazing cast! I was in a new town with no real network, but I was determined to make this film. My first call was to my co-producer Andrew Brooks. He was just wrapping on Netflix’s Nobody Wants This. I got his number from his wife, Australian actor Demi Harman. Andrew was amazing and said yes right away even though he was still technically on Nobody Wants This. Through Andrew, we were able to assemble an amazing crew including Emmy winning sound designer Stephen Tibbo (Modern Family, Nobody Wants This).”
How did your experience directing TV help in making the short?
“My budget and cast availability dictated that this needed to be a one-day shoot for a single camera twelve-minute film. I also didn’t want to take the piss with a top line cast and crew and go beyond a twelve-hour day, so the equation was a minute of screen time to be completed each hour! This is where my experience directing really helped. The cast and I had done multiple rehearsals before the shoot day, so the dialogue and most of the blocking was locked in. There wouldn’t really be time to ‘find it on the day’. I’d prioritised my shot list, so if we were falling behind, I knew what was needed and what was just nice to have. The skill set with directing TV – especially in Australia with our schedules – is that you need to be able to think quickly and move quickly while maintaining quality. This helped me enormously while making DIY.”
You’ve moved to the States…can you tell us why?
“I love Australia, and I really hope to return and work there one day! It has been a dream of mine to move to the USA and give it a red hot crack. The US is one of the most competitive and largest markets in the world, so I wanted to challenge myself by pushing forward with my career over here. The timing is a little rough though with the decline in overall production, but I am excited by the opportunity to prove myself over here.”
You’ve shot other people’s short films. What did you learn from them?
“I love making shorts with enthusiastic creative filmmakers. You never stop learning as a filmmaker, and I always get so much out of collaborating with exciting filmmakers. I was lucky enough to be asked by Madeleine Wighton to co-direct and DP her wonderful short Bernice. It was her drive and ambition on that project that really inspired me to make DIY. No one is just going to hand you anything in this industry, and the most control you can take over that is to go out and make your own stuff and see if it resonates with an audience. I had started to forget that a little bit, and working with Madeleine really reminded me and inspired me to go after it.”
What’s next?
“Hopefully a strong festival circuit for DIY! I loved working with the writer Lachlan Marks; we have had chats about developing longer form projects together. If DIY finds success, it would be great to leverage that into developing projects with him.”
DIY screens at Best of Australian Shorts 3 at Flickerfest on 24 January 2026, more info here.
