by Dov Kornits
“I’m a storyteller at heart,” says Francisca Braithwaite. “Telling stories is a part of who I am, and whether that be through acting, writing, directing, producing … to me that’s what I live for, it’s what makes me happy; it’s like therapy. I have always been a writer. From a young age, I was always writing short stories, poems, and song lyrics. Having an acting background has also given me a solid foundation as a storyteller, and an ability to truly understand performance on an incredibly deep level, which made it easy to step behind the camera as a director, and I have a solid business mind having run a very successful company for many years which is how I was able to support myself whilst pursuing acting when I first started, so producing came naturally to me.”
@filmink We spoke with actor, writer, director, producer Francisca Braithwaite about her short film Finding Addison, nominated for an AACTA Award for Best Short Film #AACTA #homeandaway #bonniesveen #wollongong #shortfilm #filmtok #australianfilm
Intimately shot in Balgownie and Berkeley in the Southern NSW Wollongong region, Finding Addison is about discovering your true self, as a couple of young women toy with their seemingly innocent teenage crushes, and years later, the story contends with their youthful actions.
Inspired by the story of a close friend, discovering late in life that she was adopted, Francisca admits that the biggest challenge of making the film was being the sole producer. “It was a mammoth task and I had to wear many hats as I was also directing and acting in the film whilst amending scripts. The pre-production process was manic, but I was lucky enough to have such an incredible group of women in my AD team whilst in production, who really went above and beyond, and were just as passionate about this story as I was, as well as a phenomenal post-production team with Cutting Edge Films, who made the process so much smoother.”
Primarily financed by Francisca, no one worked on wishful thinking deferred payments on the film. “It was incredibly important to me from the start, to make sure that I paid every person who worked on this film,” says Francisca. “I did some crowdfunding through the Australian Cultural Fund, contacted businesses, and self-financed the rest.
“Also, I was introduced to Nick Bolton from production company Ten Alphas through a mutual friend after returning home from a two and a half month stint in LA in 2022. I was looking for a DOP and it just so happened that Ten Alphas’ Co-Founder and Creative Director Jess Milne was a DOP. They had also just had a lot of success with their film Mate, which they executive produced and produced. The film was long listed for the Oscars. After meeting Jess and discussing Finding Addison, I knew she was someone that really understood my vision, and someone I really wanted to work with. Nick is also a Creative Industries Business Advisor for Creative Plus Business and the NSW Government Business Connect scheme and became my advisor for the project, providing really valuable guidance. The three of us are also members of Screen Illawarra, which Nick is the chair of, and when discussing Finding Addison we believed it was important to hire as many cast and crew from the region as possible, to support our growing screen industry. Nick and Jess are also executive Producers on Finding Addison.”
Any particular reason that Finding Addison is 30 minutes in length? Didn’t anyone say to you that may be too long to get into film festivals?
“Yes, they did many times, and believe it or not, the first cut of the film was 36 minutes. We went back and forth numerous times to make sure the emotion, energy and the story flowed seamlessly and landed on 29:47 with credits. Taking any more out of the film meant losing some of the key points of the story, so I needed to trust my gut instincts with this film. My priority was on making a film that brought emotion, energy, and storytelling to the forefront.
Short films are classified at 40 minutes or less, and while I appreciate that festivals can schedule three films rather than just one, for Finding Addison, I felt that 10-15 minutes was too restrictive to really have the opportunity to develop the depth of the characters and honour such a powerful storyline.
“I hope the success of Finding Addison will show the industry that significant stories can not only be told at the half hour duration but can also take the audiences on a much deeper journey than a 10-15 minute film can. It has the potential to offer more meaningful content for audiences, resulting in these sorts of films becoming a real asset to a film festival schedule.”
You certainly got a great cast – Jeanette Cronin, Bonnie Sveen [above, with Francisca, in the film], and a couple of brilliant newcomers; how did you go about casting the film?
“We had an amazing cast thanks to the phenomenal Faith Martin from Faith Martin Casting. I’ve known Faith for many years as an actor and over the last few years we have been co-creating a project together. Faith has such an eye for talent, so when I spoke with her about Finding Addison, she knew exactly what my vision was and was able to assemble a brilliant cast of truly powerful performers.
“I just want to give a huge shout out to our incredible cast and crew, for all of their hard work and dedication. Without them, this film would not have been possible. I am truly grateful to each and every one of them for putting their heart and soul into Finding Addison.”
What’s next?
“Over the last 12 months I have been busy producing, developing, and refining the amazing slate of film and television projects under my company Blue Sparrow Entertainment, and most recently one of my television projects was selected by Warner Bros. through SPA Pitch On Demand. I met with them a few weeks ago and will be meeting again in the new year. I also have a beautiful feature film which I hope to make in 2024, so I am really excited about the New Year and what that will bring.”
Finding Addison is screening at the St Kilda Film Festival on June 14 and 15, 2024. Click here for more information.
