by Jessica Beange
Fearless discussion, community and hope resonated at the inaugural + Screen Stories Symposium last Thursday at Arc Cinema at the National Film and Sound Archive in Canberra.
Supported by the University of Technology Sydney, Screen NSW, the ACT Office of GLBTIQA+ Affairs, the Australian Director’s Guild and hosted by Screen Canberra; the event attracted industry heavyweights and leading storytellers from the screen and gaming worlds.
It was the morning after the US election result: MC Patrick Abboud acknowledged ‘the elephant in the room’ before celebrating progress over the last decade for queer representation on Australian screens.
“Growing up out in western Sydney… I felt like I was screaming into the abyss for a very long time, wanting to get more queer stories on screen, and particularly more QPOC (queer people of colour) stories from my own communities.
“Fast forward… I feel like we should celebrate that for a second… it takes dogged determination.”
The concept for the event came last year after UTS academic Dr Natalie Krikowa came ‘knocking on the door’ of newly appointed Screen Canberra CEO Dr Holly Trueman.
“Without her planting the seeds about how necessary these conversations are, we wouldn’t be here today,” said an emotional Trueman; also nodding to the ‘progressive culture’ in Canberra and the work of event producer Rosie Lourde in pulling together an impressive program.
A searing keynote from Tsunami scientist and writer Dr Kaya Wilson riffed on scientific risk matrixes in a personal exploration of key concepts ‘the burden of representation’ and ‘own voices.’
“I figured if you’re here, you’re either somewhere on the LGBTQI+ spectra… or you’re an ally… and if you’re neither of those things; there’s still time, and plenty of online quizzes you can take,’ Wilson quipped, before sharing a recent experience of transphobia on a literary panel.
“I sat there as they threw brick after brick. You can only minimise risk; you are never completely safe.”
Wilson walked through his reaction as a “soft intellectual queer: when the world offends me, I am less inclined to flip tables… more inclined to respond with a 70,000-word manuscript… or a twenty-minute keynote.”
Lying awake at night, he assigned the “likelihood and consequences to the risk of a cis writer writing a trans story, considering three scenarios: One: They produce shit art; Two: they produce medium art; and Three: they produce good art.”
Despite feeling like “the only one” in the moment at the panel, Wilson later learned that many had complained about the transphobic comments; leading him to conclude it was a “low likelihood, high consequence event.”
A recurring theme among the creatives was taking the representation achieved to a more nuanced level, particularly for characters: where queerness is no longer their central ‘feature’.
“We’re more than trophy tick-boxes in a pilot. Give me a gay pirate… Give me life!” called narrative designer Samara-Jade Sendek on the day’s first lively panel about crafting authentic narrative worlds in games.
From the potential harm embedded in legacy tropes (the ‘gay best friend’), to an exploration of queer intimacy on screen – creatives shared perspectives and approaches to story, character and audience engagement.
The Newsreader writer Michael Lucas reflected on the devils of detail through a scene from the show set in a queer nightclub. Lucas oversaw casting of the extras; and collaborated with an intimacy coordinator from the development stage through to production.
Frank discussions were had on characters’ choices and reactions: bucking a few straight assumptions, avoiding stereotypes and leading to a more authentic scene.
Screen NSW’s Kyas Hepworth, VicScreen’s Lise Leitner, new NITV Head of Indigenous Commissioning and Production Dena Curtis and numerous Screen Australia reps echoed the need for these conversations.
On the panel ‘collaborating with care’; AP Pobjoy (Unerased), Julie Kalceff and Kirsty Stark (First Day) shared lessons learned and new approaches to caring for talent and team through production and beyond.
Kalceff shared that had First Day been made today, she wouldn’t have directed as “it’s not my story to tell”, in a conversation around how far the industry has come.
Writer, advocate and academic Dr Eloise Brook countered that “there are these windows of opportunity to tell certain types of stories when people kind of get the sense of them, but before the politics of it kicks in… so that we might not get another chance to tell this kind of story for a decade.”
Screen NSW’s Head of Investment Dan Krige reflected on progress made at the screen agency level, saying a lot has changed “in the evolution of care… and I can see the difference in the stories.”
The care discussion deepened on an unscripted panel, exploring what it means to apply duty of care even ‘ten years after’ broadcast.
It wasn’t the first time in the day that a few eyes became misty as Pat Abboud shared stories on the creation and the impact of his series Welcome to Gayrabia; while panellists agreed on the critical role a good editor plays in factual.
Screen Australia’s Development head Bobby Romia hosted a hilarious chat with Ben Law (The Family Law, Wellmania), Hannah Carrol Chapman (Heartbreak High) and Monica Zanetti (While the Men are Away) on the perils of ‘queer bating’ and how to ride the online fandom wave while staying true to your story.
The conference preceded a day-long workshop, with many speakers staying on to support a new mentorship program ‘designed to build a dynamic, intergenerational, and interdisciplinary network of support and shared expertise within the LGBTIQA+ screen community.’
Rosie Lourde cheered “the depth of insight and generosity and courage and vulnerability that was shared today… I have so much more faith in humanity than I did this morning”: proving community to be much stronger than one elephant.
