Remote Shooting in Australia: Is It Here to Stay?

After a spike in shoots in Oz, LBB’s Natasha Patel speaks to directors and creatives from the country about what this means in a post-Covid world.

With Australia setting such a stellar example for its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, it’s no surprise that the country became a hotspot for remote shooting towards the latter end of 2020. Thanks to an easing of restrictions surrounding filming, the country was inundated with international scripts and briefs. This period brought about many changes, positives and learning curves for agencies, creatives and directors.

The Producers’ director Mitch Kennedy found that remote working meant less time was wasted on set and communication was made a lot clearer. “One of the great positive changes to come out of this crazy period for production, is that I feel we’re much more efficient and thoughtful about processes on set. Our industry was already progressively becoming nimbler and working smarter with the help of technology, but it’s as though the pandemic has forced us to move forward in one big leap.”

Mitch’s fellow The Producers’ director Lou Quill also agrees with this, and despite missing being on set with a full team of creatives, remote shooting meant that she was able to direct a night shoot from home while seven months pregnant. She credits a rise in technology for creating opportunities to “collaborate with diverse creatives and artists anywhere and at any time” and being as close to the “real thing” of on-set directing. Photoplay’s Gary John agrees that a rise in technological advances has allowed the process of remote shooting to be possible.

He explains how it helped his team on a completely international shoot: “While Covid has forced us all into working more from our bubbles at home, it has, somewhat ironically, shown us that we can work more globally with relative ease: on a recent shoot for Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance, I was working with creatives in Indiana, Chicago, and L.A. while I was in Auckland and my producer in Sydney.” He jokes that the constant Zoom calls mean not only maintaining clear communication but also a clear living room. However, Gary wonders if being able to communicate remotely may mean that in-person meeting and shoots could become a thing of the past.

Clemenger BBDO Melbourne’s ECD Rich Williams disagrees with this, and for him while remote shooting was a “wonderful solution” when there were restrictions for filming, he believes it is not sustainable in the long term. “In a perfect world the remote shoot is the answer. But we all know we don’t live in a perfect world. Things go wrong on shoots, decisions need to made on the fly, locations need to change, scripts need to be rewritten, talent need to be replaced, and the weather and clients rarely behave as they are forecast.

“In a post-Covid world I worry that in the race to the bottom in saving money and time it may remain as an unwanted legacy. Being on set is an intimate experience. It often bonds the client, the creative and the director to push for a more creative outcome.” And he jokes that, if this weren’t enough, he would hate to lose out on the perks of the trestle tables full of food on demand.

PSN Australia’s EP Andy Wareham had a different experience with remote shooting and despite having an influx of briefs, at first very few actually converted to shoots. “For many overseas production companies and agencies, handing over a job to be remotely produced, with no one actually attending the shoot from their end, was a massive leap of faith that felt a step too far.”

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