Smoke In Mirrors

Smokes and Mirrors - Screenwriters Admit to Make Believe  is a collection of interviews with Australian screenwriters originally published in Metro Magazine and Cinema Papers. In these revealing conversations  Keith Thompson tries to imagine a "three dimensional image dancing". Peter Yeldham agrees it's "all in your mind". For Mark Shirrefs it's about a "different way of looking at things". Andrew Knight strives to get to "the heart of the matter". Roger Simpson searches for the "story engine". John Hughes works between "fact and fiction". Everett de Roche claims to be "only the writer". For Shane Maloney the stories are always about "crime, politics and the girl." And Elizabeth Huntly quite literally "hears voices". All nine writers are talking about the art of make-believe, of putting words on a page for the purpose of producing moving images, of holding the mirror up with too many smokes in the way. All were part of a revolution in local teledrama that took place in the early 1970s and subsequently fed into the revival of Australian film and television that continues to this day.

Some of their work includes classics such as: Seachange, Homicide, The Sullivans, Neighbours, Patrick, Long Weekend, Ride On Stranger, Age of Consent, Touch And Go, The Sapphires, Clubland, Gail, The Girl From Tomorrow, Spellbinder, Stingers, Good Guys, Bad Guys, Halifax FP, What I Have Written, Film Work, Stiff, The Brush Off and Something In The Air.