December 5, 2025 • 40 mins
In this episode, we talk to John Polson. You might know him from films such as The Sum of Us and, more recently, The Dry – or for the shows he’s directed including Elementary and The Walking Dead. But you might not know the remarkable story behind Tropfest – long described as the world’s biggest short film festival – which Polson founded and is bringing back after a six-year absence. Today he talks to Sydney Morning Herald senior writer Garry Maddox about the controversial highs and lows of the colourful festival, the high-profile team helping him revive it (from Bryan Brown to Sarah Murdoch), and how he landed Margot Robbie as jury president.
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Episode Transcript
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S1 (00:14):
Hi, I'm Konrad Marshall and from the Sydney Morning Herald
and The Age. Welcome to Good Weekend Talks, a magazine
for your ears, featuring in-depth conversations with fascinating people from
sport and politics, science and culture, business and beyond. Every week,
you can download new episodes in which top journalists from
across our newsrooms talk to compelling people about the definitive
(00:35):
stories of the day. In this episode, we talk to
John Paulson. You might know him from acting in such
films as The Sum of Us, The Boys, Mission Impossible two,
and more recently, The Dry. Or you might know him
from some of the TV series he's directed, including The Mentalist, elementary,
The Walking Dead and the Australian streaming drama The Last Anniversary.
(00:58):
But you might not know the remarkable story behind Tropfest.
Long described as the world's biggest short film festival, which
Polson founded and is bringing back after a six year absence.
The Australian director, producer and actor, who has been based
in New York since 1999, founded the festival when a
screening of a short film he made drew a surprisingly
(01:19):
big crowd at the Tropicana Cafe in Sydney's Darlinghurst in 1993.
It expanded into a summer staple, an outdoor film festival
beamed around the country with celebrity judges like Nicole Kidman,
Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett and Keanu Reeves, and one that
gave a break to a long list of film and
TV talents who had made short films. Just days after
(01:43):
entries opened for the latest incarnation of the film festival.
Polson talks about the high profile team helping him revive it,
how he landed Margot Robbie as jury president, and the
highs and controversial lows he's experienced over Tropfest colourful history.
Poulson is the subject of a feature story in Good
Weekend this Saturday. Renaissance Man and hosting this conversation is
(02:07):
the journalist behind that piece, Sydney Morning Herald senior writer
Gary Maddocks.
S2 (02:13):
Thanks, Conrad, and welcome, John.
S3 (02:15):
Hey, thanks for having me, Gary.
S2 (02:16):
I guess the first question for a lot of fans
of Tropfest is will the new Tropfest be as good
as the old Tropfest?
S3 (02:23):
Well, I'm a little bit biased. I think it's going
to be better. And trust me, I love the Tropfest,
but but um, I think I think what's interesting is
all of the great stuff about Tropfest, and there's a
lot of it, I think it's fair to say, um,
it's going to be the same, you know, the films.
And I've just started to see the films, which is
pretty exciting. Um, and, you know, the Live the big
(02:45):
live free event, the celebration of young, emerging Australian talent.
I mean, all that stuff. None of that's changing. Um,
but yeah, I mean, there's a there's a lot of, uh,
you know, it's sort of it's it's almost like the
old Tropfest on steroids in a lot of ways. I mean,
we announced recently, I think everybody knows Margot Robbie is
(03:06):
the president of the jury. So that's incredible for us.
S2 (03:10):
A great kid.
S3 (03:11):
Yeah. Yeah. A lot of amazing stuff happening.
S2 (03:13):
Yeah. And also, you've got a really high powered team
behind Tropfest. The revival of Tropfest. Sarah Murdoch's the Chair.
S3 (03:20):
Absolutely. Sarah's the chair. Peter V'landys is on the board.
The amazing Peter V'landys, Brian Brown.
S2 (03:26):
Brian Brown Peter V'landys, of course, is known in New
South Wales for his, uh, administration of racing and rugby league.
So very high profile sports and, and uh, entertainment figure.
S3 (03:37):
Yeah, just an amazing partner on this event because he
comes from quite a different world, obviously. But, uh, that's
one of the things I love about it. When we
put our heads together, you know, I bring my sort of, uh, experience,
I guess, from sort of arts and culture world. And
he brings his incredible experience. And between the two of
us and the rest of the board, we We make
a bit of magic together. It's been good.
S2 (03:58):
Yeah. Uh, Tropfest last ran in 2019. Then we had Covid.
Were you concerned that Tropfest might never come back?
S3 (04:05):
Oh, absolutely. You know, as each as each year went by,
it seemed harder and harder. You know, this is a
big event with a lot of momentum after whatever it
was 25 years at the time. Um, and you sort
of don't realise when Covid hit and when we hit
the pause button, you kind of assume, oh, well, we'll
just hit the pause button when the time comes. But,
(04:29):
you know, people move on. It's just it's like it's
like a massive boulder that's been rolling for 30 years.
And once it stops, uh, it's a little misleading how
hard it is to get it going again. And then
the years sort of piled up, to be honest with you, Covid,
Covid sort of came and went, um, and still I
(04:49):
was and it was hard because, you know, I'm based
in New York, as I think some people know. So
I was also working long distance on this event that
lives and breathes mostly in Australia. Um, so yeah, it
was very challenging. The idea of how we're going to
get it back. And as each day went by, I
felt further and further away. And I'll be honest, there
were moments, many moments I walked around pretty sad, thinking
(05:12):
maybe this thing's really done and I'd run into people
who knew it, or even into some of the filmmakers
that had benefited from it. And, um, that made me
even sadder because they're all like, hey, how's it going?
When's it coming back? And I put a brave face
on it, but deep down I was like, honestly, this
is this is hard. Unless I'm going to go move
out to Australia for six months or a year and
(05:33):
try and figure this out. I don't know how to
do this. And that's when I got that, uh, fateful
email from Brian Brown.
S2 (05:40):
That's right. Brian Brown had already been in touch, uh,
had been in contact with Peter V'landys. Peter V'landys came
up with the idea that having spoken to a young, uh,
budding filmmaker who was out of university. He'd learnt that
there's not a similar pathway for success as into the
industry pathway into the industry as there was. There is in, say,
(06:02):
racing or rugby league. Ah, he came up with the
idea of a short film festival, spoke to Sarah Murdoch,
spoke to Brian Brown and the idea came up was, well,
why should we create a new one if Tropfest already
existed and they reached out to you and you were
immediately interested?
S3 (06:18):
Absolutely. I'd had quite a few approaches over the years, but, um,
you can sort of tell almost straight away someone wants
to take it and do something different with it. Maybe.
Let's put a fence up, let's put ticket prices and
all that. So that never felt right. So it wasn't
it wasn't like I wasn't feeling, you know, opportunities. But
when Brian reached out, Brian in particular was the first email.
(06:41):
And obviously I've known Sarah for a very long time
as well. I didn't know Peter, and I did know
Rich Weinberg, who's also on on the board. Um, I
didn't know him as well as as, say, Brian. Um,
but it became clear that this was the moment I'd
been waiting for, because these were people who firstly understood
(07:03):
the event and wanted to bring it back, um, in
a way that would reflect what it stood for. And definitely,
you know, I've, I've never want to just bring it
out of a sort of a vacuum that it's been in.
I want this to be future facing and not be
stuck in. You know, I don't want to live in
(07:25):
some reminiscent version of Tropfest. Um, but I do want
to keep some of the core things or really all
the cool things the same. Um, so when I got
that email and when they mentioned the words not for
profit to that sort of, uh, was that that definitely
got my attention as well, because that felt right for Tropfest.
It's something, frankly, we'd we'd been trying to do for
(07:47):
the last few years and we hadn't really got there.
S2 (07:51):
You started Tropfest out of the Tropicana Cafe when you
wanted to screen a short film that you'd made way
back in 1993. How how did it develop into this
phenomenon where it the venues kept getting bigger, the crowds
kept getting bigger. It became such a perpetual state of,
you know, perpetual part of the summer calendar that everybody
(08:12):
really looked forward to Tropfest. If they weren't making films,
they were turning up picnic blankets and, uh, and watching
the films, it became this amazing, you know, a huge
event with this amazing energy around it.
S3 (08:25):
Yeah. The truth is, I don't really know. It was
kind of a perfect storm I do. So Tropfest started
by accident and that's very true. I had no I'd
love to sit here and say, oh, you know, I
sat down one day there should be this festival that
looks like this and supports that. But the truth is,
I was a young I was 26, 27. I was
(08:47):
really primarily an actor, but I really wanted to be
a director. I'd made a few short films. Some were
worse than others. Um, but all of them were relatively mediocre.
And I made this one film called Surry Hills Nano2
Spring Roll. Um, which I thought was a funny title,
and it was a mockumentary based on. It was kind
(09:08):
of like taking that show cops and making it into
but about food deliverers. I had a friend who was
a food courier, you know, and he told me some
funny stories about delivering lukewarm spring rolls and getting into
fistfights about it and stuff like that. And I thought, oh,
that sounds like a movie to me. Um, keep in mind,
I was sitting around the Tropicana Cafe with not a
(09:29):
lot going on as a young actor, so I was
sort of looking for ideas. Made this film. When it
came time to screen it, I called all the local
cinemas and they wanted a thousand bucks, which I'd never
really seen a thousand bucks in one place before I was,
I was an actor, like I said, and I came
from a somewhat, you know, working class family. So I
(09:50):
couldn't afford a cinema. But I went to the owner
of the Tropicana Cafe on a sort of a spur
of the moment. I said, listen, I've made this movie.
A lot of it's shot here. Do you mind if
I just put a TV in that corner and have
a cast and crew screening? So that's how it started.
And it was never meant to be more than that.
But at the end of that screening where I showed
(10:11):
up that night expecting maybe 20 or 30 people, and
there was a couple hundred, maybe more like crowding. So
much so, Gary, that really benefited the film because you
couldn't see or hear it. And as a result, it was, uh,
it was decided that it was quite brilliant. Um, and
I can guarantee sitting in a quiet room watching that film.
(10:32):
Not so much. Um, but anyway, somebody nudged me and said, oh,
we should do a festival. So I got up on
a chair and said, you know, then people were going wild. Um,
because they'd just seen their own cafe, their own people.
There's a scene in the movie I remember where the guy,
the food courier, delivery orders, orders, a coffee at the counter,
(10:54):
and the guy who gives him the coffee was the
same guy working that night. Aldo. Um, so people were
just going bananas, and I got their attention and said, okay,
we're going to have a festival. Here's the deadline. It's
in three months. You've all got to make films, and
I'm going to get more than one television. Trust me,
I'm going to I'm going to make this big. And
(11:15):
that was the end of that night. And then I
woke up the next morning. I wasn't really drinking or anything.
It was almost like a Tropicana hangover where I thought,
what did I just do? But maybe they'll forget about it. Um,
and nobody forgot about it. Everywhere I went, I couldn't
walk the streets without somebody saying, oh, I was there
the other night. I'm really excited about the event. You
(11:36):
should do this. You should do that. You should put
a big screen. And all I remember thinking is like, well,
why don't you do it? Why do I have to
do it? I mean, I wanted to be an actor. Um,
so it was sort of the reluctant festival director would
be the name of that chapter. And, you know, we
we did have that first one, and I had no
idea there was no system. There was no website. Of course,
(11:57):
in those days, there was nothing. I showed up on
the night. I did find four televisions I got them for.
I think it was 240 bucks in North Ryde. It
was the cheapest place. I got on the Yellow Pages
and found them. I borrowed my dad's tarago. I went
and picked him up and brought him to the Tropicana
and uh, had no idea if anyone would even remember.
(12:18):
I had put a few posters up and stuff and
like I said, occasionally he'd walk around the streets and
somebody would be shooting a movie and they'd look over
at me and go, oh, there he is! Hey, this
is for the festival and that kind of stuff. And, um,
when I got there on the night and set up
those TVs, there was literally 1000 or 1200 people just
(12:40):
out on the street. Obviously, at this point, the traffic
couldn't get past, the cops showed up and it just
went bananas, you know, and they tried to shut it down.
And fortunately, I talked him into letting it letting it
keep going. And, um, the rest is kind of history.
S2 (12:57):
Why was there such an appetite for short films, or
was it that Sydney needed an event, a film based event?
S3 (13:03):
That's a really good question. I think it was, like
I said, a bit of a perfect storm. So you
have firstly, it's free, right? Which I like to say
is my favorite price. So it wasn't, it wasn't like, uh,
it wasn't like uh, it was clearly not a price
gouge where it wasn't a commercial thing. So that was
part of it. But more importantly, there were these young, emerging,
(13:28):
very talented, often filmmakers with nowhere to show what their
talent was, you know, and I can say I, I,
I auditioned, if you will, or whatever interviewed for the
film schools at the time and didn't get in. They
only chose about four people a year. Thousands of people
would try to get into those spots. So what about
(13:50):
all the others you know, and including me and all
the people at those early Tropfest? So I think it
was just a big and very Australian. I always say
this event, although it's had success globally, it can never
actually start in another country. It's too crazy. You know,
let me spend a lot of money on equipment charge.
(14:12):
Nothing for the tickets have kind of nobody filmmakers get
into it. I mean, it's just insane. But in a way,
it's very Australian because we are such, um, we're such
supporters and such celebrators of the underdog. And it's a
classic underdog story. You know, the people have come out
of trophies and gone on to bigger and better things.
(14:33):
I mean, they'd be the first to tell you the
day before they're winning trophies. They were they were just
people walking the streets with dreams and ambitions, but no
real place to show them. So I think that's how
it all really started, and that's what people loved about
it and still love about it.
S2 (14:50):
Okay, was there one particular Tropfest where a talent emerged
who may have won it or won a prize there
that you thought, wow, this is putting someone on the
right path that so many people followed in the footsteps
of later.
S3 (15:04):
Well, honestly, not to dodge the question. There have been
so many examples of people coming through and I could
sort of list the names, but an early one, since
you bring it up, I believe it was in Tropfest. Um,
95 I want to say very, very early on. And
(15:27):
up until then, don't forget this is only like year three.
We started in 93.
S2 (15:31):
Yep.
S3 (15:32):
So, you know, it's fair to say that the films
were of questionable quality in the early days. There was
no there was no sort of, um, filtering process. You know,
if you made a film you got in first year
we made there were nine people made films so that,
you know, some are better than others, let's put it
like that. And then about 95, a guy called Gregor
(15:54):
Jordan made a film called swinger. And to this day
it gets a lot, a lot of talk swinger.
S2 (16:02):
It's a great film.
S3 (16:03):
It's a great film. It's one shot. It's quite a
brilliant idea. I want to try to pitch it here.
People should just go to our Tropfest, our YouTube channel
and check it out. So that was an amazing moment
and that brought the house down, if you will. Even
though we're out in the street by then, brought the
street down. Um, but what was really interesting is about
(16:25):
a month later, Gregor with that same film, got into
the Cannes Film Festival. I think he might have won
a prize. So, you know, that really helped put put
us on the map in the sense that like, oh, wow.
Wait a minute. You can make a film. Get it
in your office. Maybe win. And I don't know. I
don't remember the details whether the winning of trophies had
(16:48):
any impact. I mean, it can. I don't think they
really gave a crap about Tropfest, obviously, but it sort
of got a lot of publicity at the same time.
It might have helped. And, um, so that was a
very early example of somebody. And then of course, Greg
went on to a pretty big career making films with
the likes of Joaquin Phoenix and all the rest of it.
So he was a very early example, but we've had
(17:10):
countless examples.
S2 (17:11):
Two hands, I think he made four years later, wrote
and directed that. And that's, you know, now, a classic
Australian film.
S3 (17:16):
He made two hands, he made Buffalo Soldiers and others.
So yeah, it really, I think, and not to speak
for Greg, but I think he would and I know
he would because he came to our launch a couple
of months ago and I think he did a video
for us. I think he would say that was a
big moment for him, and it set him on a
set him on a path.
S2 (17:44):
You, of course, appeared in a Tropfest winning film, Nash
edgerton's deadline. Ah, that was interesting that you, as the
festival director would appear in a film. And I gather
you decided after that that you wouldn't.
S3 (17:56):
Yeah. That was a tricky moment. Um, very tricky moment.
And I don't expect anyone to believe what I'm about
to say.
S2 (18:04):
Let me just tell them about the film. The film? Firstly,
Nash is a brilliant, uh, director. Now, uh, you know, Mr.
Inbetween is part of his, uh, work, uh, a couple
of features as well. The square, uh, he made a film.
He's also a stuntman. Uh, and he made a film
about getting his Tropfest entry to the Tropfest office in
(18:27):
time for the deadline. And once he arrives there, we
won't give away the punch line. But you're there, uh,
seeing him at the, uh, at the office. So ahead.
S3 (18:36):
So very briefly, the very quick back story is Nash
came to me a week before the we happened to
be in the same building. Right. I rented a very,
very small space for 90 bucks a week on Bayswater Road,
which was the Tropfest headquarters. And when I say it
was about a it's probably a meter and a half
by three meters. That's how small it was. Just me
(18:57):
and a desk. Um, and Nash was in the same building,
and I didn't really know him that well. But, you know,
he's a filmmaker and I was a filmmaker or whatever,
so we'd sort of actor. So we kind of say hi,
very friendly. He comes in one day and I'll keep
it short. But he says, listen, I want to enter
my film, blah, blah, blah, some other movie. And I said, Nash,
(19:18):
I love that film, but wasn't that on it? Flickerfest
the other week? And he said, yeah. And I said, no, look, dude,
that's not really the point of Tropfest. We're trying to
get people to make films. This isn't meant to be.
Just dig your film out of the bottom drawer and
let me put it up there For me, making films
and continuing make films is what's going to make you
(19:38):
better in films. So the one of our rules is
we don't take films that have been seen before, and
he kind of looked a bit downhearted and walked off.
And about 20 minutes later he came back and he said, listen,
all right, I'm going to make a new film. And
I said, okay, you realise the deadline's in a week, right?
He said, yeah. He said, I've got an idea for it.
(19:59):
But there's one catch. You've got to be in it.
And I said, well, all right, yeah, okay, I'll do that.
I'm at that point, you know, I was too stupid
to know that was probably not the greatest idea. And
keep in mind, Tropfest was very, very small. It was a,
you know, a couple thousand people would come at that
point or whatever. So I said, sure, and I didn't
even think it would get in. Not that anything against Nash,
(20:21):
but at that point it was starting to get pretty competitive.
I thought, I'll just throw him a bone. I said,
how long is it going to take? He said, about
an hour. I said, fine, no worries. I didn't ask
what the idea was or anything. Then he made the
film and as you saw the film, without giving it away,
I appear in the end of the film. Lo and behold,
it sails right through all the pre-selection, which I kind
(20:42):
of oversee. But I think and this is part of
saying I don't expect people to believe me. I, I
was very nervous about this because I did think it
was a bit questionable that the festival director would be
in the film. Anyway. It sails through all the pre-selection
process gets into the finals. So now I'm starting to
get pretty uncomfortable, but I'm thinking there's no way it's
(21:03):
going to win, right? There's 16 films. There's no way.
Even though I thought it was good. Um, not obviously
because of my contribution, which was minimal. But anyway, the
night of the festival comes along, we're out on the street.
I've got a big sheet up for a for a screen.
That's that's how early it was. And a projector and
stuff and 7000 people out there. And I remember the
(21:25):
panel was pretty impressive. George Miller was on the panel.
And others like 4 or 5 pretty big time people.
So we have the night, they do the scores and
then we always have a bit of a chat before.
Now all the crowd stampeding and, you know, wanting to
know who the winner is. Because one of the great
things about trophies is all very live. So you get
(21:46):
five minutes between the last film and getting up on
the stage. Otherwise they're going to riot and destroy the street.
So and I'm not a judge. I want to make
that really clear. I've never been a judge at Tropfest.
I'm just a director. I choose the judges and then
they do their thing. So we always have a bit
of a chat before, so we can sort of write
down on the cards who's won and whatever, and we
(22:07):
get down to who's won and they say deadline. And
I say, and I've told this story, I don't feel
especially proud of it because I, I did try to
change the results. I, I said, guys, um, we've got
a problem. And they're like, what do you mean? And
I'm like, well, I'm in the film. This is a disaster.
(22:29):
Are you saying that? And they said, oh, okay, okay. Well,
let us think about it. What I said, I said, look,
I don't want to change it, whatever. But that's this
is going to be I mean, look at the crowd.
They're going to go crazy and not in a good way.
So George and others agreed to just rethink it for
a minute or two. I said, like, do your thing.
You guys are the judges, but just bear that in
(22:50):
the back of your mind. They came back to me
a couple of minutes later and this is this is gospel.
I remember like it was last night and they said, hey,
we hear you. And we do think it's a bit
of a problem, but we also don't think it's fair
that the best film doesn't win. And I said, all right, well,
(23:12):
it's been nice knowing you and I'll get up there
and we'll, you know, we'll announce it. And that's what happened.
And people, people went bananas. I think half the people
went bananas because it really was a great film. And
and the response on the night, which was all about Tropfest. Trophies, right?
You can watch these films in a room and maybe
pick different winners, but when you watch them in front
(23:34):
of the crowd and when when that happens at the
end of that film. They went ballistic that night. And
that's why that's what the judges responded to. So he
got up on the night. Half the people went bananas
in a really good way. Half of them called out.
It was rigged. And of course, nobody understands. I'm not
one of the judges. Little did they know, I tried
to talk him out of it. Um, but yeah, for
(23:55):
the next really few years, I would walk around the
street and we had a stigma for a long time
that Tropfest was rigged, and the only Paulson's friends get
in and only Paulson's friends win and all this sort
of stuff, which is pretty ironic when you really know
the true story. But that's what happened. And obviously from
that day forward, I've never appeared in Tropfest film.
S2 (24:17):
That's a great story. Uh, you mentioned George Miller, and, uh,
one of the great things about Tropfest, there are many
the sort of democratic nature of it, the kind of
the live event nature of it, the fact that it's
in a park and that it was also it also
got live streamed to other cities as well and was
often on TV as well. But one of the great
things is you get some very high profile judges who
(24:40):
just come along as they're down to earth selves, uh, and, uh,
vote on the films. Just enjoy the experience, just like
everybody else. Uh, some of them were actors that you've
worked with in the past, like Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe.
But there are also some, you know, people who are
in town making films or, uh, you know, in town
for other reasons. Keanu Reeves, one year, Salma Hayek, uh,
(25:02):
how important were the judges to this sort of success
of Tropfest, and how hard was it to get them?
S3 (25:08):
Well, I think they're very important. I mean, if I
had to pick three elements that have made it a
sort of a success, three ingredients, it's definitely the filmmakers.
I'd start with that, the talent and the incredible. And
I'm not saying, listen, I'm not saying they're all like that.
But when you see a therapist, Jen, there's really nothing
(25:28):
like it. I've always said it's so much insulting to
think of a short film as like a short film.
It's its own art form, you know? And when there's
a good one. And one of the great things about
short film is you can take one tiny little idea
and really expand it. Can't do that with a feature film, right?
You've got two hours to fill. You've got to really
(25:48):
tell a big story. But with a short film you can.
And don't forget the maximum seven minutes a minute. There's
no minimum. We've had great films that are a minute,
45 seconds, two minutes, whatever. So the films is number one.
Number two, I really believe the the free quality of it,
not because people are cheap, but because they sort of
(26:10):
see that as a bit of a gift to the city.
And they, like I said before, they can see it's
not it's not a commercial money grab, you know, with
so many things are these days, you think about it. Listen,
no one loves somebody and I won't mention names. These big,
these big, um, massive singers as much as me. But,
I mean, the ticket prices are insane. They're insane. I mean,
(26:32):
I don't know what it's like here, but in America,
thousands of dollars to go and see if that's not
a money grab. Like what is. So I think when
Tropfest is free, that's a massive part of it. The
third thing is we do get big names and whether
we want to admit it or not, people kind of
like a bit of celebrity. I'm a bit the same,
(26:53):
you know, like everybody, frankly, I know a lot of
celebrities who are name droppers. Um, you know who? And
you're like, hey, you're such and such. How the hell
do you get excited about something? But, you know, we
all like to to see people that have talent that
we've seen on screen or whatever, or we just admire
from a distance. It's great. So it's a big deal
(27:16):
how hard it is. Your second question, it's incredibly hard.
It's incredibly hard. It's it's a lot of work. It's
a big part of my year this year. You know,
I've spent most of the last few months lining up
people to come. And it's not that people don't want
to do it. Schedules are hard. In the case of Tropfest,
(27:38):
a lot of people do know Tropfest. A lot of
people don't know Tropfest. And again, not to keep harping
on about the money thing. People get in a letter
about being a judge at a festival. They often don't
know that it's a not for profit, that we really
are just trying to support emerging filmmakers and whatever. So
you sort of got to go through that conversation. It
(27:58):
really does help that it is a not for profit,
because you can sort of make make that. Yeah. It
helps to have Sarah as our chair and the rest
of the board, because people tend to know people who
know people and stuff, but there's nothing easy about it.
If you want to get, you know, a big name
at Tropfest or any event. You know one thing, the
(28:19):
only silver lining is because Tropfest Catastrophist is a one
weekend thing, whereas a usual most festival Sydney festival. It's
two weeks. You really have to have judges sticking around
for a long time. So that's our one benefit is
we can say, hey, you don't have to watch anything
before you arrive. There's no there's no homework to do.
You know, you show up, watch the movies live with
(28:40):
the crowd, score, and get the hell out of there.
So that has helped us. And I think that's been
part of why we've had incredible names. But every year
is is a wrestle. Um, I never rest and go, oh,
we'll be fine. It's, you know, but then again, once
you get a Margot like we did in the last week,
it definitely makes it a bit easier, because now I
(29:01):
can go and say, hey, Margot's the president of the jury.
Do you want to join? It's a slightly different conversation than.
S2 (29:07):
What's in it for her. John, when you spoke to her, what?
You know, she's hugely successful since Barbie as both a
star and a producer. Um, you know, what's a night?
You know, in a park surrounded by 60 000 people. Um,
you know, watching films and deciding very quickly with a
group of other judges which is the best. What's in
(29:29):
it for her?
S3 (29:30):
That's a great question, Gary. I can't answer for Margo,
and I felt like she would have to answer. But
I can tell you what's in it for a lot
of other people that I know have done it before.
A lot of people feel like they've, you know, you know,
they've got a lot out of the film industry. They've
had a successful career. They've built, you know, something really.
(29:52):
They've built a legacy. Um, they've been paid quite well,
whatever it is. And they and they remember what it's
like to be starting out, um, and they want to
be part of that. I mean, I find most people
are good people, period. I don't care how big or
small or famous or not they are. Most most people
(30:15):
are really decent people, so the hard part isn't convincing
them once you get there. The hard part is getting
to them and and all that. But I think what's
in it for them? In the case of Margo and
I'm just speculating here, Margo is an incredible actor, but
she's also a producer with a production company. I would
(30:35):
take a wild guess that she's very curious to see
who's coming up. Some young ideas. What's great about Tropfest is, um,
people often don't know the rules, let alone so they
end up breaking the rules without even realizing it. And
that can be a wonderful thing. So again, I'm speculating,
but I know a lot of people have done Tropfest
want to see who's coming up, they want to support,
(30:57):
they remember their days of struggling and the case of
someone like me, and I've had a little bit of
a career of my own. I kind of wish there
was a Tropfest when I was starting out, because it
might have made things a lot easier, and I think
a lot of people feel the same way. Um, and
it's just, you know, and especially for the Aussies. Um,
(31:20):
there's a certain pride around Tropfest, I think, because it
was born here and, you know, I remember there was
this great email that circulated a few years ago. How
do you know you're an Aussie? You know, you know,
you know, you love Vegemite. You do this, you do
that at number 11 or whatever was something like, you
know what Tropfest is and you and you love it
(31:42):
or something. So I think I think a lot of
the Aussies feel a sense of which I embrace sense
of ownership and a sense of celebration around it. And again,
not speaking for me at all, but I can tell
you from past experiences, those are some of the reasons
people want to be a judge.
S2 (31:59):
Yeah. Uh, I'll tell listeners who don't know about your
own directing career. You've done a lot of television. American TV,
The Mentalist, elementary, The Walking Dead, the Australian streaming drama,
The Last Anniversary just this year. But you've also directed
four films Siam Sunset, uh, tenderness, hide and seek are
and swim fans. So you've had quite a prolific career
(32:22):
for somebody who didn't go to film school and quite
a prolific acting career, which has included all sorts of
things like the miniseries Vietnam and Barlow and Chambers, A
Long Way Home, The Sum of Us. Many People remember
you opposite Russell Crowe in that great film, The Boys,
Mission Impossible two, and just fairly recently, The Dry as well.
So and you didn't go to acting school as well.
So there's a lot of drive to establish your own
(32:44):
career as an actor and director. It's amazing you've had
time to actually be a film festival, you know, creator
of this great film festival as well.
S3 (32:53):
Yeah, I appreciate it, Gary. I when you rattle it
off like that, it does, it does. I you know, I'm,
I'm proud of some of the stuff I've done, but
I'm also a certain age. It's like at this point
you better have done something. Um, but, uh, yeah, it's, it's, um,
it's been a balance, to be honest. There have been
times where I've thought, wow, if I didn't put all
(33:15):
this energy into Tropfest, I could put it into my career.
But honestly, I love Tropfest, I love Tropfest, and it's
it's more than half my age now to it's literally
more than half my life. I don't mind saying I, I'm,
I turned 60 this year and I started when I
was 27. So it's obviously a big legacy to me.
(33:36):
I truly love directing and producing and acting as well,
so I don't want to take anything away from that.
But what Tropfest does give me, it gives me a
lot of the creative outlet stuff. But I also love
I love the sort of challenge of creative thinking around,
how are we going to do this? Because this is impossible.
(33:56):
How are we going to convince this person to give
us this support or this money or whatever it is?
And there's that part of my brain that doesn't really
get as exercised with the directing. I mean, it probably
does with the producing television. It's a similar part of
the brain. But yeah, it's kind of a great balance
for me. But it also it also is not about me.
(34:19):
You know, the directing stuff, um, is wonderful and it's
a pretty traditional career in that sense. But the idea
of building a platform that springboards other people, younger people,
people that are recognize myself in, I mean, what's what's
better than that, you know? Yeah. What's better? What's better
(34:41):
than running into someone at a party, maybe even LA,
who says, hey, uh, you know, I won and blah blah, blah,
or even I was a finalist in the late 90s,
and you don't know this, but that changed my life.
And here I am, and I'm doing not that LA
is the be all, end all, but it might be LA.
I'm doing this and that and it's made a huge impact.
(35:03):
I mean, in a weird way, that gives me a
lot more satisfaction or a different satisfaction than, then say
making a TV show or something that people have enjoyed.
S2 (35:15):
Just to finish off with. Is there one particular year
at Tropfest that you thought, wow, this is everything's come together.
This is magnificent. And one year where you look back
and think, wow, that was awful.
S3 (35:28):
Um, well, I'm a glass half full guy, so I'm
sure there has been a terrible year that I've blocked out.
So it's hard for me to think about that one. Um, no, actually,
I'll give you a year there. Yeah. The good, the good,
the positive year might have been the domain when we
first rocked up to the domain, I think it would
(35:50):
have been 2000.
S2 (35:51):
Okay.
S3 (35:52):
You know, which was still very young. When you think
about it, only seven years in. Um, and, um, you know,
we'd started the trop. We went to Rushcutters Bay Park.
They said, you're never going to feel Rushcutters Bay Park.
We outgrew Rushcutters Bay Park in two years. And then
I said, we're going to the domain. And that's when
they really wanted to sit me down and say, dude,
(36:13):
you're out of your mind. You like you need some
serious medication. Um, there's just no way. Short Film festival
is going to fill the domain. And I didn't believe
it either, to be honest. But I said, let's just
go for it, you know? And that that year, when
I rocked up that day and it was packed. I mean,
you couldn't move. And all the naysayers had said, there's
(36:34):
no way people aren't interested in short films. Like, not
at that, not at that level. So that was I
would say, if it was 2000, that that year was
pretty amazing in terms of, you know, if I had
to pick one year, um, I've only skipped trophies or
maybe twice. Okay. And for work reasons, just like I
(36:56):
literally couldn't get out of it. And it's never a
good idea because as much as we have an amazing team,
you sort of you need to be around, you know,
and I filmed one a year that I wasn't there.
And I'm not saying that's why it won either, because
as I said, I'm not on the I'm not on
the jury. But I feel like and I can't even
remember the name of the film. It's been homophobic, you know,
(37:20):
it was a bit, um, maybe it was even transphobic.
I don't remember the details, but it was not our
finest moment. And we got a lot of criticism, which
at the time was really painful, but in hindsight kind
of had to happen. Um, that was not a big
(37:41):
moment for us. You know, that was I think it
was Centennial Park. Like I said, the only silver lining
for me, as it happened to be one of two
years that I just didn't, wasn't there for work reasons, um,
but that was a good navel gazing moment where I thought,
you know what? We should be doing better. This can't
become a boys club. This can't become, um, you know,
(38:05):
about films that maybe don't I deserve to be to
have a platform to win just because I don't know
they're popular for a moment or they, um, they tap
into a certain part of the crowd or whatever it is. Um, so, yeah,
that was, uh, that was not a that was not
(38:25):
our finest moment, but onwards.
S2 (38:27):
Yeah. And, uh, but there are many other memorable moments,
so many top fests. I've covered it for many years.
And each year there was just a tremendous buzz in
the park. And, uh, you were people were talking about
it for weeks afterwards. Uh, it's been great talking to
you again, John. Uh, we wish you all the best
with this next, uh, version of Tropfest. I hope it's
(38:48):
a great success. Uh, and hope that you unearth some
great filmmakers there as well. So thanks for talking to us.
S3 (38:53):
Thanks so much, Gary. I really, really appreciate your support.
S1 (38:59):
That was actor, director and Tropfest founder John Poulson, speaking
with Sydney Morning Herald senior writer Garry Maddox for the
latest good weekend talks. If you enjoyed this episode, please
remember to subscribe, rate and comment wherever you get your
podcasts and keep tuning in for more compelling conversations. Coming soon!
We chat to former TV personality and comedian Tanya Lacey,
(39:22):
an Aussie broadcast star of the 1980s, about the drama
and trauma associated with crashing out of that career and
picking up the pieces decades later. Good Weekend Talks is
brought to you by the Sydney Morning Herald and The
Age proud newsrooms powered by subscriptions to support independent journalism. Search,
subscribe Sydney Morning Herald or The Age? This episode of
(39:45):
Good Weekend Talks is produced by Konrad Marshall and edited
by Tim Mummery, with technical assistance from Kai Wong. Our
executive producer is Tammy Mills. Tom McKendrick is head of
audio and Melissa Stevens is the editor of Good Weekend.
Hi, I'm Konrad Marshall and from the Sydney Morning Herald
and The Age. Welcome to Good Weekend Talks, a magazine
for your ears, featuring in-depth conversations with fascinating people from
sport and politics, science and culture, business and beyond. Every week,
you can download new episodes in which top journalists from
across our newsrooms talk to compelling people about the definitive
(00:35):
stories of the day. In this episode, we talk to
John Paulson. You might know him from acting in such
films as The Sum of Us, The Boys, Mission Impossible two,
and more recently, The Dry. Or you might know him
from some of the TV series he's directed, including The Mentalist, elementary,
The Walking Dead and the Australian streaming drama The Last Anniversary.
(00:58):
But you might not know the remarkable story behind Tropfest.
Long described as the world's biggest short film festival, which
Polson founded and is bringing back after a six year absence.
The Australian director, producer and actor, who has been based
in New York since 1999, founded the festival when a
screening of a short film he made drew a surprisingly
(01:19):
big crowd at the Tropicana Cafe in Sydney's Darlinghurst in 1993.
It expanded into a summer staple, an outdoor film festival
beamed around the country with celebrity judges like Nicole Kidman,
Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett and Keanu Reeves, and one that
gave a break to a long list of film and
TV talents who had made short films. Just days after
(01:43):
entries opened for the latest incarnation of the film festival.
Polson talks about the high profile team helping him revive it,
how he landed Margot Robbie as jury president, and the
highs and controversial lows he's experienced over Tropfest colourful history.
Poulson is the subject of a feature story in Good
Weekend this Saturday. Renaissance Man and hosting this conversation is
(02:07):
the journalist behind that piece, Sydney Morning Herald senior writer
Gary Maddocks.
S2 (02:13):
Thanks, Conrad, and welcome, John.
S3 (02:15):
Hey, thanks for having me, Gary.
S2 (02:16):
I guess the first question for a lot of fans
of Tropfest is will the new Tropfest be as good
as the old Tropfest?
S3 (02:23):
Well, I'm a little bit biased. I think it's going
to be better. And trust me, I love the Tropfest,
but but um, I think I think what's interesting is
all of the great stuff about Tropfest, and there's a
lot of it, I think it's fair to say, um,
it's going to be the same, you know, the films.
And I've just started to see the films, which is
pretty exciting. Um, and, you know, the Live the big
(02:45):
live free event, the celebration of young, emerging Australian talent.
I mean, all that stuff. None of that's changing. Um,
but yeah, I mean, there's a there's a lot of, uh,
you know, it's sort of it's it's almost like the
old Tropfest on steroids in a lot of ways. I mean,
we announced recently, I think everybody knows Margot Robbie is
(03:06):
the president of the jury. So that's incredible for us.
S2 (03:10):
A great kid.
S3 (03:11):
Yeah. Yeah. A lot of amazing stuff happening.
S2 (03:13):
Yeah. And also, you've got a really high powered team
behind Tropfest. The revival of Tropfest. Sarah Murdoch's the Chair.
S3 (03:20):
Absolutely. Sarah's the chair. Peter V'landys is on the board.
The amazing Peter V'landys, Brian Brown.
S2 (03:26):
Brian Brown Peter V'landys, of course, is known in New
South Wales for his, uh, administration of racing and rugby league.
So very high profile sports and, and uh, entertainment figure.
S3 (03:37):
Yeah, just an amazing partner on this event because he
comes from quite a different world, obviously. But, uh, that's
one of the things I love about it. When we
put our heads together, you know, I bring my sort of, uh, experience,
I guess, from sort of arts and culture world. And
he brings his incredible experience. And between the two of
us and the rest of the board, we We make
a bit of magic together. It's been good.
S2 (03:58):
Yeah. Uh, Tropfest last ran in 2019. Then we had Covid.
Were you concerned that Tropfest might never come back?
S3 (04:05):
Oh, absolutely. You know, as each as each year went by,
it seemed harder and harder. You know, this is a
big event with a lot of momentum after whatever it
was 25 years at the time. Um, and you sort
of don't realise when Covid hit and when we hit
the pause button, you kind of assume, oh, well, we'll
just hit the pause button when the time comes. But,
(04:29):
you know, people move on. It's just it's like it's
like a massive boulder that's been rolling for 30 years.
And once it stops, uh, it's a little misleading how
hard it is to get it going again. And then
the years sort of piled up, to be honest with you, Covid,
Covid sort of came and went, um, and still I
(04:49):
was and it was hard because, you know, I'm based
in New York, as I think some people know. So
I was also working long distance on this event that
lives and breathes mostly in Australia. Um, so yeah, it
was very challenging. The idea of how we're going to
get it back. And as each day went by, I
felt further and further away. And I'll be honest, there
were moments, many moments I walked around pretty sad, thinking
(05:12):
maybe this thing's really done and I'd run into people
who knew it, or even into some of the filmmakers
that had benefited from it. And, um, that made me
even sadder because they're all like, hey, how's it going?
When's it coming back? And I put a brave face
on it, but deep down I was like, honestly, this
is this is hard. Unless I'm going to go move
out to Australia for six months or a year and
(05:33):
try and figure this out. I don't know how to
do this. And that's when I got that, uh, fateful
email from Brian Brown.
S2 (05:40):
That's right. Brian Brown had already been in touch, uh,
had been in contact with Peter V'landys. Peter V'landys came
up with the idea that having spoken to a young, uh,
budding filmmaker who was out of university. He'd learnt that
there's not a similar pathway for success as into the
industry pathway into the industry as there was. There is in, say,
(06:02):
racing or rugby league. Ah, he came up with the
idea of a short film festival, spoke to Sarah Murdoch,
spoke to Brian Brown and the idea came up was, well,
why should we create a new one if Tropfest already
existed and they reached out to you and you were
immediately interested?
S3 (06:18):
Absolutely. I'd had quite a few approaches over the years, but, um,
you can sort of tell almost straight away someone wants
to take it and do something different with it. Maybe.
Let's put a fence up, let's put ticket prices and
all that. So that never felt right. So it wasn't
it wasn't like I wasn't feeling, you know, opportunities. But
when Brian reached out, Brian in particular was the first email.
(06:41):
And obviously I've known Sarah for a very long time
as well. I didn't know Peter, and I did know
Rich Weinberg, who's also on on the board. Um, I
didn't know him as well as as, say, Brian. Um,
but it became clear that this was the moment I'd
been waiting for, because these were people who firstly understood
(07:03):
the event and wanted to bring it back, um, in
a way that would reflect what it stood for. And definitely,
you know, I've, I've never want to just bring it
out of a sort of a vacuum that it's been in.
I want this to be future facing and not be
stuck in. You know, I don't want to live in
(07:25):
some reminiscent version of Tropfest. Um, but I do want
to keep some of the core things or really all
the cool things the same. Um, so when I got
that email and when they mentioned the words not for
profit to that sort of, uh, was that that definitely
got my attention as well, because that felt right for Tropfest.
It's something, frankly, we'd we'd been trying to do for
(07:47):
the last few years and we hadn't really got there.
S2 (07:51):
You started Tropfest out of the Tropicana Cafe when you
wanted to screen a short film that you'd made way
back in 1993. How how did it develop into this
phenomenon where it the venues kept getting bigger, the crowds
kept getting bigger. It became such a perpetual state of,
you know, perpetual part of the summer calendar that everybody
(08:12):
really looked forward to Tropfest. If they weren't making films,
they were turning up picnic blankets and, uh, and watching
the films, it became this amazing, you know, a huge
event with this amazing energy around it.
S3 (08:25):
Yeah. The truth is, I don't really know. It was
kind of a perfect storm I do. So Tropfest started
by accident and that's very true. I had no I'd
love to sit here and say, oh, you know, I
sat down one day there should be this festival that
looks like this and supports that. But the truth is,
I was a young I was 26, 27. I was
(08:47):
really primarily an actor, but I really wanted to be
a director. I'd made a few short films. Some were
worse than others. Um, but all of them were relatively mediocre.
And I made this one film called Surry Hills Nano2
Spring Roll. Um, which I thought was a funny title,
and it was a mockumentary based on. It was kind
(09:08):
of like taking that show cops and making it into
but about food deliverers. I had a friend who was
a food courier, you know, and he told me some
funny stories about delivering lukewarm spring rolls and getting into
fistfights about it and stuff like that. And I thought, oh,
that sounds like a movie to me. Um, keep in mind,
I was sitting around the Tropicana Cafe with not a
(09:29):
lot going on as a young actor, so I was
sort of looking for ideas. Made this film. When it
came time to screen it, I called all the local
cinemas and they wanted a thousand bucks, which I'd never
really seen a thousand bucks in one place before I was,
I was an actor, like I said, and I came
from a somewhat, you know, working class family. So I
(09:50):
couldn't afford a cinema. But I went to the owner
of the Tropicana Cafe on a sort of a spur
of the moment. I said, listen, I've made this movie.
A lot of it's shot here. Do you mind if
I just put a TV in that corner and have
a cast and crew screening? So that's how it started.
And it was never meant to be more than that.
But at the end of that screening where I showed
(10:11):
up that night expecting maybe 20 or 30 people, and
there was a couple hundred, maybe more like crowding. So
much so, Gary, that really benefited the film because you
couldn't see or hear it. And as a result, it was, uh,
it was decided that it was quite brilliant. Um, and
I can guarantee sitting in a quiet room watching that film.
(10:32):
Not so much. Um, but anyway, somebody nudged me and said, oh,
we should do a festival. So I got up on
a chair and said, you know, then people were going wild. Um,
because they'd just seen their own cafe, their own people.
There's a scene in the movie I remember where the guy,
the food courier, delivery orders, orders, a coffee at the counter,
(10:54):
and the guy who gives him the coffee was the
same guy working that night. Aldo. Um, so people were
just going bananas, and I got their attention and said, okay,
we're going to have a festival. Here's the deadline. It's
in three months. You've all got to make films, and
I'm going to get more than one television. Trust me,
I'm going to I'm going to make this big. And
(11:15):
that was the end of that night. And then I
woke up the next morning. I wasn't really drinking or anything.
It was almost like a Tropicana hangover where I thought,
what did I just do? But maybe they'll forget about it. Um,
and nobody forgot about it. Everywhere I went, I couldn't
walk the streets without somebody saying, oh, I was there
the other night. I'm really excited about the event. You
(11:36):
should do this. You should do that. You should put
a big screen. And all I remember thinking is like, well,
why don't you do it? Why do I have to
do it? I mean, I wanted to be an actor. Um,
so it was sort of the reluctant festival director would
be the name of that chapter. And, you know, we
we did have that first one, and I had no
idea there was no system. There was no website. Of course,
(11:57):
in those days, there was nothing. I showed up on
the night. I did find four televisions I got them for.
I think it was 240 bucks in North Ryde. It
was the cheapest place. I got on the Yellow Pages
and found them. I borrowed my dad's tarago. I went
and picked him up and brought him to the Tropicana
and uh, had no idea if anyone would even remember.
(12:18):
I had put a few posters up and stuff and
like I said, occasionally he'd walk around the streets and
somebody would be shooting a movie and they'd look over
at me and go, oh, there he is! Hey, this
is for the festival and that kind of stuff. And, um,
when I got there on the night and set up
those TVs, there was literally 1000 or 1200 people just
(12:40):
out on the street. Obviously, at this point, the traffic
couldn't get past, the cops showed up and it just
went bananas, you know, and they tried to shut it down.
And fortunately, I talked him into letting it letting it
keep going. And, um, the rest is kind of history.
S2 (12:57):
Why was there such an appetite for short films, or
was it that Sydney needed an event, a film based event?
S3 (13:03):
That's a really good question. I think it was, like
I said, a bit of a perfect storm. So you
have firstly, it's free, right? Which I like to say
is my favorite price. So it wasn't, it wasn't like, uh,
it wasn't like uh, it was clearly not a price
gouge where it wasn't a commercial thing. So that was
part of it. But more importantly, there were these young, emerging,
(13:28):
very talented, often filmmakers with nowhere to show what their
talent was, you know, and I can say I, I,
I auditioned, if you will, or whatever interviewed for the
film schools at the time and didn't get in. They
only chose about four people a year. Thousands of people
would try to get into those spots. So what about
(13:50):
all the others you know, and including me and all
the people at those early Tropfest? So I think it
was just a big and very Australian. I always say
this event, although it's had success globally, it can never
actually start in another country. It's too crazy. You know,
let me spend a lot of money on equipment charge.
(14:12):
Nothing for the tickets have kind of nobody filmmakers get
into it. I mean, it's just insane. But in a way,
it's very Australian because we are such, um, we're such
supporters and such celebrators of the underdog. And it's a
classic underdog story. You know, the people have come out
of trophies and gone on to bigger and better things.
(14:33):
I mean, they'd be the first to tell you the
day before they're winning trophies. They were they were just
people walking the streets with dreams and ambitions, but no
real place to show them. So I think that's how
it all really started, and that's what people loved about
it and still love about it.
S2 (14:50):
Okay, was there one particular Tropfest where a talent emerged
who may have won it or won a prize there
that you thought, wow, this is putting someone on the
right path that so many people followed in the footsteps
of later.
S3 (15:04):
Well, honestly, not to dodge the question. There have been
so many examples of people coming through and I could
sort of list the names, but an early one, since
you bring it up, I believe it was in Tropfest. Um,
95 I want to say very, very early on. And
(15:27):
up until then, don't forget this is only like year three.
We started in 93.
S2 (15:31):
Yep.
S3 (15:32):
So, you know, it's fair to say that the films
were of questionable quality in the early days. There was
no there was no sort of, um, filtering process. You know,
if you made a film you got in first year
we made there were nine people made films so that,
you know, some are better than others, let's put it
like that. And then about 95, a guy called Gregor
(15:54):
Jordan made a film called swinger. And to this day
it gets a lot, a lot of talk swinger.
S2 (16:02):
It's a great film.
S3 (16:03):
It's a great film. It's one shot. It's quite a
brilliant idea. I want to try to pitch it here.
People should just go to our Tropfest, our YouTube channel
and check it out. So that was an amazing moment
and that brought the house down, if you will. Even
though we're out in the street by then, brought the
street down. Um, but what was really interesting is about
(16:25):
a month later, Gregor with that same film, got into
the Cannes Film Festival. I think he might have won
a prize. So, you know, that really helped put put
us on the map in the sense that like, oh, wow.
Wait a minute. You can make a film. Get it
in your office. Maybe win. And I don't know. I
don't remember the details whether the winning of trophies had
(16:48):
any impact. I mean, it can. I don't think they
really gave a crap about Tropfest, obviously, but it sort
of got a lot of publicity at the same time.
It might have helped. And, um, so that was a
very early example of somebody. And then of course, Greg
went on to a pretty big career making films with
the likes of Joaquin Phoenix and all the rest of it.
So he was a very early example, but we've had
(17:10):
countless examples.
S2 (17:11):
Two hands, I think he made four years later, wrote
and directed that. And that's, you know, now, a classic
Australian film.
S3 (17:16):
He made two hands, he made Buffalo Soldiers and others.
So yeah, it really, I think, and not to speak
for Greg, but I think he would and I know
he would because he came to our launch a couple
of months ago and I think he did a video
for us. I think he would say that was a
big moment for him, and it set him on a
set him on a path.
S2 (17:44):
You, of course, appeared in a Tropfest winning film, Nash
edgerton's deadline. Ah, that was interesting that you, as the
festival director would appear in a film. And I gather
you decided after that that you wouldn't.
S3 (17:56):
Yeah. That was a tricky moment. Um, very tricky moment.
And I don't expect anyone to believe what I'm about
to say.
S2 (18:04):
Let me just tell them about the film. The film? Firstly,
Nash is a brilliant, uh, director. Now, uh, you know, Mr.
Inbetween is part of his, uh, work, uh, a couple
of features as well. The square, uh, he made a film.
He's also a stuntman. Uh, and he made a film
about getting his Tropfest entry to the Tropfest office in
(18:27):
time for the deadline. And once he arrives there, we
won't give away the punch line. But you're there, uh,
seeing him at the, uh, at the office. So ahead.
S3 (18:36):
So very briefly, the very quick back story is Nash
came to me a week before the we happened to
be in the same building. Right. I rented a very,
very small space for 90 bucks a week on Bayswater Road,
which was the Tropfest headquarters. And when I say it
was about a it's probably a meter and a half
by three meters. That's how small it was. Just me
(18:57):
and a desk. Um, and Nash was in the same building,
and I didn't really know him that well. But, you know,
he's a filmmaker and I was a filmmaker or whatever,
so we'd sort of actor. So we kind of say hi,
very friendly. He comes in one day and I'll keep
it short. But he says, listen, I want to enter
my film, blah, blah, blah, some other movie. And I said, Nash,
(19:18):
I love that film, but wasn't that on it? Flickerfest
the other week? And he said, yeah. And I said, no, look, dude,
that's not really the point of Tropfest. We're trying to
get people to make films. This isn't meant to be.
Just dig your film out of the bottom drawer and
let me put it up there For me, making films
and continuing make films is what's going to make you
(19:38):
better in films. So the one of our rules is
we don't take films that have been seen before, and
he kind of looked a bit downhearted and walked off.
And about 20 minutes later he came back and he said, listen,
all right, I'm going to make a new film. And
I said, okay, you realise the deadline's in a week, right?
He said, yeah. He said, I've got an idea for it.
(19:59):
But there's one catch. You've got to be in it.
And I said, well, all right, yeah, okay, I'll do that.
I'm at that point, you know, I was too stupid
to know that was probably not the greatest idea. And
keep in mind, Tropfest was very, very small. It was a,
you know, a couple thousand people would come at that
point or whatever. So I said, sure, and I didn't
even think it would get in. Not that anything against Nash,
(20:21):
but at that point it was starting to get pretty competitive.
I thought, I'll just throw him a bone. I said,
how long is it going to take? He said, about
an hour. I said, fine, no worries. I didn't ask
what the idea was or anything. Then he made the
film and as you saw the film, without giving it away,
I appear in the end of the film. Lo and behold,
it sails right through all the pre-selection, which I kind
(20:42):
of oversee. But I think and this is part of
saying I don't expect people to believe me. I, I
was very nervous about this because I did think it
was a bit questionable that the festival director would be
in the film. Anyway. It sails through all the pre-selection
process gets into the finals. So now I'm starting to
get pretty uncomfortable, but I'm thinking there's no way it's
(21:03):
going to win, right? There's 16 films. There's no way.
Even though I thought it was good. Um, not obviously
because of my contribution, which was minimal. But anyway, the
night of the festival comes along, we're out on the street.
I've got a big sheet up for a for a screen.
That's that's how early it was. And a projector and
stuff and 7000 people out there. And I remember the
(21:25):
panel was pretty impressive. George Miller was on the panel.
And others like 4 or 5 pretty big time people.
So we have the night, they do the scores and
then we always have a bit of a chat before.
Now all the crowd stampeding and, you know, wanting to
know who the winner is. Because one of the great
things about trophies is all very live. So you get
(21:46):
five minutes between the last film and getting up on
the stage. Otherwise they're going to riot and destroy the street.
So and I'm not a judge. I want to make
that really clear. I've never been a judge at Tropfest.
I'm just a director. I choose the judges and then
they do their thing. So we always have a bit
of a chat before, so we can sort of write
down on the cards who's won and whatever, and we
(22:07):
get down to who's won and they say deadline. And
I say, and I've told this story, I don't feel
especially proud of it because I, I did try to
change the results. I, I said, guys, um, we've got
a problem. And they're like, what do you mean? And
I'm like, well, I'm in the film. This is a disaster.
(22:29):
Are you saying that? And they said, oh, okay, okay. Well,
let us think about it. What I said, I said, look,
I don't want to change it, whatever. But that's this
is going to be I mean, look at the crowd.
They're going to go crazy and not in a good way.
So George and others agreed to just rethink it for
a minute or two. I said, like, do your thing.
You guys are the judges, but just bear that in
(22:50):
the back of your mind. They came back to me
a couple of minutes later and this is this is gospel.
I remember like it was last night and they said, hey,
we hear you. And we do think it's a bit
of a problem, but we also don't think it's fair
that the best film doesn't win. And I said, all right, well,
(23:12):
it's been nice knowing you and I'll get up there
and we'll, you know, we'll announce it. And that's what happened.
And people, people went bananas. I think half the people
went bananas because it really was a great film. And
and the response on the night, which was all about Tropfest. Trophies, right?
You can watch these films in a room and maybe
pick different winners, but when you watch them in front
(23:34):
of the crowd and when when that happens at the
end of that film. They went ballistic that night. And
that's why that's what the judges responded to. So he
got up on the night. Half the people went bananas
in a really good way. Half of them called out.
It was rigged. And of course, nobody understands. I'm not
one of the judges. Little did they know, I tried
to talk him out of it. Um, but yeah, for
(23:55):
the next really few years, I would walk around the
street and we had a stigma for a long time
that Tropfest was rigged, and the only Paulson's friends get
in and only Paulson's friends win and all this sort
of stuff, which is pretty ironic when you really know
the true story. But that's what happened. And obviously from
that day forward, I've never appeared in Tropfest film.
S2 (24:17):
That's a great story. Uh, you mentioned George Miller, and, uh,
one of the great things about Tropfest, there are many
the sort of democratic nature of it, the kind of
the live event nature of it, the fact that it's
in a park and that it was also it also
got live streamed to other cities as well and was
often on TV as well. But one of the great
things is you get some very high profile judges who
(24:40):
just come along as they're down to earth selves, uh, and, uh,
vote on the films. Just enjoy the experience, just like
everybody else. Uh, some of them were actors that you've
worked with in the past, like Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe.
But there are also some, you know, people who are
in town making films or, uh, you know, in town
for other reasons. Keanu Reeves, one year, Salma Hayek, uh,
(25:02):
how important were the judges to this sort of success
of Tropfest, and how hard was it to get them?
S3 (25:08):
Well, I think they're very important. I mean, if I
had to pick three elements that have made it a
sort of a success, three ingredients, it's definitely the filmmakers.
I'd start with that, the talent and the incredible. And
I'm not saying, listen, I'm not saying they're all like that.
But when you see a therapist, Jen, there's really nothing
(25:28):
like it. I've always said it's so much insulting to
think of a short film as like a short film.
It's its own art form, you know? And when there's
a good one. And one of the great things about
short film is you can take one tiny little idea
and really expand it. Can't do that with a feature film, right?
You've got two hours to fill. You've got to really
(25:48):
tell a big story. But with a short film you can.
And don't forget the maximum seven minutes a minute. There's
no minimum. We've had great films that are a minute,
45 seconds, two minutes, whatever. So the films is number one.
Number two, I really believe the the free quality of it,
not because people are cheap, but because they sort of
(26:10):
see that as a bit of a gift to the city.
And they, like I said before, they can see it's
not it's not a commercial money grab, you know, with
so many things are these days, you think about it. Listen,
no one loves somebody and I won't mention names. These big,
these big, um, massive singers as much as me. But,
I mean, the ticket prices are insane. They're insane. I mean,
(26:32):
I don't know what it's like here, but in America,
thousands of dollars to go and see if that's not
a money grab. Like what is. So I think when
Tropfest is free, that's a massive part of it. The
third thing is we do get big names and whether
we want to admit it or not, people kind of
like a bit of celebrity. I'm a bit the same,
(26:53):
you know, like everybody, frankly, I know a lot of
celebrities who are name droppers. Um, you know who? And
you're like, hey, you're such and such. How the hell
do you get excited about something? But, you know, we
all like to to see people that have talent that
we've seen on screen or whatever, or we just admire
from a distance. It's great. So it's a big deal
(27:16):
how hard it is. Your second question, it's incredibly hard.
It's incredibly hard. It's it's a lot of work. It's
a big part of my year this year. You know,
I've spent most of the last few months lining up
people to come. And it's not that people don't want
to do it. Schedules are hard. In the case of Tropfest,
(27:38):
a lot of people do know Tropfest. A lot of
people don't know Tropfest. And again, not to keep harping
on about the money thing. People get in a letter
about being a judge at a festival. They often don't
know that it's a not for profit, that we really
are just trying to support emerging filmmakers and whatever. So
you sort of got to go through that conversation. It
(27:58):
really does help that it is a not for profit,
because you can sort of make make that. Yeah. It
helps to have Sarah as our chair and the rest
of the board, because people tend to know people who
know people and stuff, but there's nothing easy about it.
If you want to get, you know, a big name
at Tropfest or any event. You know one thing, the
(28:19):
only silver lining is because Tropfest Catastrophist is a one
weekend thing, whereas a usual most festival Sydney festival. It's
two weeks. You really have to have judges sticking around
for a long time. So that's our one benefit is
we can say, hey, you don't have to watch anything
before you arrive. There's no there's no homework to do.
You know, you show up, watch the movies live with
(28:40):
the crowd, score, and get the hell out of there.
So that has helped us. And I think that's been
part of why we've had incredible names. But every year
is is a wrestle. Um, I never rest and go, oh,
we'll be fine. It's, you know, but then again, once
you get a Margot like we did in the last week,
it definitely makes it a bit easier, because now I
(29:01):
can go and say, hey, Margot's the president of the jury.
Do you want to join? It's a slightly different conversation than.
S2 (29:07):
What's in it for her. John, when you spoke to her, what?
You know, she's hugely successful since Barbie as both a
star and a producer. Um, you know, what's a night?
You know, in a park surrounded by 60 000 people. Um,
you know, watching films and deciding very quickly with a
group of other judges which is the best. What's in
(29:29):
it for her?
S3 (29:30):
That's a great question, Gary. I can't answer for Margo,
and I felt like she would have to answer. But
I can tell you what's in it for a lot
of other people that I know have done it before.
A lot of people feel like they've, you know, you know,
they've got a lot out of the film industry. They've
had a successful career. They've built, you know, something really.
(29:52):
They've built a legacy. Um, they've been paid quite well,
whatever it is. And they and they remember what it's
like to be starting out, um, and they want to
be part of that. I mean, I find most people
are good people, period. I don't care how big or
small or famous or not they are. Most most people
(30:15):
are really decent people, so the hard part isn't convincing
them once you get there. The hard part is getting
to them and and all that. But I think what's
in it for them? In the case of Margo and
I'm just speculating here, Margo is an incredible actor, but
she's also a producer with a production company. I would
(30:35):
take a wild guess that she's very curious to see
who's coming up. Some young ideas. What's great about Tropfest is, um,
people often don't know the rules, let alone so they
end up breaking the rules without even realizing it. And
that can be a wonderful thing. So again, I'm speculating,
but I know a lot of people have done Tropfest
want to see who's coming up, they want to support,
(30:57):
they remember their days of struggling and the case of
someone like me, and I've had a little bit of
a career of my own. I kind of wish there
was a Tropfest when I was starting out, because it
might have made things a lot easier, and I think
a lot of people feel the same way. Um, and
it's just, you know, and especially for the Aussies. Um,
(31:20):
there's a certain pride around Tropfest, I think, because it
was born here and, you know, I remember there was
this great email that circulated a few years ago. How
do you know you're an Aussie? You know, you know,
you know, you love Vegemite. You do this, you do
that at number 11 or whatever was something like, you
know what Tropfest is and you and you love it
(31:42):
or something. So I think I think a lot of
the Aussies feel a sense of which I embrace sense
of ownership and a sense of celebration around it. And again,
not speaking for me at all, but I can tell
you from past experiences, those are some of the reasons
people want to be a judge.
S2 (31:59):
Yeah. Uh, I'll tell listeners who don't know about your
own directing career. You've done a lot of television. American TV,
The Mentalist, elementary, The Walking Dead, the Australian streaming drama,
The Last Anniversary just this year. But you've also directed
four films Siam Sunset, uh, tenderness, hide and seek are
and swim fans. So you've had quite a prolific career
(32:22):
for somebody who didn't go to film school and quite
a prolific acting career, which has included all sorts of
things like the miniseries Vietnam and Barlow and Chambers, A
Long Way Home, The Sum of Us. Many People remember
you opposite Russell Crowe in that great film, The Boys,
Mission Impossible two, and just fairly recently, The Dry as well.
So and you didn't go to acting school as well.
So there's a lot of drive to establish your own
(32:44):
career as an actor and director. It's amazing you've had
time to actually be a film festival, you know, creator
of this great film festival as well.
S3 (32:53):
Yeah, I appreciate it, Gary. I when you rattle it
off like that, it does, it does. I you know, I'm,
I'm proud of some of the stuff I've done, but
I'm also a certain age. It's like at this point
you better have done something. Um, but, uh, yeah, it's, it's, um,
it's been a balance, to be honest. There have been
times where I've thought, wow, if I didn't put all
(33:15):
this energy into Tropfest, I could put it into my career.
But honestly, I love Tropfest, I love Tropfest, and it's
it's more than half my age now to it's literally
more than half my life. I don't mind saying I, I'm,
I turned 60 this year and I started when I
was 27. So it's obviously a big legacy to me.
(33:36):
I truly love directing and producing and acting as well,
so I don't want to take anything away from that.
But what Tropfest does give me, it gives me a
lot of the creative outlet stuff. But I also love
I love the sort of challenge of creative thinking around,
how are we going to do this? Because this is impossible.
(33:56):
How are we going to convince this person to give
us this support or this money or whatever it is?
And there's that part of my brain that doesn't really
get as exercised with the directing. I mean, it probably
does with the producing television. It's a similar part of
the brain. But yeah, it's kind of a great balance
for me. But it also it also is not about me.
(34:19):
You know, the directing stuff, um, is wonderful and it's
a pretty traditional career in that sense. But the idea
of building a platform that springboards other people, younger people,
people that are recognize myself in, I mean, what's what's
better than that, you know? Yeah. What's better? What's better
(34:41):
than running into someone at a party, maybe even LA,
who says, hey, uh, you know, I won and blah blah, blah,
or even I was a finalist in the late 90s,
and you don't know this, but that changed my life.
And here I am, and I'm doing not that LA
is the be all, end all, but it might be LA.
I'm doing this and that and it's made a huge impact.
(35:03):
I mean, in a weird way, that gives me a
lot more satisfaction or a different satisfaction than, then say
making a TV show or something that people have enjoyed.
S2 (35:15):
Just to finish off with. Is there one particular year
at Tropfest that you thought, wow, this is everything's come together.
This is magnificent. And one year where you look back
and think, wow, that was awful.
S3 (35:28):
Um, well, I'm a glass half full guy, so I'm
sure there has been a terrible year that I've blocked out.
So it's hard for me to think about that one. Um, no, actually,
I'll give you a year there. Yeah. The good, the good,
the positive year might have been the domain when we
first rocked up to the domain, I think it would
(35:50):
have been 2000.
S2 (35:51):
Okay.
S3 (35:52):
You know, which was still very young. When you think
about it, only seven years in. Um, and, um, you know,
we'd started the trop. We went to Rushcutters Bay Park.
They said, you're never going to feel Rushcutters Bay Park.
We outgrew Rushcutters Bay Park in two years. And then
I said, we're going to the domain. And that's when
they really wanted to sit me down and say, dude,
(36:13):
you're out of your mind. You like you need some
serious medication. Um, there's just no way. Short Film festival
is going to fill the domain. And I didn't believe
it either, to be honest. But I said, let's just
go for it, you know? And that that year, when
I rocked up that day and it was packed. I mean,
you couldn't move. And all the naysayers had said, there's
(36:34):
no way people aren't interested in short films. Like, not
at that, not at that level. So that was I
would say, if it was 2000, that that year was
pretty amazing in terms of, you know, if I had
to pick one year, um, I've only skipped trophies or
maybe twice. Okay. And for work reasons, just like I
(36:56):
literally couldn't get out of it. And it's never a
good idea because as much as we have an amazing team,
you sort of you need to be around, you know,
and I filmed one a year that I wasn't there.
And I'm not saying that's why it won either, because
as I said, I'm not on the I'm not on
the jury. But I feel like and I can't even
remember the name of the film. It's been homophobic, you know,
(37:20):
it was a bit, um, maybe it was even transphobic.
I don't remember the details, but it was not our
finest moment. And we got a lot of criticism, which
at the time was really painful, but in hindsight kind
of had to happen. Um, that was not a big
(37:41):
moment for us. You know, that was I think it
was Centennial Park. Like I said, the only silver lining
for me, as it happened to be one of two
years that I just didn't, wasn't there for work reasons, um,
but that was a good navel gazing moment where I thought,
you know what? We should be doing better. This can't
become a boys club. This can't become, um, you know,
(38:05):
about films that maybe don't I deserve to be to
have a platform to win just because I don't know
they're popular for a moment or they, um, they tap
into a certain part of the crowd or whatever it is. Um, so, yeah,
that was, uh, that was not a that was not
(38:25):
our finest moment, but onwards.
S2 (38:27):
Yeah. And, uh, but there are many other memorable moments,
so many top fests. I've covered it for many years.
And each year there was just a tremendous buzz in
the park. And, uh, you were people were talking about
it for weeks afterwards. Uh, it's been great talking to
you again, John. Uh, we wish you all the best
with this next, uh, version of Tropfest. I hope it's
(38:48):
a great success. Uh, and hope that you unearth some
great filmmakers there as well. So thanks for talking to us.
S3 (38:53):
Thanks so much, Gary. I really, really appreciate your support.
S1 (38:59):
That was actor, director and Tropfest founder John Poulson, speaking
with Sydney Morning Herald senior writer Garry Maddox for the
latest good weekend talks. If you enjoyed this episode, please
remember to subscribe, rate and comment wherever you get your
podcasts and keep tuning in for more compelling conversations. Coming soon!
We chat to former TV personality and comedian Tanya Lacey,
(39:22):
an Aussie broadcast star of the 1980s, about the drama
and trauma associated with crashing out of that career and
picking up the pieces decades later. Good Weekend Talks is
brought to you by the Sydney Morning Herald and The
Age proud newsrooms powered by subscriptions to support independent journalism. Search,
subscribe Sydney Morning Herald or The Age? This episode of
(39:45):
Good Weekend Talks is produced by Konrad Marshall and edited
by Tim Mummery, with technical assistance from Kai Wong. Our
executive producer is Tammy Mills. Tom McKendrick is head of
audio and Melissa Stevens is the editor of Good Weekend.
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The Bobby Bones Show
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.