Digger Kelly ( Gary Sweet) and His Son Jack (Ashley Bradnam ) Are Carpenters Who Build

Subdivision.

Synopsis. Digger Kelly (Gary Sweet) and his son Jack (Ashley Bradnam) are carpenters who build homes by the sparkling waters of Hervey Bay, in southern Queensland. The Kelly family is deeply involved in the community, Digger coaches the local rugby league team with his old mate Singlet (Bruce Spence), Jack and his mate Solly (Aaron Fa’Aoso) play for the team, while mother Betty (Kris McQuade) does the books. Their world is threatened by the arrival of a corporate southern property developer led by hot young executive Tiffany (Brooke Satchwell). Digger and his crew have long relied on local property developer Harry (Steve Bisley) for work but when Harry goes belly up, the whole community is thrown into turmoil. Digger and Jack fall out and when Jack starts courting Tiffany for work, Digger accuses him of disloyalty. As the community unravels in the face of change, Jack strives to find a way out.

Production Information. From the director of “Japanese Story” and producer of “Gettin Square”, comes the new Australian comedy SUBDIVISION, which was filmed entirely on location in and around Queensland’s Hervey Bay in April 2008. The film stars and is written by Ashley Bradnam, who is one of the Breakfast Crew - Meshel, Ash & Kip with Luttsy - on Nova 106.9 in Brisbane, as well as being a regular on “The Footy Show”. During filming, Nova set up a remote studio in Hervey Bay, so that Ashley was able to check in between takes and keep listeners updated with details of the film. Co-starring are some of Australia’s finest and most loved actors including Gary Sweet, Steve Bisley, Bruce Spence, Brooke Satchwell and Kris McQuade. Sue Brooks directs the film from a screenplay by Ashley Bradnam, Janice Bradnam and Terry McCann. The producers are Trish Lake and Owen Johnston from Freshwater Pictures. Janice Bradnam is co-producer and Richard Guardian and Terry McCann are executive producers. John Stokes is director of photography, Jane Moran is editor and Nick McCallum is production designer. The film is financed by Screen Australia and the Pacific Film and Television Commision, as well as private investment. Buena Vista/Disney will distribute the film in Australia and New Zealand; Lightning Entertainment (US) are handling worldwide sales. Set in Australia’s biggest industry - the building industry - SUBDIVISION is a comedy about family, loyalty and coping with change in the modern world. Digger Kelly (Gary Sweet) and his son Jack (Ashley Bradnam) are carpenters who build homes by the sparkling waters of Hervey Bay, in southern Queensland. Their world is thrown upside down by the arrival of a corporate southern property developer led by hot young executive Tiffany

1. (Brooke Satchwell). Digger and his crew have long relied on local property developer Harry (Steve Bisley) for work but when Harry goes belly up, the whole community is thrown into turmoil. When Jack starts courting Tiffany for work, Digger accuses him of disloyalty. As the community unravels in the face of change, it’s up to Jack to find the way forward. Ashley Bradnam, had first written a film when he was in his early 20s. It was optioned but never made. Ashley then moved into a career in radio and forgot all about scriptwriting. Says Ash: “But at some point I was made redundant and had a few months off, so I thought I’d have another go at writing another screenplay.” He decided to attend a script writing seminar and the first person he saw there was his mother! She and her partner Terry had also signed up to the seminar. Says Ash: “We spent three days at the seminar together, so it made sense that we should then write the script together. Mum had an idea about the building industry and I had an idea about the culture of the community I’d grown up in, so we combined those two ideas.” The story itself comes from a true life experience. Says Jan Bradnam: “We lived in Hervey Bay and started a window company there. The story is based on an experience we had early on in our business when the local builder went broke and the knock-on effect that then had on everyone else.” Adds Ash: “It’s also a story about the people who make up the fabric of the community in Hervey Bay. I grew up there and although it’s been 20 years since I lived there, it’s still exactly the same lovely place. Most of the boys I grew up with are now part of the building industry there, and many of the characters are based on the people I knew when I was growing up.” Ashley plays Jack Kelly - Digger’s son - who is learning how to step out of his father’s shadow and become his own man. Jack features in most of the scenes in the film and Ash says that if he writes another film, he’ll be the bartender, or the mysterious guy at the back: “I didn’t think about that when I was writing the film. Then the shooting schedule came out and I discovered I would be working every day for two months, for very long hours! Although from the second I arrived on the set I just loved it and I didn’t really want it to end.” Ashley and Jan Bradnam had approached Trish Lake (“Gettin’ Square) to produce the film with them. Says Trish: “I had heard about this script and thought it sounded very interesting. Ash and Jan were looking for a producer, so we all met and bonded immediately. The story really appealed to me because of its honesty, authenticity, lack of political correctness, irony and characters that jumped off the page. Plus the upbringing I had in Queensland meant that I understood the poetry of the dialogue.” The producers then approached director Sue Brooks (“Japanese Story”). Says Trish: “Sue had made another lovely film - “Road To Nhill” - which was pure heart - a community profile. We could see that she understood how to interpret a community and bring it to the big screen.” Sue says that it wasn’t just the material that drew her to the project - it was meeting Ashley, Jan and Terry that really had her hooked: “They were just so full of unbridled enthusiasm, positive energy and mad determination.

2. And I just knew I had to take the journey with these lovely, down to earth people.” Ashley was always going to play the lead role of Jack - that was something that was never in question. Says Sue: “When I first met Ashley I thought ‘OK, so he’s going to play the lead role and he’s never acted before. He’s a gorgeous, loveable man but that doesn’t mean he can act!” It was during the rehearsal period that Sue realized that Ash could pull it off: “He surprised me in how quickly he understood everything. Any new thing he needed to learn, he would just pick it up and run with it. It was really very invigorating to watch him. He also picked up the technical side of things very quickly.” Ash in turn says that Sue was “amazing”: “She always believed in me and I trusted her completely. When she gave me feedback on set I knew she was telling me the truth. She gave me a huge amount of confidence.” Brooke Satchwell was cast to play Tiffany, the young property development executive. Says Brooke: “Having grown up in a rural seaside town myself, I liked the idea that this was a really warm family story based in a seaside town community. My character Tiffany is a very determined, ambitious property developer. I’ve got friends in that business and my father is a real estate agent, so that gave me a lot of background for my character.” Another of Australia’s most popular actors, Gary Sweet, was cast to play Jack’s father Digger. Says Gary: “I thought the story had a great honesty and a great heart to it. I was particularly interested in the father/ son relationship. It’s such a complex thing, the relationship between fathers and sons, but I’ve always had a great relationship with my father, and now with my sons. And I was very impressed with Ashley’s work - for someone who hadn’t done any film or tv work before he did a really terrific job.” This was the first time that Gary had worked with director Sue Brooks and he says that he would jump at the opportunity to work with her again: “She had such a good feel for the film as a whole, and for the scenes individually, as well as a great combination of intelligence and intuition. She also had an amazing capacity to simplify a scene and to make it very clear for the actor. She really has a precise and clear understanding of the journey your character will take through the film. That’s something quite rare and I’d love to work with her again.” For Steve Bisley who plays Harry, it was the honesty of the story that appealed and for Bruce Spence, who plays Singlet, it was “the true Australian story and real Australian characters.” The story itself is set in Hervey Bay, but it hadn’t always been planned that it would be filmed there. Finally, though, the decision was taken to make the film on location in Hervey Bay, because, says producer Owen Johnston, the producers knew that shooting in Hervey Bay would give the film a really distinctive edge: “Another advantage was that the production office was never more than twenty minutes away from any of our locations, and we had everything we needed there - we didn’t have to make anything up.” Producer Trish Lake says that the local Hervey Bay community were very helpful: “We couldn’t have made the film without their support.” Co-producer Jan Bradnam was particularly thrilled to make the film in the Bay: “It was fantastic to be there again and to give something back to the town. I’m really pleased we had

3. the opportunity to show Hervey Bay in all its glory - it’s such a beautiful part of Australia.” Adds Ashley: “I fell in love with the place all over again - it’s just such a great area. I could go back there to live anytime - they’re my kind of people.” Ashley says he hopes that “Subdivision” will portray the men and women who work in the building industry - in Hervey Bay and elsewhere - as the people they really are: “Great Australians, who are out there doing their job and living their life. I hope they will see the film and say ‘yes, that’s what it’s like. That’s us.’ Then I think we’ll have achieved something.”

Cast List. JACK ASHLEY BRADNAM TIFFANY BROOKE SATCHWELL DIGGER GARY SWEET SOLLY AARON FA’AOSO SINGLET BRUCE SPENCE BETTY KRIS MCQUADE HARRY STEVE BISLEY BRETT JAMES STEWART DALE KATHRYN BECK PETE JOHN BATCHELOR SUE PETTA ROBERTSON MONTY LUKE CARROLL FAYE DENISE ROBERTS JJ PETER ADAMS CHICKO LUKE KITE KATE ANDREA MOOR BANK MANAGER (Roger Stubbs) CHRIS BETTS MAN (PASSENGER) GEOFF NEEDS DES LYN TREADGOLD TOM ERROL O’NEILL TRIPPIET TODD LEVI REG BRASSFORD ANDREW BLAIN PETE’S SON DUKE ROBERTSON PETE’S DAUGHTER #1 MATILDA ROBERTSON PETE’S DAUGHTER #2 JEMIMA ROBERTSON PETE’S DAUGHTER #3 CORALIE BRADNAM SPORT REPORTER DAVID LUTTERAL DARK MALE NURSE BARRY LEA

4. About the Cast.

Ashley Bradnam - Jack Ashley Bradnam is a top ranking breakfast radio host with Nova’s Meshel, Ash, Kip and Lutsy morning drive program in Brisbane. As well being a radio personality, Ash has also had segments on comedy and sport television programs such as “The Fat” and “Head to Head” on the ABC and Channel 9’s “Footy Show”. After producing many festival screened short films, SUBDIVISION is Ashley’s first feature as a screenwriter and an actor.

Brooke Satchwell - Tiffany Brooke Satchwell is best-known for her leading role of Anne Wilkinson in Australia’s longest running, and most successful television series “Neighbours”. Brooke won the 1997 Logie for Most Popular New Talent and the People’s Choice Award for Teen Idol of 1999. Other television credits include a leading role in the hugely popular series “ Water Rats”; Channel Ten’s “White Collar Blue”; “Tripping Over” for Corner Store Films; ““Dangerous” for Fox 8; the Nine Network’s “Canal Road”; a lead guest role in the US television series “Beastmaster” and “Playschool”. Theatre credits include “Frances Kiss” at the Playbox Theatre opposite Bud Tingwell; the role of Miranda in “The Tempest” in Sydney’s Botanical Gardens; “The Vagina Monologues” and “The Graduate”, in which she played Wendy Hughes’s daughter Elaine, to rave reviews.

Gary Sweet - Digger Gary Sweet is one of Australia’s most popular actors, with numerous credits that include “Police Rescue”, which made him a house-hold name and saw him win several television awards, including two AFI Awards as Best Actor; the Variety Club Heart Award as TV Actor of the Year, and two TV Week Silver Logie Awards for Most Popular Actor and Most Outstanding Actor. Other credits include his first major role as Donald Bradman in the mini- series “Bodyline”; the ABC mini-series “Blue Murder”; “Cody”; “Big Sky”; the high-rating police drama series “Stingers”; the SBS mini-series “The Circuit”; the ABC mini-series “Rain Shadow” opposite Rachel Ward, and more recently the highly anticipated mini-series “The Pacific”, produced by Steven Spielberg.

Aaron Fa’aoso - Solly Aaron Fa’Aoso is one of Australia’s rising new talents. He first came to attention in one of the lead roles in the critically-acclaimed SBS mini-series “RAN”, for which he received an AFI and LOGIE nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Further television credits include the award-winning SBS series “East West 101” and the Nine Network’s “Sea Patrol”. Theatre credits include the Urban Theatre Project’s “Back Home”, which sold out for the 2006 Sydney Festival, and roles in Queensland’s Koeemba Jdarra Performing Arts Company productions of “Howie the Rookie” and “Njunjal the Sun” followed. He has also written and will be directing the short film “Sharp Eye” as part of the SBS Television series “Bit Of Black Businesss”.

5. Bruce Spence - Singlet Bruce Spence is one of Australia’s most respected actors whose industry career spans four decades. He has appeared in almost all of Australia’s major television series, and in over thirty films, since his debut in the title role of “Stork”. Other film credits include Peter Weir’s “The Cars That Ate Paris”; Phil Noyce’s “Newsfront”; Werner Herzog’s “Green Ants”; “Mad Max II”; “The Year My Voice Broke”; “Ace Ventura II”; “Dark City” directed by Alex Proyas; Peter Jackson’s ““Lord Of The Rings”; “Queen Of The Damned”; the voice of the aussie shark ‘Chun’ in “Finding Nemo”; “Matrix II and III”; “Peter Pan”; “Star Wars III” and most recently Baz Luhrman’s “Australia”. Numerous television credits include “Dirtwater Dynasty”; “Great Expectations: The Untold Story”; “Rafferty’s Rules”; “Dearest Enemy”; “Halfway Across The Galaxy And Turn Left”; “Twisted Tales”; “Halifax”; “Something In The Air”; “Farscape”; “City Homicide” and the US tv series “The Legend Of The Seeker” for the Walt Disney Company.

Kris McQuade - Betty Kris McQuade is another industry stalwart with numerous film, television and theatre credits to her name. Film credits include “Alvin Purple”; “Love Letters From Teralba Road”; “Lonely Hearts”; “Goodbye Paradise”; “Fighting Back” for which she won an AFI Best Supporting Actress Award; “Buddies”; “Strictly Ballroom”; “Billy’s Holiday”; “Better Than Sex”; “Mullet”; “Ned Kelly” and “December Boys”. Television credits include “Skyways”; “Fields Of Fire” and “Supernova” and her theatre credits include the acclaimed production of “Cloudstreet” and “When The Rain Stops Falling” by Andrew Bovell.

Steve Bisley - Harry In his final year at NIDA Steve Bisley got his first big break when he landed the role of ‘Goose’ in a film that would become an icon of Australian cinema - George Miller’s “Mad Max”. Since then he has become one of Australia’s most sought-after actors. Television credits include the award- winning series “Police Rescue”; “GP”; the BBC television series “Call Me Mister”; “Halifax f.p.”; “Water Rats”; “Stingers” and the title role in Bryan Brown’s “Two Twisted” and the ABC series “East Of Everything”. Most recently he starred in the Nine Network’s new smash-hit series “Sea Patrol”. Film credits include “The View From Greenhaven Drive”.

About the Filmmakers.

Sue Brooks - Director Sue Brooks most recently directed the acclaimed feature film “Japanese Story” starring Toni Collette. The film won numerous awards including two AFI Awards for Best Direction and Best Film; the Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director; two IF Awards for Best Direction and Best Film, and the Fipresci Prize at the Miami Film Festival. Other credits include her debut film “The Drover’s Wife”, which won the Greater Union Award for

6. Best Short Fiction and was a Rouben Mamoulian Award finalist at the 1984 Sydney Film Festival; the short film “An Ordinary Woman”, another critical success, which received the Erwin Rado Award for Best Australian Short, and was voted Best General Section Winner (Dendy Awards) at the 1989 Sydney International Film Festival; the feature film “Road To Nhill”, which earned her glowing reviews and the Golden Alexander Award for Best Feature Film at the 1997 Thessaloniki International Film Festival; the youth drama “Raw FM” and the hit series “Sea Change”.

Trish Lake - Producer Trish Lake, a former ABC broadcast journalist, established Freshwater Pictures in 2001 to develop and produce feature films and television drama. In 2004 she won the prestigious SPAA (Screen Producers Association of Australia) 2004 'Feature Film Producer Of The Year' Award for her first feature film 'Gettin’ Square', which won AFI and Film Critics Circle Awards for Best Actor, as well as five IF Awards. Currently Trish is in the final stages of development on the feature film “One More River”, to star Jessica Lange, and “The Red Earth”, an English/Mandarin bi-lingual film. Her producer credits include the cinema documentaries “The Burning Season” which had its world premiere at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival in New York, and MY AMERICA, currently in production, and the television documentaries RARE CHICKEN RESCUE and ROLLER DERBY DOLLS. Trish was a Feature Film Councillor on SPAA Federal Council, a SPAA Queensland Chapter Head and was SPAA National President from 2005 -2008.

Owen Johnston - Producer Owen Johnston began his career with Crawford Productions as a sound editor on the series “Carson’s Law”, “Henderson Kids” and “Zoo Family”, and as picture editor on “The Flying Doctors”. As a freelance editor he worked on the drama series “Neighbours” and “Dusty”, as well as editing numerous documentaries and corporate videos. He has also directed television commercials, produced and co-wrote the documentary “Red Ted and the Great Depression”; the docu-drama “The Legend Of Fred Paterson” for the ABC, and produced Wesley Enoch’s AFC Indigenous drama “Grace” for SBS. Owen was the founding president of QDOX, the Queensland Documentary Association, and a founding board member of QPIX. He also served as the AFC’s Senior Project Manager for three years and supervised the AFC funded short film program “Raw Nerve” for QPIX

Jan Bradnam - Co-Producer/Writer Janice Bradnam is a successful businesswoman with extensive building industry and community organisation experience. A trained Gestalt therapist, she has a lifetime interest in the creative arts, including involvement in little theatre and short film writing and production. She has managed to produce two successful radio personality sons and has inveigled her daughter and grandchildren into the film and cinema world.

Terry McCann - Executive Producer/Writer Terry McCann is a retired psychologist and business consultant. His

7. interests include Joseph Campbell, Jung, Henning Mankell, Ian Rankin, Andrea Camillieri, Michael Connelly and Eliot Pattison, and the study of the predictable developmental transitions of adult life. He enjoys watching romantic comedy, French film, Boston Legal and football.

John Stokes - Director of Photography John Stokes credits include “Nightmares and Dreamscapes”, from the stories of Stephen King; “Hildegarde”; “Mermaids”; “The Mystery Of Natalie Wood”; “Journey To The Centre of the Earth”; “Alien Cargo”; “Cover Me” and Baz Luhrman’s “Australia” as director of photography of the vfx elements.

Jane Moran - Editor Moran’s credits as editor include “In Her Skin”; “Aquamarine”; “Jewboy”; “Bootmen”; “Erskineville Kings”; “Moulin Rouge” as an additional editor; “The Portrait Of A Lady” as first assistant editor; “IQ” as first assistant editor; “Strictly Ballroom” as first assistant editor and “The Mosquito Coast” as assistant editor.

Nick McCallum - Production Designer Nick McCallum’s credits include “The Black Balloon”; “Spellbinder”; “Gettin’ Square”; “In A Savage Land”; “In The Winter Dark”; “The Goddess of 1967”; “The Sugar Factory”; “Kokoda”; “The Potato Factory” and “The Nugget”.