How I got here...in this photo...with Peter Jackson

What feels like a lifetime ago I worked as a video assist for directors like Peter Jackson, George Miller, James Mangold and Michael Apted.

They were some fun years let me tell you!

I love talking to people, finding out their origin story. This is mine. Would love for you all to tell me yours too.

I am going to skip forward past the “how I fell in love with filmmaking” part and just get straight to the “how the hell did you get a job on those films” bit.

I didn’t know anyone in the film industry before I started. No connections to draw on, no nepotism to exploit. All I had was a burning passion to know how movies were made. When I was 19 I emailed every company on the Fox Studios website. It was about a hundred companies. I literally got one reply. It was from a film producer, Russell Leroy Cunningham - who I owe everything to.

I worked for Russell inside the Fox Studios lot part time for about two years – watching films come in and out. It wasn’t as busy there then as it is today. They were lucky to do two films a year. I was also attending Tafe, volunteering at Australian Film Television and Radio School and begging Panavision to let me come in to learn film loading - which they finally agreed to.

The first film to come in to the studios while I was there was Baz Luhrman’s “Australia”. They were a few months in to production before they came to the studios. The sets were enormous and the machine of movie making was mind-boggling to me. Movie stars walking by the window every other minute. It was quite surreal.

I think I have my father’s investigative mind for problem solving – I found out who the name of the production coordinator on Australia was by looking at the names on car spaces dotted around the studios. I found her details in the legendary Encore Directory and emailed her. No response. 

A couple of weeks later the frustration got to me. So I wrote her a letter and dropped it in the letterbox out the front of the studios. A week later I got a letter back with the Bazmark (Baz’s company name) letterhead on top. It was a rejection letter but I can’t tell you how exciting it was to see that letterhead! 

During this time, Russell and I moved to a different office inside Fox. For anyone who has been there we were now in the office below the "Lamour" sign, just near Animal Logic. 

Not too long after setting up there, Hugh Jackman opened an office up two doors down. He was a very busy man. Between shooting Australia he was producing X:Men Origins Wolverine. A few months after that office opened they set up a production office for Wolverine next door to us. 

So I wrote up the best looking CV that I could and after a few weeks of mustering up the courage I knocked on the door of their office. I said "I am sorry if this is rude but I’d love for you to consider me for a job on the film" and handed them my CV. There were four people in that office - very early days if you’ve ever seen a production office in full swing.

What felt like months later in December 2007 I got a call. “Can you be a runner for a make up test day on Wolverine”. The very next morning I was picking up pastries from Bourke St Bakery and delivering them to the office.

“Can you go to set and grab something from the DOP, Don McAlpine” (just one of the all time greats of Australian cinema). I go to set and I see Hugh in make up and costume as Wolverine. Holy shit. I’ve made it! I call my mother on the way back to the office “Mum, this is the best day of my life!”.

Fast forward a few weeks later. “Lachy we’d love for you to be a runner on the film but we can’t cover you for insurance”. I was 20 at this stage and insurance covered over 21s. I can’t tell you how crushed I was. The highest high to the lowest low.

Fast forward a couple months later and me emailing begging for any job and I get another call “Lachy do you know how to do video assist?” “I have no idea” I said. Silence. “That doesn’t matter, get to Campbelltown Rydges by 3pm, we need you on set for a night shoot tonight”.

The entire ensemble of cast was on set that night. It was an incredible day in my life. Not so much for my boss Luis who I nearly poisoned with my first attempt at making a coffee.

8 years after that call I’d managed to work with all the directors I mentioned and a few more like Bruce Beresford, Alex Proyas, Steven Levitan and David Leitch. The one closest to my heart was Peter Jackson and Andy Serkis. Lord of the Rings was my teen years in a nutshell. Working on that movie was a dream come true – a dream I had to sacrifice quite a bit for – leaving a job at Animal Logic working on Harry Potter, leaving my girlfriend (now wife) behind for 18 months and working in New Zealand as a local, sleeping on couches, paying rent in NZ and a mortgage in Aus, and saving virtually no money for the entire time.

I like reflecting on this story because it reminds me of the power of dreams. To not give up on them. To face rejection in the eye. To find another way around. And it also reminds me of the power of good people, who believe in you and will give you a chance. You just have to find them - and sometimes annoy them!

Everyone has a great origin story. Would love to hear yours!