More than a dozen years ago, I was asked to pull together a script for a short film some friends were hoping to make. They had the bones of a classic story, from an unlikely true tale from the bush, but needed somebody to bring it alive.

I had just found out that ‘The Kazillion Wish‘ was going to be published and was on a high.

I said yes immediately, wrote the script and got involved in the production. The film was shot just outside of Ararat, directed by Tony Rogers (director of Wilfred, and other shows), produced by mates including Ros Willett and Matt Molony, and starred Matt, the wonderful Bert LaBonte (who has kicked on in a major way as a star of the stage) and my brother-from-another-mother Shaun Kinna, as well as my father-in-law, the late Stewart Heywood, and another good friend Matt Carmody.

So much fun. We extended the mortgage on our house to bump the print to 35 mm so it could screen at the St Kilda International Short Film Festival, and it went on to be included in the prestigious opening night of the Rhode Island International Film Festival (an Oscar-nominating event! Spoiler: we weren’t nominated)

** Language warning.