My name is Penny Moore and my mission is to make a short film for domestic and international festival release. I need your assistance to make this film a reality, please pledge your support and contribute to local screen culture.

Film Promo - Meet Frank

Our promotional video introducing the lead character of Frank was completed as a proof of concept and demonstrates the high end production values that will be achieved in this short film.

An Aussie larrikin, who loves a beer and a bet at his local watering hole, Frank lives alone and is estranged from his family. A bawdy Vietnam veteran who never really recovered from the war, Frank has just discovered he has lung cancer. Alone in the world and lacking connection, Frank has given up the fight for life and has decided not to pursue treatment.

HOWEVER... things are about to change dramatically when Rose enters his life and turns his world upside down.

Starring John Flaus as Frank

'Trust Frank' is a beautiful Aussie tale, with a professional cast, high production values and universal themes that will appeal to audiences both here in Australia and around the globe.

Support Australian Film Culture

By supporting our endeavour to make this film you are making a contribution to Australian film culture, supporting local talent and encouraging the production of authentic home grown stories.

Film is an expensive art form and small independent films like 'Trust Frank' are not viable without the support of community and the generosity of individuals like you.

Your pledge of support (no matter how small) is vital and will assist us to realise our vision by getting this film made and onto festival screens around the world.

We have lots of great rewards on offer to suit every budget so we urge you to pledge your support today and join us on our filmmaking journey.

The Story

'Trust Frank' is a sentimental and gently humorous romantic comedy about two elderly neighbours who are struggling with serious infirmities as they age.

Written by independent filmmaker Penny Moore the script was developed with the assistance of script editor Greg Woodland from Script Central in Sydney.

SYNOPSIS

Neighbours for many years, Frank and Rose share a distain for each other and have made a sport out of swapping barbed comments over the fence. Rose is fastidious by nature but as her dementia progresses, her tight grip on reality starts to fail her. In contrast, the bawdy Frank is a war veteran with lung cancer who has given up the fight for life.

When Rose has a bad dementia episode in public and latches onto Frank, the walls come crashing down and a friendship develops between them. Rose encourages Frank to fight cancer and Frank assists Rose to live at home unassisted. Together they find the strength and determination to go on living, but in the process of letting down their guard, they form a deep bond, proving it’s never too late to find love.

About the Film

'Trust Frank' is a 15 minute short film for domestic and international festival release.

Created and developed by award winning short filmmaker, Penny Moore, 'Trust Frank' is a short romantic Aussie comedy that features:

• A strong engaging story with universal themes
• A well-known and experienced Australian cast
• A dedicated and professional production team
• Cinema quality production values
• International festival release

The film will go into pre-production in November, 2018.

Shot entirely in and around Melbourne the main production shoot will take place in early February, 2019.

Post production will take around 3 months and the film will be released on the festival circuit by mid-2019.

A strong social media campaign will support the project during production and a quality web site will help promote the film as it travels from festival to festival.

The Cast

John Flaus and Brenda Palmer will bring pathos, humour and a wonderful vulnerability to the characters of Frank and Rose.

JOHN FLAUS           

Australian Actor

John Flaus is an iconic and highly respected Australian talent with over 160 credits in theatre, film and television. Screen credits include: The BBQ, Jack Irish, Rake, Winners & Losers, Kath & Kim, Rush, Hotel Sorrento, Harvie Krumpet, Crackerjack, The Dish, Good Guys Bad Guys, Seachange, The Castle, Lillian’s Story, Police Rescue, Bloodlust, Spotswood and Newsfront to name only a few.

                                                                                                 John Flaus is Frank

BRENDA PALMER    

Australian Actor

Brenda Palmer is a stalwart of the Australian theatre community and is a hugely successful actor on screen. Screen credits include: The Doctor Blake Mysteries, Winners & Losers, Utopia, The Ex-PM, Please Like Me, Paper Giants, Twenty Something, Animal Kingdom, Bed of Roses, Lake Mungo, Puppy, Thank God You’re here, Micallef Tonight, Neighbours, Blue Heelers, Jimeoin and The Flying Doctors.

                                                                                           Brenda Palmer is Rose

Audience Appeal

The primary target audience for 'Trust Frank' is the post war, baby boomer generation, specifically women, but the feel good nature of the story and romance genre will attract a younger audience as well. Recent research studies clearly demonstrate that films which address themes of interest to a female audience are generating strong attendance rates and are ruling the box office.

Additionally, recent films have proven that with the right script and a strong cast, a film targeted to an older audience has phenomenal potential in the marketplace. The baby boomer generation is a massive one and they have the time and disposable income available to spend going to festivals and consuming film. 

'Trust Frank' is an engaging short film that will appeal to older audiences both here in Australia and around the world.

                                                                            'Trust Frank' deals with issues and themes 

                                                                    that are specifically relevant to our aging population.

Distribution

PREVIEW SCREENINGS - Exclusive Events

Limited public screenings of ‘Trust Frank’ will be held in partnership with key stakeholders and major sponsors who have exclusive rights to preview the film before it is released on the festival circuit. Crowdfunding supporters will be given priority over the general public to attend.

FESTIVAL RELEASE - Official Public Debut

Once the film is completed our priority will be to secure a public debut screening of ‘Trust Frank’ at a major Australian Film Festival, before releasing the film to an international festival audience. Depending on the sucess of the film in overseas markets the production could spend 8-24 months doing the festival circuit.

COMMERCIAL RELEASE - Industry Distribution

After the film has completed the festival circuit the producers will endevour to engage a sales agent or distributor to exploit the commercial rights of the film both domestically and internationally. Distributors and sales agents license the rights to short films, and then market those rights to buyers at TV channels, VOD (video-on-demand) platforms, in-flight entertainment programmers, educational users, hospitals and other commercial outlets.

PUBLIC RELEASE - General Online Distribution

“Trust Frank" will be promoted and released for sale to the public on a variety of online platforms and we anticipate the short film will be available for general public consumption on vimeo, you tube, i-tunes and on our website.

The Key Creatives

Trust Frank is supported by a talented and professional production team. All of our key creatives and department heads have extensive industry experience and are fully committed to the production

PENNY MOORE

Writer / Director / Producer

An award winning short filmmaker, Penny’s debut film was screened at the Brisbane International Film Festival in 1995 and was awarded Most Original Script. Penny also received an Outstanding Achievement Award from Canberra for her documentary work in Queensland. In addition to her independent work, Penny has 8 years of experience working in production management and 7 years of experience freelancing as a writer. 

DEREK WALLACE

Executive Producer

With experience in film and theatre production, Derek also provides location management services. With a background in financial and creative management, Derek was an active director of a multi-million dollar company with multiple branches. Derek worked on The 25th Reich, The Caretaker, Cliffy and he helped produce The BBQ.

GREG WOODLAND

Script Editor 

Greg is the founder and director of Script Central in Sydney. Greg has been a script editor and consultant for all of the Australian film funding bodies and for the AWG for twenty years. An award-winning writer and director, Greg’s films and documentaries have screened nationally and internationally at over 60 film festivals & on numerous TV channels 

CON FILIPPIDIS

Director of Photography

Con Filippidis has been involved in the film & television industry since the early 90’s and has over 25 years of industry experience. Since 1998 he has been freelancing as a Director of Photography, Cinematographer & Camera Operator, working on numerous projects from feature films, dramas, TV series, TVC’s, corporate and web videos. 

LEANNE CAMPBELL

Production Co-Ordinator

Leanne never considered film as a career until she was on set as an extra for 'Knowing' a feature film starring Nicolas Cage in 2009. The following year she worked on the ABC TV show 'Wilfred' and these two experiences sparked the journey she is now on as an emerging filmmaker. Leanne has a number of projects in development and is keen to establish herself as a producer in the local industry. 

RACHEL HUDSON

Producer's Assistant (Intern)

Rachel Hudson has always had a creative mind and she likes to watch film and TV to escape from the real world. Rachel majored in media studies at high school and continued her passion for the subject by focusing on the screen industry in her media and communications degree at Uni. Rachel wishes to gain experience in various roles within the production stages of film and TV and is working with us as an intern to gain official credit as part of her official studies at La Trobe University

                                                                              Key Crew Members - Trust Frank Promo

                                                       With a professional and experienced team attached to the project, 

                                    ‘Trust Frank’ will be a high end production delivering cinema quality film to the big screen.

Development Budget - Secured

Independent filmmaker Penny Moore is fully committed to realising her vision on the screen and to date has invested $8,000 of her own money to facilitate the development of 'Trust Frank'. 

These funds allowed us to fully develop the script and gave us the resources to produce the promotional video. They also covered business overheads, the setting up of social media accounts (Facebook, Instagram. Twitter, Vimeo & YouTube) and the establishment of a web site to promote the project.

Filmmaker Penny Moore is fully committed to realising her vision.

Help us take Trust Frank to the next stage - Production.

Production Budget - Seeking your support

The minimum budget we require to fully complete this short film (to a festival standard for international release) is $30,000.

We have secured $10,000 to date in our production account and are in the process of seeking business and corporate sponsors. We are confident we can raise $15,000 in this campaign with your support and we have a private investor who has agreed to underwrite the production and has guaranteed us a further $5,000 to ensure we meet our target amount of $30,000.

This minimum budget of $30,000 will allow us to cover the basic expenses we require to make the film and includes:

1. Public Liability & Production Insurance
2. Cost of securing Lead Cast
3. Rental of Locations
4. Cost of local permits
5. Hire of Camera Equipment
6. Hire of Sound Equipment
7. Hire of Lighting Equipment
8. Catering
9. Travel Expenses
10. Props & Art Department
11. Costumes & Make Up
12. Hire of Editing Equipment
13. Purchase of Music
14. Wrap Party & Screening Event
15. Festival Entry Fees

The lead cast will receive a basic fee for their contribution to the film, but all the other members of the production team will be providing their time and expertise for the love of the project - pro bono.

If we can raise more than the target amount of $15,000 in this campaign then we can potentially pay our cast and crew a tolken amount for their services and time.

Potential Risks and Challenges

Filmmaking is no easy task and we would not be embarking on this adventure if we did not have the skills and experience to do so. Making a quality film with budget constraints is a huge challenge but Penny has lots of experience making product on lean budgets and she knows how to make the production funds go a long way and get value for money.

Penny is an award winning short filmmaker who has independently produced 3 other projects of this length and she has over 15 years of experience working in the industry. With an professional and committed team around her, the Trust Frank production crew are fully equiped to handle any curve balls that come our way.

The challenges we face moving forward:

1. Securing the key locations - securing the main location for the film will be our major challenge as we need access to neighboring homes. Getting access to locations is not easy or cheap. Working with council permits, local organisations, private business and home owners takes time and money, but with your pledge of support we can achieve this.
2. Meeting deadlines - we aim to go into production in the new year and release the film by mid 2019 which means we have a tight turnaround time, given the fact we are relying on volunteer labour. We have a detailed production schedule, good software tools and a strong production team on board which will ensure we meet our targets.
3. Delays due to accident or illness - Another primary risk is the illness of lead cast or key creatives, this is not something the production can avoid and shooting dates would need to be shifted to accommodate any illness of this nature.  A health and safety report for the production will be compiled and on set we will take every every health and safety precaution required to ensure a safe and well managed set for all involved.
4. Weather - we can't control the weather during our shoot but we can have a flexible schedule to accommodate all seasons. It will be the middle of summer when we go into production so we don't anticipate bad weather but providing shade and hydration to cast and crew will be a priority at all times.
5. Age of lead cast - as our lead cast are elderly we will design the production schedule so they are not enduring long 12 hour days of heavy production work, but will ensure a schedule that enables them some down time to rest and ensures they work no longer than 8 hours in any one day.

Get behind TRUST FRANK and PLEDGE your support

Support Us

MAKE A PLEDGE TODAY

We have lots of great rewards on offer so we urge you to pledge your support today and join us on our filmmaking journey.

SPREAD THE WORD

Spread the word about our campaign by sharing the crowd funding link to your social profile and encourage your friends and family to support our filmmaking venture.

VISIT OUR WEBSITE

Visit our website and subscribe to our mailing list to get monthly newsletters, updates, promotional materials and screening details about the film. www.trustfrankshortfilm.com

LIKE US ON FACEBOOK

Like our Facebook page, share our posts and comment on our progress by connecting with our film community. www.facebook.com/trustfrankshortfilm

WATCH OUR CHANNEL

Follow us on our vimeo channel to see the latest behind the scenes video and meet the people behind the making of this film.

www.vimeo.com/channels/trustfrank

CONTACT US

Feel free to email us to ask questions, get more information or to register your interest to become involved in the making of the film - lots of support roles available. [email protected]

.