A Sunshine Coast film and TV competition that uncovers the region’s best up-and-coming screenwriters and producers has announced its 2023 winners.
Each winner receives mentoring, support and funding to elevate their projects, produce them locally and deliver the final product at the Sunny Coast Showdown Showcase Festival on June 24.
The Sunny Coast Showdown also gives locals the opportunity to showcase their talents nationally and globally, with the potential to kickstart a career in the screen industry.
Powderfinger drummer Jon Coghill and former USA Survivor producer Dan Munday, who hail from Nambour, are behind the screen incubator and festival showcase.
Winner of one of two scripted categories, Ryan Butler, a video editor and director from Beerwah, hopes the accolade will help him return to an industry he loves.
“I’m blown away,” Mr Butler said. “I took a pause from making film to have a family and this year was all about getting back into it.”
The Showdown received about 90 high-quality submissions from local writers in scripted, unscripted, music video and Indigenous categories, with organisers stunned at the amount of talent the event has uncovered.
Learning and development professional Adam Szubrich moved to Mooloolaba during COVID and was ‘in shock’ after winning the second scripted category with his screenplay, Slow Dating.
“I did not expect to make a professional film on the Coast,” he said.
“I thought moving here was potentially limiting or destroying my writing career. This is … amazing.”
Former federal police officer Stephen Walker, from Bokarina, is the Committee’s Choice winner and said he was overjoyed his comedy script, Stripper Trade Off, was chosen.
He said the Showdown proved there’s a bright future for a local screen industry.
“I’m continually overwhelmed by the industry talent situated here,” he said.
“We have the will here, the talent here, the heart – it’s only a matter of time before that’s followed by investment and bigger productions.”
Creative technologist Jessie Hughes won the Powderfinger Music Video category and said she would love to help grow the industry on the Sunshine Coast.
“We live in the most beautiful place. To have a dream lifestyle and the dream job at the Coast – that’s the dream,” she said.
The 2021 Showdown winner, Sam Robinson, has since gone on to team up with 4 Ingredients author Kim McKosker and sign a deal with Foxtel to present miniseries The Easiest Cooking Show Ever.
Sunny Coast Showdown winners, presented by Bendigo Bank
Scripted
Bin Day by Ryan Butler (Beerwah): A pacifist woman and her lazy husband must work together to rid their home of an unwanted, undead pest during the apocalypse.
Slow Dating by Adam Szubrich (Mooloolaba): When an elderly lady tries speed dating it leads to a night with a charming stranger and a heartbreaking revelation.
Committee’s Choice
Stripper Trade Off by Stephen Walker (Bokarina): A stripper and a tradie walk into a club going about their respective businesses, just for the wrong clients.
Powderfinger Music Video
Rockin’ Rocks by Jessie Hughes (Shelly Beach): An adrenaline-fuelled pirate pursuit for fools gold to rock music.
Indigenous Project
Tia Pitman Documentary by Jakob Lydford (Yaroomba): Local Indigenous girl Tia Pitman’s life and story as a roller-skater, navigating the male-dominated skate park, finding creative freedom and self-expression in a gorgeous way.
Unscripted
My Dream Hideout by Anita Poteri (Kin Kin): A family show featuring a team of experts who visit a selected family/person and transform their secret hideout idea to reality.
A-Wake by Catherine Mack (Sunshine Beach): An epic journey of the soul. How Abi Wake found her roots on the Sunshine Coast and within herself, moving from trauma to freedom through dance.
Like stories about Sunshine Coast people doing great things? Help us deliver more by registering for our FREE daily news feed. All it requires is your name and email. See SUBSCRIBE at the top of this article.
