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person or book cover
Screen cap from promotional trailer
form y separately published work icon Just Friends single work   film/TV   young adult  
Issue Details: First known date: 1985... 1985 Just Friends
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

Thirteen-year-old Susan has just moved to a new part of town. She's practising her skills at the local roller-skating rink when Buzz, the prince of the rink, spots the talented newcomer and moves in on her. Susan joins Buzz and his gang but doesn't know what she is letting herself in for. Meanwhile, her family are distracted with their own worries: her dad has lost his job, her mother is an exhausted working mum, and her older teenage sister is pregnant. Susan has to work her way through the difficult process of making new friends in a tough environment. Buzz wants to be more than just friends and Susan has to decide what she is prepared to accept and what is important to her. (Source: Australian Screen).

In her memoir Bloodbath: A Memoir of Australian Television (Melbourne: Melbourne UP, 2006), Patricia Edgar recalls that

Jan [Sardi] wanted to speak to the audience with an authentic voice, using the language of the western suburbs where the film was set. This time I was not on the writer's side. I believed the language would draw attention away from the content of the story and ultimately prevent the film from being seen by the children it was intended for. While I agreed in principle with Sardi's view, I felt it would not work in practice. I insisted that swearing was not acceptable.

The script had only a provisional C classification from the tribunal, where all final drafts were being scrutinised carefully. Smoking had to be kept to a level essential to the plot. (Too much smoking could also jeopardise an overseas sale.) Violence had to be kept in context, within acceptable limits. The party punchbowl scene, which was essential, should only have one character, Maggs, showing any signs of intoxication. The shoplifting scene should be directed to show that the film was not condoning stealing. The 'lip twister kiss', so described in the script, should be directed carefully. The film should promote a sense of children being responsible for one another. The characters must look like twelve to fourteen year olds. All these issues required sensitive direction. (p.168)

Notes

  • Telemovie.
  • The trailer for this film is available to view on You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NjTABiMm0I

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

      1985 .
      person or book cover
      Screen cap from promotional trailer
      Link: U9391Three digital extracts from the original production Australian Screen (Sighted 18/03/10)
      Extent: 50 min.p.
      Description: Colour
      Note/s:
      • Episode 2
      Series: form y separately published work icon Winners Network Ten (publisher), Australia : Network Ten Australian Children's Television Foundation , 1985 Z1676442 1985 series - publisher film/TV children's

      Australian Screen says of Winners that it is 'an anthology series of eight telemovies for children aged between eight and fifteen. No one story is typical. Through comedy, science fiction, historical drama, adventure, fantasy and social realism, many issues are raised. Each of the Winners stories is about children, their families and friends. Common themes across the stories are family relationships, friendship, individuality, and the facing of difficult situations with courage, ingenuity and independence.'

      Of the origins of the series, Patricia Edgar says in her memoir Bloodbath: A Memoir of Australian Television (Melbourne: Melbourne UP, 2006):

      The series was initially dubbed Masterpiece Theatre, an ironic salute to Phillips Adams' comment at the very first board meeting that we must use popular formats and not look like Masterpiece Theatre. It would eventually air under the title Winners, a title that I selected from a list of ideas during scripting.

      I approached a number of experienced producers around the country to induce them to work on a children's program. With guidance from John Morris, I identified twenty of Australia's top writers--including John Duigan, Tom Hegarty, Sonia Borg, Anne Brooksbank, Tony Morphett, Morris Gleitzman, Bob Ellis and Cliff Green--and invited them to a briefing at the Sebel Townhouse in Sydney in February 1983. The way to get their involvement was to make the project high profile and competitivel the media would be involved throughout the process.

      Writing is a solitary experience. These selected writers had never been together for a briefing before. The proposal was for each writer to develop two ideas for the sum of $500. If their idea was selected they would go on to the next stage and write a treatment and draft, otherwise we would give their idea back to them. Without exception, the idea appealed. The writers were not instructed on specific program ideas, but I made it clear I did not want bland adventure or syrupy formulaic family shows. I wanted the kind of drama children had not seen before--contemporary, challenging, dealing with important, relevant issue. I wanted stories that would add some meaning to children's lives. If these writers--the cream of the crop--could not deliver, nobody else in Australia could. (pp.155-56)

      Edgar said of the series that 'Winners had been a baptism of fire--introducing me to a diverse range of producers, directors, styles of production and problems--as well as a wonderfully exciting introduction to the creation of drama, from an idea on paper to a powerful experience to be shared on screen' (pp.169-70).

Last amended 11 Dec 2014 14:42:44
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