Port Augusta-based writer and director Brendan Godfrey tells CityMag about the roundabout way he got into the film industry.

­­­­­Writer and director Brendan Godfrey was born and raised in Port Augusta, where growing up he did not see the film industry as a viable career option.

“Which is kind of why it took me so long to actually bite the bullet and do it. There was no, sort of industry here, there was no local filmmakers or anything that I was aware of growing up,” Brendan tells CityMag.

“The thing that inspired me more was just watching a bunch of films, hiring lots and lots of films from the local video store and watching them at my nan’s place, and my parents’ place.

“It’s what I love to do, so it sort of made sense that that’s what I would like to do.

“But it wasn’t really something you could just see a direct path to. There wasn’t a sort of, ‘okay do this step, this step, and then you’re there’.”

Brendan first went to Adelaide for uni at 17, though he did not study media. After living in Adelaide for eight years, Brendan and his partner moved back to Port Augusta. It was then he decided to pursue his passion.

“The itch became too much, and I decided I definitely needed to do something to actually try and follow the dream of making films,” he says.

“It probably wasn’t until I saw Clerks for the first time, by Kevin Smith, and read the story of how he made that film in his local town for $28,000 with friends, that I was like okay, you can just do it, you’ve just got to, go and do it.”

Kevin Smith, a writer, producer and actor born in New Jersey, filmed his first movie ­– Clerks (1994) – in the convenience store he worked at, and only at night after closing.

“So that inspired me a bit to, work towards that. Which started with the writing, and then transitioned into I think I need the skills to be able to actually use a camera and all that stuff, to get the stories told.”

It was then Brendan went back to uni, graduating in 2021 with a Bachelor of Media Arts.

“I did a part-time course over five years, and was driving down to do courses and things like that during the weeks, which was a bit of a trip.”

The trip in question? A 300km, three-and-a-half-hour drive.

Brendan Godfrey (centre) on the set of his short film Paper Cuts, with Murray Curtis and Katherine Sortini.

Brendan made around 15 short films over his five-year degree, before he began his attempts at cracking the regional film-making industry, something that involved a lot of grant applications.

“I’ve got a job that pays the bills most of the time, so it’s then trying to fit in the filmmaking around that,” he says.

“It is quite hard to have good funds coming in doing the filmmaking stuff at a director level. If you’re doing more on a crew level then there are more ongoing jobs, but if you’re wanting to write and direct then you’re kind of putting in your own time and funds.”

One grant Brendan was successful for was the inaugural Elise Ross Regional Award from the Helpmann Academy, having previously received funding from the organisation for a short film.

This award, aimed at creatives living and working regionally, allowed Brendan to attend the AFTRS Directing Intensive in Sydney, a five-day course on all things directing.

“Coming away, I’ve got a lot more tools and techniques that I can draw upon to help with the preparation especially, before stepping onto set for the next one [film].”

Elise Ross says she is “all too familiar with the obstacles young regional people face when trying to pursue their passion”.

“There just isn’t the same access to support or professional development as is available to creatives based in, or around major cities. We want to try and help change this and support emerging regional creatives to chase successful careers in the arts.”

Stephanie Jaaclyn, Jackie Zdanowicz, David Gregan, and Brendan Godfrey on the set of Paper Cuts, Brendan’s first post-uni short film.

Brendan made his first funded short film in 2022. Called Paper Cuts, he describes the film as a “short horror comedy about the absurdity of the nine-to-five work grind, about two office workers fighting a giant paper monster”.

“That was sort of my first big, I guess, success after uni.”

Now, Brendan is preparing for the next one, Nightmare on Felt Street, for which he received funding from Country Arts SA, and The Mercury’s Quicksilver Production Funding.

“It is another little horror comedy about an awkward man who returns home after the death of his overbearing father, and he’s confronted with the choice of staying the night to earn his inheritance, but he has to give up his best friend, which just so happens to be a puppet.”

Brendan filmed Paper Cuts in Adelaide and is planning the next one to be shot regionally, though it won’t be in his hometown.

“Unfortunately, because I’m a bit older most of my friends aren’t at the age where it’s like, ‘hey come out and just make films with me’. They have kids, or nine-to-five jobs, things like that.”

The Helpmann Academy’s Elise Ross Regional Award is open for applications until October 8.