BROTHER and sister filmmakers Stephany and Julian Avila want to pitch their Mornington Peninsula-based mockumentary/comedy web series to film industry heavyweights and further develop the series.
The Avilas, actors from Mount Eliza and Frankston South, have worked on many films and pilots together and have just finished a pilot episode for a national screen competition being run by Screen Forever and Tik Tok.
Stephany Avila, who has been acting since she was four, and has featured in Australian television programs, said her and her brother Julian’s series Aussie Spirit revolved around Australian ghosts and the households they haunt.
The siblings have spent years working on pilots and productions together but admit the Got a Minute? competition was a challenge, as each entry must have 10 one-minute episodes.
Ms Avila said the competition’s format highlighted the power and potential of short-form content and was a way for filmmakers to build on their storytelling skills.
The 31-year-old mother of two, who writes, produces and coordinates the siblings’ filming productions and runs her film and television acting studio on the peninsula, began her career as a child actor in Australian television programs Neighbours and Holly’s Heroes, and films including Crimes of the Heart and I Love You Too.
She said acting backgrounds helped her and Julian “see dialogue and plot” and understand what was realistic and what captured the audience.
Mr Avila is also a 26-year-old actor and filmmaker, and together the pair share a passion for the screen industry and a desire to build on their screen careers.
“This symbiosis we have as siblings also lets us create films that hope to evoke emotion and inspire those that happen to watch,” he said.
“It is so important for filmmakers and actors as well to produce their own content and enter these into competitions. Your stories and your creativity are yours, why not share it with the world?”
Ms Avila said the key to producing films was to be “organised, ask for advice from industry professionals, trust your creativity and put your work out there for the public to see”.
Finalists in the competition get the chance to fly to Queensland and pitch their concept to a panel of film industry professionals, with the winner receiving $25,000 to help in the production of their 10 part web series.
First published in the Mornington News – 1 March 2022
