David Black interviews Gillian Lesley Scott for The Australian Short Film Network Journal
I first interviewed Gillian around 4 years ago - https://davidblackoz.medium.com/gillian-lesley-scott-making-up-for-lost-time-14e216897322
What struck me at the time is that we were both mature aged actors that had recently gotten started in the indie film industry and felt that we were making up for lost time. Well, time flies and I believe that the two of us have really put in the hard yards. I’m glad to be catching up with her again to find out all that she has done.
DB – Hi Gillian. Thanks for making the time to chat to me today. You told me that you have done quite a lot since we last spoke. One of the things was establishing a theatre group. Can you tell me a bit about that?
GLS – Hi, Thanks for inviting me to have a chat. Back in 2018 my friends, Olivia Na and Mel O’Mara, who I had met through my very first acting class, and I decided that we were fed up of not having enough roles to audition for, and so decided that we would write and perform our own work.
We had a little experience in theatre, such as the showcase of the class we met in, and various performances from the sadly missed Owl and Cat theatre, so we just started writing and went from there. We formed Orange Theatre AU and ran our first sell out show in 2018 at Club Voltaire called “Starting Over” written and performed by Olivia and I and an awesome team of fellow theatre enthusiasts.
The following year we added new cast members and new plays and performed to sell out audiences, Starting Over (Again) at the Butterfly Club in 2019. The pandemic has meant that we haven’t been able to put a show on in the past 2 years, however we have a full play ready to go next year written by a Canadian Writer and Humourist, Lindsay Rae Brown, whom I connected to through my writing on Medium. Hopefully we will be back better than ever!
DB – You are still busy acting in films too? I’ve noticed on your IMDB. The first one that jumped out at me, since our last interview, was “The New Jerusalem”.
GLS –Hi Yes I’m still acting in films too, since we last spoke I have completed many student and independent films, I even managed to get one filmed this year in a break in Lockdowns, called Tarot.
The New Jerusalem was my first horror short and I had plenty of fun on that one! It was filmed in a beautiful gothic church which was lit in a suitably unnerving way and I had a ball with the special effects make up. I played a cult member who was so brainwashed she was prepared to go to extraordinary gruesome lengths to adhere to the “vision” of the group.
DB – I also noticed that you did a 48 hour film competition with a friend of mine, Glen Cook. The film was called “The Poet”. Spill the beans on that one. Inquiring minds want to know!
GLS – I played the Madam or spymaster and it was such a great cast and crew. I was so glad they managed to write in a juicy role for an older woman. I thoroughly enjoyed playing a bitch, a bitch with a soft spot for my young charge, but a bitch nonetheless. The 48 hour experience was really interesting and the end product was so good. Interesting to see how well a team can work under pressure.
DB – I can also see “The Grand Scheme” and “The Unforgotten”. Those are two powerful film titles.
GLS – The Unforgotten was a film I made with my Active Performance Studio classmates, an original story about Juvenile Detention Centre. It screened at several festivals including a local one for Panther Productions, the performing Arts association for alumni of Mentone Grammar.
I played a counsellor for the inmates, The Grand Scheme was an amazing and heartfelt story by director Matt Mirams. I was playing a member of film crew in the film, as there was a film within the film! I have made many short films in the years since we last chatted. For example Poolside directed by Maisy Sutcliffe, which won a best newcomer award at a Panther Productions Short Film Festival. That was interesting as I had to swim in that one!
Awaking directed by Luke Pryor was shot in the beautiful Warburton Forest. I play a mum trying to warn her son about his evil wife. I really enjoyed being main role in Purpose Soaked in Dirty Water a film by Jake Edwards from Footscray City Films. There were quite a few more some of which I haven’t yet seen. I also have worked on a couple of webseries, such as Ozlinked written by Ana Isabel and Parrhesia a series of conversations.
DB – Well, you’ve certainly been busy Gillian. I know that the lockdowns have also affected a lot of people and some have even changed their plans due to it. What directions are you heading in?
GLS – I kept training. I have undertaken training every year since 2015. For example active performance studio, TAFTA and Peter Sardi Acting school to name some. I’m currently training with Film and Television International. In lockdown I participated in online training and created short scenes with fellow actors and took part in Zoom theatre. I wrote more too, monologues poetry and articles. These can be found on Medium and Vocal. I have had filming of a new webseries postponed a couple of times due to lockdown and have been auditioning for Theatre productions scheduled for later in the year, via self-tape, so that’s a new way of doing things. We all have to adapt!
DB – Can you give us some links so that people can follow your work?
GLS –