Standing There Productions has existed in some form or other in Melbourne since 2003. Our first project was a theatre production, People Watching, which was awarded second prize in the International Student Playwright Competition. In 2005 & 2006 we made a short a film called I Could Be Anybody. In April 2007, our second play, For We Are Young And Free, ran for three weeks at fortyfivedownstairs as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, where it was one of three shows nominated for a Golden Gibbo Award. In 2008 our second comedy festival show Greatness Thrust Upon Them enjoyed a successful four-week season at Comedy @ Trades, at Trades Hall. We also make the occasional video (including The Receptionist) and we have an artists' residency at Arthur and Yvonne Boyd's property, Bundanon, in New South Wales, in August 2008. For more regular updates on what else we're up to, go to the Diary.

Who are we?

In its current incarnation, Standing There Productions' three principals are Lorin, Rita and Stewart. Rita works in film and television professionally and she usually produces Standing There Productions projects and looks after the company's finances. Lorin writes and directs for Standing There Productions while maintaining a part-time job as an event coordinator at a public sector legal organisation. Stewart's first role in Standing There Productions was as a performer, playing Raj in People Watching. Since then, he has worked as cinematographer on our short film, I Could Be Anybody and he designed the For We Are Young And Free publicity campaign. Stew's role usually has to do with dreaming up solutions to questions of a visual, marketing-based, or technical nature. (And acting. It sometimes involves acting). Standing There Productions is now four years old and although there are only three of us who attend the weekly production meetings, there is a long list of people we consider part of Standing There Productions, including regulars such as Paul Daniel (website designer) Robin Gerardts-Gill (actor, filmmaker), Melanie Howlett (founding member and Standing There Captain of Industry), and Tim Stitz (founding member, performer).

What's our point?

We like making theatre and film that provokes people into thinking about ideas or issues, but we want the primary experience of sitting in an audience to be an enjoyable and entertaining one. Basically, we're interested in producing entertaining and intelligent film and theatre about people our audiences feel a connection to.

Lorin Clarke

Lorin is a writer, producer, director and script editor with experience in radio, film, television, and theatre. In 2003 she graduated with an Arts/Law degree (University of Melbourne), co-founded Standing There Productions and wrote and directed People Watching (awarded 2nd prize, International Student Playscript Competition; judged by Sir Alan Ayckbourn, London). In 2004/5 she co-wrote, performed in and co-produced the daily national radio show, Tough Love (Austereo Network). In 2005/2006 she script-edited The Librarians (ABC TV), wrote and produced segments for The Deep End (Radio National), wrote for Jmag, and co-wrote the official 20 Years of Neighbours coffee table book. In 2006 she wrote, directed and performed in Standing There's short film, I Could Be Anybody, and since 2003 has directed four Melbourne International Comedy Festival solo stand-up shows. In 2007 she wrote and directed For We Are Young And Free (nominated for a Golden Gibbo Award, Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2007). In 2008 she wrote and directed Greatness Thrust Upon Them at the festival and will be completing an Artist Residency with Standing There Productions in August. Lorin also writes occasionally for Inpress magazine and works part-time as an event coordinator (Victoria Law Foundation).
 

Rita Walsh

Rita completed a Bachelor of Creative Arts at The University of Melbourne in 2002 and began her working life at film and television production company Ruby Entertainment where she worked as a Producer’s Assistant on a projects that included Crackerjack and The Murray Whelan Series. She formed Standing There Productions with Lorin in 2003 and together they produced the stage play People Watching (2003), the short film I Could Be Anybody and the Melbourne International Comedy Festival plays For We Are Young And Free (2007 Golden Gibbo Nominee Best Independent Production), and Greatness Thrust Upon Them (2008). Over the last three years Rita has worked in the production office and art departments on film and TV projects that include BoyTown, Noise, Curtin (ABC Telemovie), Lake Mungo, Poetry, Directions and Kath and Kim. Rita also produced the short films Hollow Bones (2006) and the Australian Film Commission financed Hugo. She is currently completing a Producers Attachment with Jan Chapman on Bright Star.

Stewart Thorn

Stewart is a cinematographer, designer, and producer. He graduated from the VCA with a degree in Fine Arts (Photography) in 2005. He completed a Film Victoria attachment on the film Noise with cinematographer Laszlo Baranyai. Since then he has worked on films, TV shows and stills shoots including TAC Make A Film Make a Difference finalist The Price of Friendship, Robin Geradts-Gill's The Other Side, and Standing There Productions' I Could Be Anybody. Stewart performed in Standing There's People Watching (2003).