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Funny business

Actor, writer, co-director and producer. Rob Carlton oversees all on his second series of Chandon Pictures. He tells TV Tonight there are just some roles that can't be delegated.

chandonpix1England, Poland, Romania, Finland, Serbia, USA and Russia -all territories that have picked up Movie Extra’s  Chandon Pictures. Not a bad innings for a series that sprang to life after Rob Carlton and Alex Weinress won Tropfest 2006, albeit with another project.

The comedy series set within the ailing video production company headed by Tom Chandon (Carlton) is back for more hapless adventures.

“For those viewers familiar with Series One we learn a lot more about Lucy Tennant (Rebecca Massey), the producer behind the team,” said Carlton. “We go and visit the greyhound stud farm where she grew up. We meet an old flame as well as her mum and dad. We see the environment that shaped the mind of Lucy.

“We also explore cameraman Nick (Darren Gilshenan), and his twins arrive in season two, so we watch the effect the arrival of twin children has on a man.”

Josh Lawson also returns intermittently as Carmichael Chandon, though Carlton says he had to work around Lawson’s rising star obligations to the FOX Network in the US. Added to the cast is Charlie Garber as Tom’s business savvy cousin Larraby Chandon from Adelaide.

“I first saw Charlie at university when he was 18 years old in one of those 48hr improvisation marathons. He was just a young comedy genius way back then. He’s done a lot of theatre, fringe festivals, comedy festivals, he’s a super talent,” said Carlton.

Chandon Pictures is clearly a labour of love or Carlton. As lead actor, writer, co-director and producer he oversees multiple roles, including as manager of his own production company Shadowfax Productions.

“The writing is 6 months before we start pre-production,” he explained. “And then pre-production is a month, production is 2 months, post-production is a little over 2 months. Once we start pre-production I’m doing 18 hour days.

“During the shoot we film all day and as soon as we wrap we go straight to the edit suite and we watch the previous day’s rushes. And we watch every frame and footage. We don’t just watch the takes we thought were good, we watch absolutely everything. You’re just basically looking for gold,” he said.

Carlton and Weinress fine cut the series as soon as they wrap, with their editor, putting in 12 hour days.

“We’ve also got our composer on the end of the line. We send Quicktime files through FTP sites. So we’ve got music continually pumping in from him that we put in over the vision. So you’re really re-building your story all over again. It’s a really intensive time.”

Carlton says while he has a strong team behind him, there are certain tasks that cannot be delegated, including in the edit suite. It is a room that can make or break the series, so no matter how arduous the task it is one he relishes.

“You’re the director, or co-director, this is your story. This is what’s going on screen. You’ve got to be there. And it’s about timing and tone. It’s not something that you delegate, it’s something you fight all your life for.

“You’re not trying to get out of that room, you’re trying to get into that room.”

The second series of Chandon Pictures premieres at 9:30pm Thursday March 19 on Movie Extra and a DVD of Series One goes on sale April 8th.

4 Responses

  1. After looking up this Rob Carlton person, I knew that he played a part in Blue Heelers as a father in a intense custody battle that ended in tragedy and he was in a car advert too.

    Hearing about Chardon Pictures, The story and series fascinated me on a perfect ‘satire’ on documentary making and the failing company. – That’s intelligent for a very long time. He gathered a good cast with no celebrity content in it, That’s what makes the show fresh. Althrough Josh Lawson flirted in the mainstream with Aus Wipeout.

    I think Rob’s got dark comic humour in him somewhere. The tv shows he was in simplified that, not complexed. I really, really think he’s amazing as an actor in a more crazier confounded way.(Laughs) and there was times where he showed a compassionate side to him – like in the Toohey ad where he played a blind man with a small dog.

    Something about him impresses me a funnier way and very Australian I thought. Hoping success goes your way Mr.Carlton, you deserve it more.
    BTW I love your blog!

  2. The first episode didnt have me sold. I thought it was mediocre. I had big expectatations. I kept watching episode after episode and The structure of the program as a serial really began to work. The hillarious seminar style presentation from his brother about banks was a very funny introdcution of that character. By the last episode the other weak I was sold. I was very surprised by the acting. Performances in comedies are of a high standard these days as laph tracks are gone and narratives are embraced. I thought all the leads were great. The show started shaky in my mind but by the end of the series I am a fan. I look forward to the new series. Working a bit in video production I like all the real video stuff so more of that guys.

  3. this guy works really hard and hats off to him, rob is a big talent and a great guy. I had the privallige of reading a few of the first seasons scripts before they were filmed and was very impressed with the show and writing. Good stuff Rob hope its a continued success. You deserve it.

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