0/5

Busy schedules are no Tangle to John Edwards

Tangle, Offspring, Rush and Spirited -Producer John Edwards explains to TV Tonight how he juggles four drama projects in one year.

He is one of the busiest producers in the biz.

John Edwards has four drama projects on the go this year: Tangle (Showtime), Offspring, Rush (both TEN) and Spirited (W Channel). How on earth does he juggle such major work when other producers have their work cut out just staying on top of one?

“My work is based on a couple of significant collaborations,” he told TV Tonight.

“Generally speaking things have actually been fitting on the back of each other in a  quite complimentary way.

“Although Spirited has been clashing because it’s in Sydney and everything else is in Melbourne. It’s been a little difficult with the last couple of weeks before Christmas and the next couple of weeks since.”

Two of his projects, Tangle and Offspring are joint projects with co-producer Imogen Banks, with whom he previously produced Dangerous.

Tangle and Offspring are completely equal collaborations, as is Mimi (Butler) and I on Rush,” he says. “With Tangle a lot of the thinking was way back, so we’ve had a fair bit of time. Tangle‘s actually not been a dire pressure. Offspring was exactly the opposite. We pulled it together incredibly fast. It all happened in a great rush. And the ordering of the show happened in a way very quickly as well.

“No sooner had we finished shooting the telemovie, were we developing the series scripts, and we got well down the track on that.

“So it’s actually not that bad, it just looks superficially really frenzied.”

Tangle is currently shooting its second season in Melbourne while Rush begins shooting a new 22-episode season soon. Offspring series production kicks in mid-year. Spirited, currently in post-production, was to have aired March but has been pushed back.

Edwards says the scheduling between Rush, Offspring and Tangle is fine, but concedes the ‘bad bit’ is jetting backwards and forwards on aeroplanes.

On set for Tangle he admitted, “I should have gone back to a Spirited sound mix today. It’s up to sound mix 5 so bugger it. All the picture cutting is done, so the last couple of sound mixes can go without me.”

“Jacquelin (Perske) and Claudia (Karvan) are long-standing collaborations because of Love My Way, so it’s fine. We had to settle what we were making but once that was settled….it is very much their show, whereas Tangle and Offspring are ours (Edwards / Banks).

“Spirited is really them, and I had a ‘grandfather’ role on that show: helping things happen, helping solve problems and there for the financing,” he says.

“These (other projects) I’m more creatively central to whereas I’m a critic on Spirited rather than an instigator. So it’s a bit different.”

16 Responses

  1. According to the W channel website Spirited is being released on August 25th

    the show now has its own webpage on the W Channel Website with a video preview

  2. I can understand if someone doesn’t like any of those shows.
    I can put them in order of preference.
    Tangle I want to see the most . Spirited 2nd , Offspring 3rd
    and I am not interested in Rush .( and its the one that makes the most episodes) Oh well .

  3. omfg, john edwards is so amazing and so talented! tangle is an awsome show and beauitfully acted and rush has such great production and direction i cant wait for offspring and spirited! try and imagine the australian drama landscape without him, you couldnt!

  4. Sue, please don’t put words into my mouth. I never used the word crap.Nor did I say that these programmes should not be made. I said I have reservations about Offspring & that Rush should have remained as one series(based on its ratings.
    As for the programmes you mentioned, I actually thought they were quite good.

    Brookies, I tend to know what appeals to me & what doesn’t. OK, sometimes it doesn’t pan out the way I feel it will but in most cases it does. I never said that you had to agree with me. Nor did I knock John Edwards. He seems to be doing fine, so obviously he is not as concerned by my opinions as you are.

  5. Of course I can pre judge something that hasn’t been released because I simply don’t like the style of drama he creates and his next tv “projects” will be more of the same. And I can really see how popular Rush is, it’s really sweeping the world when it can’t even get a million viewers on prime time TV. You look at any Grundys or Crawfords production and you will see just how successful they were and why they were the masters in creating Australian television drama that sadly hasn’t been matched since.

  6. Ducko i guess you have the following thoughts on Australian drama history;

    Police Rescue = crap
    The Secret Life Of Us = crap
    Marking Time = crap
    Love My Way = crap

    Well if these shows didnt ever make the screen i feel we would be a poorer country for it.

  7. To Mack and ducko- Ok so everyone pre-judges once they have seen an ad for a show but how on earth can anyone pre-judge something where an ad hasn’t even been relaeased.

    As for you knocking John Edwards and his production skills and might I ad Rush, Rush has many many loyal viewers who absolutely love the show (and yes I admit to being one) and I know Tangle has a big following to so his productions skills can’t be all that bad- I personally haven’t seen Tangle so what do you know I’m not passing judgement on it.

  8. Why so many from John Edwards and so few from anyone else (apart from Screentime of course)? How can he stretch himself so far? There must be compromises on the way.

  9. Rightly or wrongly, doesn’t everybody tend to pre-judge. I admit I pre-judged the White Room & Sleuth101. (It looks like I may have been correct)
    I don’t hold out high hopes for Offspring. I can see it going the same way as CrashBurn. As for Rush, I don’t know how it got a second series, let alone a third.
    These are my opinions & I know there are many who disagree.

Leave a Reply