"Anthony, your work is very good, very clean and very entertaining. The kind of writing you want to do doesn't provide career style income unless you're one of the best.

You could be."                                                                                                                      

Colin Pearce
Writing Professor
Griffith University

Blushworthy Blurbs ... 

Scriptwriting

Script Assessment 

In his very effective assessment of my script, Tony mainly expressed my own concerns regarding structural problems and the flaws in character development. He expressed exactly the concerns I have always felt, but was unable to clearly pinpoint.

So what Tony wrote in his assessment wasn't all new to me. What was new though was that he was able to extract the problems with such an essential clarity - that it really hurt. For a moment, I hated Tony! After this initial sting however, a new kind of creative dynamic arose inside of me. I realized that I now had a KEY to unlock the complete power of my STORY and turn it into an even BETTER SCRIPT. A script that served my story in the BEST POSSIBLE WAY.

So thanks to Tony’s feedbacks I now feel like a surgeon who suddenly has X-ray and MRI enhanced vision. Now I know what to change, where, and why. Thank you, Tony, for this insight. It hurt, but it opened my eyes.

Ivan Engler 

Scriptwriting & Collaboration 

I met Tony 10 years ago on the set of a film where we were both crewing and since then have collaborated on several concepts. From a vampire story set in the Hunter Valley to a post apocalyptic TV series to historical action we have kicked ideas around and written together ever since. Most notably was a feature I initially wrote solo called All Flesh Must be Eaten, funded for development by the AFC, that he become involved in and ultimately earned us both the What IF? Best Unproduced Screenplay award at the Inside Film Awards of 2005. Recently I enlisted Tony's help in adapting a novel on the New York Times best sellers list for the screen. Both the author and myself are very pleased and excited with the results. The process of working with Tony is extremely rewarding and I always look forward to the opportunity to develop stories with him.

Ben C. Lucas
Writer/Director

Novel Adaptation (Fiction)

I had the pleasure of working with Tony on an adaptation of my novel A Strangerʼs Map. The E.P. and I interviewed more than half a dozen candidates for the position, and Tonyʼs outstanding presentation and clear understanding of the challenges made him the obvious choice for a complex adaptation. Over a period of several months, he wrote and I consulted on the project. We developed an excellent working relationship. Tony is a talented, committed writer with a strong grasp of the technical intricacies of writing for screen and a keen sense of artistic vision. In particular, his understanding of character interplay and his skilled pacing of a story create work that is rich, compelling and highly polished. In my experience, this is true whether he is adapting a work for film, as in the case of the script from my novel, or if he is developing an original script. Having read several of his scripts, I am struck by his creativity, fluid style and close attention to cinematic and linguistic detail.

Meryl McQueen
Author

Novel Adaptation (Biography)
Script Consultant

When it was suggested that I adapt my book into a screenplay I was skeptical until I spoke with Tony. He encouraged and convinced me that as it was such a personal story, I would be the best person to bring it to life in script form.

The fact is, I couldn't have done it without Tony. The experience was so pleasurable, and he made me a better writer. He guided the project and taught me about dialogue - which is something that I felt completely uncomfortable with. Once he started adding his ideas on dialogue, editing and making suggestions on scenes, the process speeded up and we fell into an easy routine of discussing, writing, critiquing, and editing. He always had time for my queries and patiently explained the process. He taught me a lot about the intricacies of screenwriting from vision to story structure to character development and pacing. He gave me a lot of 'what ifs' - which had never occurred to me. When he edited and added to my scenes, he would remind me that I could use whatever felt right to me, or not. I usually kept his suggestions in, because he has great vision and is enormously talented.

Most importantly he is a gifted and creative storyteller, with attention to detail. He sensed when I was holding back or afraid to tackle that which was painful; and he encouraged and mentored me into bringing out that which I found difficult to express for the screen.

The result is a living, breathing, account of the book I wrote and then some. 

Tina Hutchence
Author