Roger Scholes

Roger Scholes (born 1950^[1]) has been an independent film and television maker since 1983. He’s worked as a producer, director, writer, script editor, cinematographer and editor in drama and documentary projects for cinema and television.

Early career

Roger graduated from the Swinburne Film and TV School, now the VCA Film School, in 1971 and worked at Fred Schepisi’s Film House in Melbourne. During the 70’s he worked in France, Switzerland, U.K. and United States. In 1982 he returned to Swinburne for the post-graduate course and awarded Best Director at his graduation.

1980s

In December 1982 he directed and edited a short film The Franklin River blockade concerning the Franklin Dam.^[2]

During the 80’s he worked with his writer/film producer partner, Katherine Scholes, on a number of documentaries before writing and directing his first feature film The Tale of Ruby Rose. The film won four critics prizes at the Venice Film Festival in 1987 including Best Actress and Best Director.^[3] In 1988 Roger and Katherine formed their production company, Edward Street Films. Together they produced numerous documentaries including THE VALLEY, THE LAST TALL FORESTS and HOME OF THE BRAVE which won First Prize at the International ITVA American Film Awards in 1993.

1990s

In 1996 Roger co-wrote and directed THE COOLBAROO CLUB, a dramatized documentary for cinema and television release. It won the 1996 Human Rights Award for Media. In 1998 he co-wrote and directed THE HUMAN JOURNEY, a 3-hour documentary series for ABC TV and Discovery Channel, which won the 2000 Eureka Prize for Science Media.

Since then he has written and directed a 3-hour tele-series STORIES FROM THE STONE AGE for S4C UK and ABC TV, two documentaries–LAST PORT OF CALL and FUTURE SHACK - and a short feature film, CABLE for Showtime and SBSi.

Recent work

The television series The Passionate Apprentices aired on SBS Television in 2008.^[4]

Roger has been a lecturer in the Open Program of AFTRS and other film and television courses, has worked as a script editor on numerous drama and documentary projects, a story editor on many novels, and as a project assessor for the AFC. He has also acted as a Mentor Director for the ABC and SBS. He’s been a board member of the Swinburne VCA Film and TV School and the Advisory Board of Screen Tasmania.^[5]

References