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One of his most candid interviews yet, Wingman Pictures’ CEO shows us through the eyes of a filmmaker, the ups, downs and secrets in Film industry.

Q: Matt, it is a true pleasure. Tell us a bit about yourself and what the past five years have been like for you?
A: My name is Matt Norman. I am a writer, director and producer and CEO of Wingman Pictures film production company in Australia.

The last five years of my life and my career have been the hardest I’ve ever had to deal with. Most people think that it would have been great until they hear the true nature of what it’s like being raped by an industry built to protect you. I started making SALUTE in 2002 to honour my uncle Peter Norman. Two weeks before it’s completion and ready for Peter to see it, he died tragically from a heart attack. Normally that would be hard enough to handle but when all those people surrounding me realised I had the only film ever made with all three men involved in the famous black power salute the sharks came out looking for blood.

At this time I had a finished film I funded, all on my own, edited, graded and completed without the help of anyone to get it post produced. I ended up hooking up with another company who meant to come on to help raise funds for the several hundred thousand dollars it would take to buy the rights for all the Olympic archive material. I did that and that’s literally where my hell began. I know now to do research and go with my instinct when it comes to partnering up on the funding side of a film.

Salute was #1 at the Australian Box Office for an Aussie documentary in 2008 through Paramount Pictures. That’s two years ago. I haven’t seen a cent as Paramount won’t show me my own figures…yes people; Paramount Pictures refuse to show me, the writer, director and producer the sales figures and P&A spend. So eight years of work, #1 at the box office and sold out 3x’s on DVD as well as playing regularly on Cable television across Australia and New Zealand and I have yet made a cent. The last five years have been terrific.! Welcome to the film Swimming With Sharks. (One of my favourite films by the way.)

Q: Here at SOUL SPEEKER MEDIA, we have heard, read and watched trailers of your work. Please tell us what/who the biggest influence(s) of your life have been?
A: I have had a few influences in my life. The obvious ones being my wife and FIVE children who have gone through hell and back for me to follow my dream. The other has been Peter Norman my uncle. He was always like a father figure to me. I was literally the black sheep of the family which I believe he was too. We had a relationship that was like best friends. I could tell him anything and he would always be around if I needed it. If we’re talking about influences as a film maker then I have a number of people I consider masters of their craft in many ways. Charlie Kaufman is my favourite writer, Ed Harris (yes the actor) is not only an amazing actor but a sensational film maker (loved Pollock), Clint Eastwood is an all-rounder that I love watching as an actor, and as a filmmaker and lastly Sean Penn. Funnily enough I do seem to like actors who have turned to directing. Maybe because that is my career and how I have become the filmmaker I am today.

Q: How would we go about purchasing the movie?
A: Salute will be available at all good DVD stores across the United States and Canada late October. Be on the look out for it at cinemas before then.

Q: In your opinion, what is the business value of Social Media for Filmmakers? How have you used it to your advantage?
A:
Social media is literally the number one device all filmmakers need to understand completely to be successful in this day and age of good filmmaking. We live in a world that is so universally quick to come up with a new gizmo to make films cheaper, more advanced and can be put together by a three-year old that if you’re not part of that technology then you’ve already lost the battle.

Social media is also to blame when it comes to putting out crap into the film markets. Everyone thinks they are a filmmaker, actor, director, producer… But most of those people do one thing and realise they spent most of their time, wasting money, energy and ego when they get rejected over and over again. Wingman Pictures has an account on everything from Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google, Flicker, Blogspot, MySpace, and as many blogs that can be tagged with the name as possible. It all comes down to hits. Hits.…… My latest film Salute has had over 13 MILLION —– 13,000,000 hits on the webpage since 2009. The film was released in Australia two years ago and has won several major awards around the World and is only now being released in the United States? I have a database of people who have waited for two years to buy this film on DVD and kept that going for two years so that come later this year the film explodes onto the American scene. Social media, word of mouth, technology plays a crucial role in becoming successful these days.

Q: What is it you’re working on now; both personally and professionally?
I’m working on my next feature Scab Girl Asylum. This one is a feature biographical thriller, not a documentary. It’s about one of the strongest women I’ve ever met. Sue Treweek. Sue was an orphan growing up and because she used to rock back and forth in her bed at night was put into an adult maximum security mental asylum at 12-13 years of age. This story shocked me so much that I’ve been obsessed to find Sue’s justice from it. We hope to start shooting in January here in Australia.

Personally I’m trying to find more hours in the day. I now they’re around here somewhere! [Us too Matt, in fact, when you find out how to do that--give us a holler.]

Q: Do you think people are now overwhelmed with all the different ways to access/watch TV and Film these days? How can we as creatives/consumers use technology to our advantage?
This is really hard to answer. The TV Networks use death, sex and lies to get an audience. Filmmakers use rehashed shit from 30 years ago and stories that were written by donkey’s to make you smile. I was hoping that the World would become more focused on survival to use the medium of this mass access to only watch things of importance for a while. Isn’t it funny that while we sit and watch TV we get bombarded with ads selling anything from toothpaste to gym equipment worth .50 cents and selling for $400. While in countries less than a mouse click away we have hundreds of millions of people dying of starvation, children being used as sex slaves, wars killing our worlds future leaders and we still want to see Britney Spears’s ass crack in her latest video. Isn’t it a lovely life we lead!

Full interview/story

Interview with Matt Norman - Producer "Scab Girl Asylum"