Australian TV Plays: Roger Mirams series

He made kids films. Evidence in Vincent Committee

As a matter of interest, why do you concentrate on children’s films?—1 think for two reasons. There is a dearth of this sort of material throughout the world. The Americans do not produce very much of this type of film. Our experience has been that at 5 o’clock in New York you tune in to most stations and they are screening murder stories and so on. On Saturday morning they have quite a lot of children’s material, so apart from the big shows, such as “ Lassie ”, there is not very much produced for children in America.

Are they cheaper to produce than a corresponding adult film?—Yes, because once you start producing the adult films you are competing with the big operations such as Desilu and Warner Brothers.

As a financial enterprise are they more expensive to make-—the adult film?—-Yes

The Adventures of the Terrible Ten (1959-60) - 52 x 10.

Filmed for GTV-9.

This was re-edited with footage added to become The Ten Again. Article here.

The exploits of a group of children who constructed their own shantytown in the bush out of packing cases and called it Ten Town.

The “town” had its own hotel, sheriff’s office, post office, bank, fire station and general store, and the storylines ranged from single-episode stories to multi-episode serials.

Refashioned as the film Funny Things Happen Down Under.

Mirams and Stewart in Vincent Committee

I notice that your “ Terrible Ten ” series is being sold in a number of countries. What effect has that on the economics of the problem?—(Mr. Stewart) We have had up to date sufficient money back to give us one-fifth of our production budget on our films. The rest of the money has to come from Australia. In our case the A.B.C. has paid us a much higher price for our films than it would have paid for films of a comparative running time from
America or other sources.

You have not exhausted the overseas market?—No. As yet we have not made one sale in the United States. One sale in the United States could equal all other sales put together.

Let us assume you do not sell in the United States, could you get your money back from other overseas markets? (Mr. Mirams)—No. We have got about one-fifth back, and we could get as much back again in the next few years on re-runs in those countries we have broken into. We have broken into countries such as Japan, Italy, the main channels in Great Britain, Portugal and small colonial markets.

The population of those countries collectively would be very much greater than the population of the United States?—Yes.

You said that you did not make a lot of money in those countries and that you would expect to make a great deal more in America?—Yes.

Made The Coastwatchers as a proposed series but only did two pilots.

The Magic Boomerang (1965-66) 45 eps x 25

14-year-old Tom Thumbleton (played by 18-year-old David Morgan) lives on an outback sheep farm. He finds a magic boomerang among some Aboriginal relics his great-great-grandfather left in the attic which, in flight, makes time stand still for everyone but the thrower. Tom and his pal, Wombat, begin to use the boomerang to foil the nefarious deeds of assorted villains and neer-do-wells.

The Adventures of Seaspray (1965) 32 x 30

Widowed journalist Dan Wells (Walter Brown) is sailing the Pacific on his schooner Seaspray with his three children, Mike (Gary Gray), Noah (Rodney Pearlman) and Sue (Sue Haworth), assisted by their Fijian crewman, Willyum (Leoni Lesinawi).

The series was a co-production of Screen Gems of America (a subsidiary of Columbia Pictures) and Pacific Films of Melbourne. I set up its headquarters in a disused hangar on Nukualofa, near Tahiti, and chartered the 83-foot New Zealand brigantine Fitheach Ban (Gaelic for ‘Blue Raven’).

Funny Things Happen Down Under - Age review is here.

The Rovers (1969-70) - for NLT