Screen Australia funds Alberts documentary

Screen Australia has announced funding for a two-part documentary on Alberts, the internationally successful Sydney-based label, studio, publishing and rights management company. It will be titled Let There Be Rock: The Story of Alberts Sound.

The news of the Alberts documentary comes as the company’s record label celebrates its 50^th anniversary this month with the release of a 103-track 5-CD box set called on Good Times: Celebrating 50 Years Of Albert Productions.

The company, which started life as a publisher in 1885, went on to sign major acts as AC/DC, The Easybeats, Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs, John Paul Young, Rose Tattoo and The Angels. From between 1974 and the early 1980s, Alberts commanded 20% of Australian chart action – an astounding feat for an independent. It has also been the most successful Australian independent label on an international scale.

No broadcast date is set for Let There Be Rock: The Story of Alberts Sound. It will be aired on ABC-TV and made by Sydney-based Beyond Screen Productions with writer/director Paul Clarke and producer Martin Fabinyi involved.

The documentary is one of nine new documentary projects announced by the Government-backed Screen Australia with a total investment of $3.4 million.

Meantime, pre-production has begun in New Zealand on The Dragon Story, a one-hour program about the 40-year career of the once-controversial band which emerged in New Zealand in 1972 and moved to Australia in May 1975 where it notched up a series of smash hits.

The program is being made by Notable Pictures, with a grant of NZ$171,037 from broadcasting funding agency NZ On Air. It will be screened on New Zealand’s Prime channel, and presumably also in Australia.