On-line edit in Adelaide

I spent three weeks in Adelaide locked in edit rooms with expensive, clever equipment driven by expert, creative people to lift the picture and sound quality of the film and add the 'bells and whistles'. In the past this has been the most enjoyable part of the edit process for me, but this time it was fraught with problems and challenges that took me to new edges of my own endurance and stamina.

There is a vast amount of archive material in the film, and we were still dealing with the problems of clearing rights and getting master tapes of the footage sent from all over the globe. The BBC footage arrived the day we needed it, but other footage was late, and even arrived with bits missing. Jeff's job as co-producer extended to getting clearances for all the material and negotiating payment to all parties involved, and all I can say is, beware, it's a minefield and you have to be smart, quick and persuasive or you will bankrupt the project.

There were technical challenges, last minute changes requested by some of the broadcasters, and the difficulty of editing three versions in the time allotted. Also, I'd never worked with animations before and these presented their own unique challenges. So by the first week of February, the films were finished, the Irish version despatched to Ireland and broadcast five days after delivery, and the Adelaide Film festival had their copy, and I returned home and fell in a heap. I felt as if I'd just given birth to triplets and I wasn't sure if I had the stamina left to nurture and care for them all. For an entire week I promised myself I'd never make another film and would consider other career options. But I did recover, and began to think about the launch of the film, and once again packed my bag and headed back to Adelaide.