Since graduating from AFTRS in 2005, multi-award-winning screenwriter and producer Michael Lucas (Master of Arts: Film, Television and Digital Media Screenwriting) has become best known for penning heart-warming dramas and offbeat romantic comedies. Fresh out of AFTRS’ Master’s program, Lucas made his feature debut with Not Suitable For Children, which opened the 2012 Sydney Film Festival and won the Australian Writer’s Guild Award for best original feature screenplay, in addition to receiving five AACTA nominations.
After making the move into television, Lucas has found just as much success, claiming two-AWGIE awards for Best TV Screenplay, and boasting credits including hit series, Offspring, Wentworth, Rosehaven, Party Tricks, The Wrong Girl and Five Bedrooms.
His latest work, 1980s-set ABC newsroom drama, The Newsreader—which he created, wrote, and produced—has just made a fierce debut on ABC, earning rave reviews, including a perfect five stars from The Sydney Morning Herald, a glowing write-up in The Guardian, and more. Lucas spoke to AFTRS’ Alumni Program Manager Christine Kirkwood about the new series, his time at AFTRS, collaborating with fellow alumni, and more.
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AFTRS: Not long after graduating from AFTRS, you wrote Not Suitable For Children with fellow classmate, director Peter Templeman, who you still work with today. How valuable have those early relationships been in your career?
MICHAEL LUCAS: They’ve been so valuable. Pete and I were paired up for our first exercise at AFTRS which I remember so clearly and we’ve been working together ever since. There’s something so great about collaborating with someone you know so well because you can say anything. It’s wonderful to cultivate new relationships but it takes a while to find the right way to express yourself. Pete and I are like family, we can give very incisive notes to each other which is great. If I work on a project without him I’m the most nervous about his opinion. We both still really want to impress each other! We have an enduring relationship, we show each other everything that we’re working on. I can’t see us stopping any time soon, it just gets better as it goes on. We’ve made a lot of TV together during Covid and it’s been great to be ‘in the bunker’ with him. We’re working on season three of Five Bedrooms at the moment and there are other alumni involved too, such as Matteo Zingales (Graduate Diploma Film & Television – Screen Composition, 2003) and Luke Mynott (Master of Arts Film & Television – Sound Design, 2004). I catch up with some others from my cohort and we’ve retained a good bond.
AFTRS: You’re also working on podcast Emsolation with commercial radio star Em Rusciano – how different is writing for podcasting, and have you had fun being on the mic?
ML: I don’t do any writing for it! Em deserves all the credit – she does all the prep, all I do is show up and have a chat. She’s so established and well known, she didn’t need me to do this show, but she always had a theory we’d be good on-air together because we bounce off each other so well. She’s done a great job on it and it’s doing really well on Spotify which is exciting. It’s a great gig for me because all I have to do is turn up and laugh at my friend and she takes care of everything else! I’ve written some interview questions when actors from my shows come in for an interview but that’s it. It’s such a contrast to my day-to-day work where I spend the day honing every word I write. She tricked me into it – she said she just needed to do a test episode and got me in under the guise that it was a one-off. Then after the test she said “They think it will work with you. Will you stay?!” I think that was her plan all along. The interesting thing is I wouldn’t have said yes to doing all the press for The Newsreader had it not been for Emsolation. Now that I’ve got that bit of experience, I’m more comfortable with it.
AFTRS: You collaborated with a few fellow alumni on The Newsreader, including production designer Melinda Doring (Master of Arts Film & Television – Design, 1997). How much of the ’80s newsroom world was written and how much did she add to that?
ML: Yes! We’re also ‘alumni’ of BazMark too although we were there at different times. She brought so much, she is an incredible researcher. I thought my research skills were second to none, but she’s got sources I didn’t even know about. She can go into museums and infiltrate online forums to find absolute gems. I don’t think I’ve ever worked with someone who has such a strong research focus. We were kind of lucky that last year’s lockdown delayed us so pre-production got stretched out. We had an extra four months that we filled with Zoom meetings where we filled up dropbox folders with inspiration. I incorporated what I could in the script but she is next level. It’s interesting because everyone remembers different things from the time, one person will say there were no fax machines in 1986, then the next will give you proof that they were using faxes.
AFTRS: You mentioned in an interview that you read nearly every newspaper from 1986 while researching for the series…
ML: Oh gosh I became such a nerd. You’ve got to read the letters to the editor – they give you the full picture of what people were making of things.
AFTRS: And you feature as the DJ in episode two, what was it like making a cameo in your own series?
ML: I swear the director pushed me into that. I loved it though, I actually learned to beatmix vinyl which was fun. We shot the party over three days, we had beautiful Melbourne Summer weather and it was a lovely relaxing time getting to know the cast. I wasn’t able to have my phone on, so I was just present in the moment and it was very unexpected to have that experience.
AFTRS: You’ve also mentioned in an interview that if you get the green light for The Newsreader season two, you’d want to start writing from a point where you have all the archival footage sourced first. How do you think that would change your writing approach?
ML: I think it’s going to be better. The ABC archives team knows the show really well now and understand how we use archival footage within it. They’ve already sent me a bunch of great stuff so I’m sitting on a goldmine! I’d keep things in mind like the footage from news bulletins is easier to clear than from other programs. We’re brainstorming ideas so we’re ready when the time comes. Beth Taylor (Master of Arts Film & Television – Documentary, 2005), from the NFSA, got in touch while we were making season one, so it’s great to know I’ve got her support if I need to call upon her this time around.
AFTRS: You use Twitter a lot to share what happens behind the scenes on your projects. Is that where your best writing goes?
ML: Haha! I hope not! I do feel remiss that I don’t have enough of a personality on Twitter, I’m always impressed by friends and colleagues who seem to make hard-hitting statements or witty quips about current affairs where I just share bits and pieces from my shows. It’s partially practical though, because networks use social media as one way to measure the success of a show, so to have conversations going on online about it is meaningful. I guess the ultimate goal would be for the show’s hashtag to start trending. If I can help foster discussion about the show or help propel it then that’s great. It’s also really fun. When the last episode aired an ABC news anchor from that period got in touch and was sending me photos of the newsroom, which looked uncannily similar to our set. I’ve also had nice tweets from people like Marc Fennell and Julia Zemiro which feels great! My advice for anyone would be to use it to promote your show and to engage in dialogue with fans. But don’t read every tweet – just like you wouldn’t read every review. And be careful of zealous fans if you kill off a main character! I was having a delightful time tweeting with fans when Offspring was airing until Asher Keddie’s love interest, and the same again with Wentworth when Danielle Cormack’s character died. They will turn on you!
AFTRS: What was an experience you had at AFTRS that still informs your craft today?
ML: I directed an off slate called Turn (which funnily enough starred Peter Templeman). I learned so much and respect directors now even more. Now I have a deeper love and appreciation of what they do. The chance to break out of your discipline and learn something new was invaluable and it made me a better writer and a better producer. It also helped me work out that I wanted to be a writer/producer. Which was a rare combination back then. The exercises we did were also valuable, like one we did with NIDA students – some of whom I work with now – such as Kate Box and Anna Torv. I once filmed a scene that Anna acted in at NIDA. She doesn’t remember me from that at all though, understandably.
AFTRS: What’s next in the pipeline for you and how do you see your career playing out long term?
ML: I’m in the middle of season three of Five Bedrooms. It’s amazing because the show has done something that is quite rare in going from free to air to pay-TV [Season one is available on TenPlay, while two and three will be available on Paramount Plus]. Working with Pete is great, we often joke about going to ten seasons. Working with the ensemble is amazing as well we have so much fun together. I’m currently developing season two of The Newsreader which I’m hopeful will film next year. I have a US agent and contemplate the move there but I’m really happy doing what I’m doing here. I feel committed to the series format. I feel my writing works better for TV – I love the nature of series where you get to know your cast and crew, and spend the better part of the year together creating something, then break and come back to explore the characters and their stories further the following year.
Michael Lucas is featured in AFTRS’ Alumni Showcase. Read more about his work here.
Watch The Newsreader on ABC iview here.
