Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction
Tuesday 23 August 2005

Quilpie may not be famous for its latte, but this small outback town, 980km west of Brisbane, was just what Sydney feature film writer Fiona Seres had in mind when she penned Strangerland.

The Queensland outback

Strangerland is set entirely in a small town in the Australian Outback. Ironically, Fiona had never been to the Outback. So in preparation for the next draft Fiona and son Finn joined New Holland Pictures’ Researcher, Erin Brady, on a visit to Quilpie, to research the location and soak up some Outback atmosphere.

Writer Fiona Seres and her son Finn Simon soaking up the ambience of the Queensland outback

The team drove approx 800km around the Quilpie region, exploring the environment, talking to locals and finding inspiration in the never-ending red dust.

The next draft will get underway next month when Strangerland’s core team (writer, director and producer) travels to Noosa to attend SPARK, an AFC/AFTRS initiative to workshop and advance the script.

The road ends and the desert begins