Letter # 3 My appeal to three members of the SA board to meet with me and present evidence of my 'intimidation' of staff

 Mr. M. Ebeid AM, Chair

Members of the Screen Australia Boad

Screen Australia

GPO Box 3984

Sydney 2001                                                                              26^th August 2025

 

for Marta Dusseldorp, Sacha Horler and Deborah Mailman

and Members of the Screen Australia Board

 

Dear Marta, Sacha and Deborah 

 

Following on from my letters of 14^th. And 20^th August.

 

It does seem as though the Screen Australia Board is going to adhere to its decision not to engage in communication with me – even though I ask only for an answer to a simple question, first asked 13 years ago – evidence of the ‘crimes’ that led to my being banned!

 

I can’t help but wonder if the 2012 ban on me is still in place? It was never lifted or, if it was, I was not informed! Is it still in place? If not, when was it lifted?

 

As you know from personal professional experience, our highly competitive industry (a little ‘money pie’ with lots of hungry filmmakers wanting a slice) is a small one in which everyone knows everyone, or knows of pretty much everyone by reputation. It is an industry rife with gossip, rumours and scuttlebutt: “Don’t ever work with XXX, s/he is a nightmare.” Whether or not such rumours/scuttlebutt represent the truth or not gets lost in the mists of time. Rumours and scuttlebutt become accepted industry wisdom, and I know, as I am sure you do, how these have negatively impacted the careers of some.

 

Surviving financially as a filmmaker, is not easy for most of us. It is made much more difficult for those who have earned (or had thrust upon them) a reputation of harassment, intimidation and ‘placing at risk’. There is no such legal category as ‘placing at risk’ in the context in play here. These words, levelled at me, were intended back in 2012 to leave to the imagination of my fellow filmmakers to guess what risk I posed; the ‘risk’ amplified by Screen Australia’s decision to call the police and have me arrested for ‘trespassing’ when I was merely sitting in the foyer waiting for answers to my legitimate questions.

 

How would each of you feel if you were banned by Screen Australia under circumstances similar to those that I have experienced? You know that you are not guilty of whatever ‘crime’ you have been charged with and ask Screen Australia to provide you with evidence. Screen Australia refuses to do so. You keep asking but are told that your letters constitute harassment and that no further communication will be entered into with you. You continue to ask for evidence, and placing Screen Australia staff ‘at risk’ is added to the list of your crimes. Precisely what this ‘risk’ entails you are not told and your request for an answer is seen as yet more evidence of your harassment and intimidation. 

 

Ultimately, you are banned by Screen Australia. You cannot make any applications at all to SA. Any and every project you might be involved in that involves Screen Australia is dead in the water. You must withdraw from collaborations with other filmmakers, and they have no choice but to exclude you in their applications for SA funding for projects you have been developing together.

 

I invite each of you to look at the dilemma facing me from a different angle: 

 

‘Would you want to collaborate on a film or TV project with a filmmaker whom you believe had intimidated, harassed or placed at risk members of SA staff? 

 

I hope, if you can put yourself in my shoes, that you will appreciate what the past 13 years have been like for me. On many occasions I have had to defend myself with variations of ‘It is not true. I did not harass, intimidate or place any members of SA staff at risk.’ Heads are nodded, shoulders are shrugged: ‘Why would Screen Australia say that you did, if you did not?’

 

Screen Australia’s word against my own.

 

I request a meeting with the three of you to discuss whatever evidence SA has of my guilt. Or with any representatives of the Board. Lay the evidence out on the table – the relevant intimidatory and harassing words, phrases and sentences highlighted, along with any words that I wrote prior to 2012 suggesting that I posed any kind of threat to Screen Australia staff. Indeed, to any words I have ever written to anyone at Screen Australia that are intimidatory, harassing or suggest that I pose some kind of threat to staff. 

 

If I am guilty as charged, the evidence of my having done so will be on file. As I noted in my last letter, if I am guilty, I deserve to be banned and will accept my punishment and consequent public humiliation.

 

cheers

 

James