Spotlight: Coralie Tapper
If you’ve ever worked on any of the big jobs around Byron you’ve probably met Coralie. She’s been making films since she was 10 and entered her first film festival at 12, clearly a childhood passion! After a good 10 years working as a producer, Coralie bit the bullet and moved to the sunny north coast where she now works on a range TVCs, features films and music videos.
1) Can you tell us how long you’ve been working as a producer and how it all came about?
I have been working as a Producer for around 10 years. I moved to Melbourne straight out of high school and studied Film and Television which led to my first Producer role on community television C31. I was running a morning breakfast television show. It was scheduled in between the “fish” tank show (if anyone remembers that) and an elderly chair/exercise program, so as you can imagine, we had a viewer’s rating of about 7…which I am pretty sure was just a few elderly waiting for their show to start. But the thrill and adrenaline of running a live production had me hooked. My sister and I had been making films since we were about 10, and entered our first film festival at 12, so I guess it’s been a passion since childhood.
What projects are you working on right now?
Currently I am working on an online tv series based out of Melbourne called Victoria on Film, exploring the world behind some Australian cinema classics. It has been an interesting transition to an online space and running a live show over zoom. I usually have a job or two in pre-production, one in production and another few in post-production. So being on top of logistics, planning and timelines is extremely important.
What’s one of the coolest jobs you’ve worked on?
Straight out of film school I travelled to India for my sister’s wedding, it was here I met the Executive Producer of an upcoming biopic feature documentary about the founder of the Hare Krishna movement. Little did I know I was about to endeavour on a two-year project living and travelling throughout India recreating 1800’s Calcutta.
Being a producer means you have to be pretty organised. Can you let us in on any little hacks that help you stay on top of things?
My favourite little production hacks would have to be spending the time in pre-production to save all crew and cast contact details in your phone (sounds simple but you would have no idea how quickly this can build up on a crew of 57 and cast of 21 shoot). Oooo and a hands-free device in your car - its amazing how many phone calls and fires you can put out whilst en-route to location. A well-oiled computer with all the trimmings ie. Creative Cloud, Microsoft office suite, and knowledge of Dropbox, Google suite and Docusign is a MUST. A phone battery pack charger, many many notebooks, a standby production kit - complete with mozzie spray and now the essential trusty “sanny”. Honestly the list goes on.
Do you have any funny stories or disaster moments where you’ve gone into melt-down?
Melt down…me…never! What happens on set, stays on set.
If you had an open brief, an endless budget, and the sky was the limit what would you produce?
I have one project which I have been dreaming about and developing for many years. But if I tell you I would have to kill you. For now, let’s just say something with a rich and honest story, an outstanding landscape and groovy music score.