Written by Jonathan Milne (Managing Director of The Learning Connexion).

Between 60 and 98% of people think they have an above-average sense of humour¹, which is funny. We can only speculate on how many of these people could make a hilarious movie. The MAKE MY MOVIE competition was a challenge to find anyone who was up to the task. Actually the sponsors² didn’t care whether the result was funny or profound or whatever. The joke was that the winners were required to make a full length feature movie with a budget of $100,000. There were 756 entries from throughout New Zealand. Sir Peter Jackson didn’t enter, perhaps because he was busy with The Hobbit, estimated to cost around $300 million (3000 times more than the MAKE MY MOVIE ‘prize’).

The winning entry came from a team strongly associated with The Learning Connexion. Our audio-visual department was almost empty for a month while the movie was being filmed.

Here’s another funny thing. Back in 1996 TLC bought the first digital camcorder of its type in New Zealand. We believed (or at least some of us did) that it would be good to make movies of TLC classes so that people could do art from a distance. It was a precursor to the MAKE MY MOVIE title – How to meet girls from a distance³. Movies are like that. They are viewed from afar. I met a guy who said he was delighted to meet the man who shared his bedroom. It turned out that his wife had a television at the end of the bed and viewed videos in which I was teaching people how to draw.

TLC’s Audio Visual department has grown better and better at making movies. One of the reasons for their success is that they weren’t in the mainstream movie industry. They were working together and more or less making up their own rules. They always have to be brilliant on a low budget, which is how Peter Jackson started (check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Jackson for details of the splatter period).

Here’s another funny thing. Back in 1996 TLC bought the first digital camcorder of its type in New Zealand. We believed (or at least some of us did) that it would be good to make movies of TLC classes so that people could do art from a distance. It was a precursor to the MAKE MY MOVIE title – How to meet girls from a distance³. Movies are like that. They are viewed from afar. I met a guy who said he was delighted to meet the man who shared his bedroom. It turned out that his wife had a television at the end of the bed and viewed videos in which I was teaching people how to draw.

TLC’s Audio Visual department has grown better and better at making movies. One of the reasons for their success is that they weren’t in the mainstream movie industry. They were working together and more or less making up their own rules. They always have to be brilliant on a low budget, which is how Peter Jackson started (check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Jackson for details of the splatter period).

Making movies is a team sport. When you see the credits roll down you get only a hint of the complexity. In a way ‘How to meet girls from a distance’ enlisted the whole of Wellington. The city is a movie zone. TLC itself emerged from Wellington and has been an incubator for an impressive group of film makers.
How to meet girls from a distance has attracted great reviews and big ovations (odd isn’t it, to applaud a movie screen). Darren Bevan (TVNZ) had this to say: “A funny script piles on the laughs while never losing sight of the overall plot. From cringe-worthy dancing to dodgy tracheotomies, How To Meet Girls From a Distance is highly amusing, utterly rewarding and a totally unmissable experience at the New Zealand Film Festival.”

The final cut was the outcome of incredibly intense creativity and sustained work. Possibly some of the helpers died of exhaustion or extreme exposure but so far the rumour is that everyone survived (more or less). It was tough. Like head-bending, mind-numbingly Olympian humungous. And through this ordeal they tested the jokes. Can you imagine that? Just when the tank is on empty you bring in a few volunteers to watch the rough cuts and you pay attention to what makes them laugh and what doesn’t.

The result is great tummy therapy. As the inspired hilarity tumbles from the screen your abs will most likely get a great workout. I’d love to see the characters again in sequels, prequels or anything that equals the pizzazz of How to meet girls from a distance. This is a team that can make miracles. Let’s hope there are commercial backers ready to support another one.

¹ http://centrum.pucp.edu.pe/adjunto/upload/publicacion/archivo/behavioralanatomyofthefinancialcrisis.pdf
² http://www.makemymovie.co.nz/
³ See more on http://www.howtomeetgirlsfromadistance.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/HTMGFAD-Press-Kit-FINAL22.pdf