Megablaze: Dancing With The Devil

Exciting news: Wedge-Tail Pictures' new documentary on the impact of the 2019/20 Gospers Mountain 'megafire' is close to release.

The biggest bushfire to ever hit Australia not only destroyed a hundred homes and a million hectares of bush (at 4138 square miles, an area bigger than Puerto Rico and almost the size of Delaware), it left fractured communities scattered in its wake, too. Dancing With The Devil meets the volunteer firefighters, the rural dreamers and ‘tree changers’ united by the fateful events on the fringes of Sydney during Australia’s ‘Black Summer.’ As a series of blazes merged together, a desperate ill-fated attempt to slow the ‘main’ fire by ‘backburning’ was carried out. What led to some communities being drawn together and others breaking at the seams?

Photo: Nick Moir, Nine Newspapers

Megablaze: Dancing With The Devil is directed by Bill Code, produced and written by Bill Code and Sarah Allely.

Supported by Hawkesbury Council and the Bushfire Recovery Grants program, Dancing With The Devil spends time with the

Illustrated with nail-biting mobile phone footage and the striking work of embedded news photographer Nick Moir and composer Mike Tilbrook, DancingW ith The Devil is a study of resilience in an age of climate uncertainty with some brave, charming, and unforgettable characters. Dancing With The Devil is director Bill Code’s follow up piece to2019’s critically-lauded The Lake of Scars, which received four stars in The Australian (David Stratton) and Sun Herald newspapers.

As the world’s attention fell on Australia, the communities of Bilpin, Colo Heights, Kurrajong and St Albans faced their worst nightmares; the slow encroachment of fires burning largely uncontrolled in a tinder dry wilderness. But since the fires, how have they pulled through? What lasting damage was wrought on relationships, and what has helped people cope? With impressive access to the volunteer firefighters who battled flames for months, Dancing With The Devil sits with those who lit the ‘backburns gone wrong’, as they process feelings of blame and the weight of being shunned by neighbours. At the same time, it takes stock of the pain of those who lost loved ones and lifelong dreams. With climatic events getting ever harder to predict, Dancing With The Devil is an aid to those seeking to build resilience in the face of almost unimaginable scenarios.

Keeping track of Australian housing for Bloomberg

We've been spending a lot of time thinking about housing, and more specifically Australia's rental crisis, of late. We're in production on a pilot, hosted by satirist Mark Humphries, which skewers - in a 'funny and factual' way, a situation which is seeing rental prices soar out of control for many Australians - we hope to bring you The Renters soon.

So it was great to use some of that experience shooting a documentary for Bloomberg Originals on what exactly is driving the whole dang mess. I (Bill) filmed this on a Blackmagic Pro Cinema Camera 6k (and a little on the Mavic 3). Check it out at the link below and see why arguably the world's leading business news channel thinks our housing crisis worthy of special attention.

Wedge-Tail Pictures goes into production on renting documentary series 'One-Year Lease'

We're delighted to say that a documentary series we have been bubbling away at since the new year has received its first significant piece of funding to go into development.

'One-Year Lease' is a funny and factual look at the renting crisis engulfing Australia, hosted by satirist Mark Humphries, known for his work at ABC 730 and SBS's The Feed.

The series will be directed and produced by Wedge-Tail's Bill Code, a former Al Jazeera and Guardian journalist, and co-produced by Melanie Garrick. Co-written by long-time Humphries collaborator Evan Williams, it will feature comedic 'break out' explainer sketches amidst the more traditional obs-doc treatment. One-Year Lease has received development funding from Create NSW to kick off properly after ticking along in pre-development since the new year.

We have approved support from champions of indie docs Documentary Australia Foundation - which means that all donations to help us get this thing alive and kicking and out into the world are eligible for DGR status. If you'd like to see a series with metal take on everything that is wrong with housing - with some solid filmmaking and a few laughs, please make a donation here - maybe even before the tax year is through!