TEN films in 10 years - Adam Morris has set himself an audacious challenge.
Made even more so, given the plan is to write them, then film them in and around his home town of Albany, using funds raised from communities in the South West.
He is already on his way - Edward and Isabella has done the festival circuit and the cinemas, Frank and Frank will debut in Perth next month and a third film, Frederickstown, is scheduled to start filming in February.
Dr Morris just needs to raise a further $56,000 to green light the latest production.
Already, the Albany community has pitched in to help get the three movies made.
"The Albany community is incredibly supportive of the arts,'' said Dr Morris, who fundraises through the Great Southern Co-op.
"I can only make the films if we have that community support.
"We were contacted, just last week, by a farmer at Ongerup, who was interested in helping fund this next film.
"If there is anybody out there who wants to join in with our co-op, we really welcome it, because it is the only way we can make these films."
As pivotal as the community is to Dr Morris's projects, so too, is his family's contribution.
His partner Talarah Pedrocchi Roelofs edited Frank and Frank and was the film's script supervisor and co-producer.
His sons, 16-year-old Finn and Atticus, 13, both had small acting roles and Finn worked as a production assistant during shooting.
By necessity, Dr Morris also works on a very small budget, below $250,000 per film.
Which means his movies are character-driven and made very quickly and efficiently - in fact his focus on character is a rich vein through all his varied writing work.
"You know when you give a Jack Russell a rubber toy to chew on, so they don't chew on the couch?'' he said.
"Having things to write about kinda gives your mind things to work with and chew on, rather than devouring itself.
"I find it fascinating to think about how people live - and then to write about it.
"And with the budget levels that we work with, we have to write about characters and real people.
"We can't have any explosions or car chases or anything like that.''
He is moving through the genres for inspiration, but his screenplays follow the styles of films that have inspired and entertained him, with heroes and villains drawn from some of Australia's best.
Cue Eric Bana and John Jarratt.
Frederickstown - he co-opted the old, colonial name for Albany for the title - is Dr Morris's third foray into screenwriting and film-making.
Its tagline is: "Just before you lose it all, call someone who's already lost it."
The crime-heist drama is set in a fictional regional town but will again be filmed on location in Albany - and at Princess Royal Harbour, Nanarup Beach, the Northam racetrack and the Shark Bay cemetery.
It tells the story of two hapless brothers, Jimmy and Harry Burke, who call on their estranged - and deranged - brother Freddy, to help them raise some money.
Fast.
"Their lawn rolling business, Jimmy and Harry's Total Turf Solutions, is going under and the business loan they secretly took out using their mother's home, as equity, is being called in,'' Dr Morris said.
"If they don't come up with $90,000 by the end of the month, they're all out on the street.
"They only have one option..."
Unfortunately for the brothers, it sounds like the only option is not necessarily a good one.
Already an all-star cast is locked-in, including beloved Perth-based comedian Peter Rowsthorn, plus actors Myles Pollard, Travis Jeffrey, Trevor Jamieson, Joel Jackson and Bailey Spalding.
"Peter is the main villain in the film,'' Dr Morris said.
"He is playing a very straight, dangerous criminal - he is not playing the clown.
"He is insanely good.''
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The always creative, Irish-born, Dr Morris started his professional life as a musician in his early 20s, working with the blues and roots band, Murder Mouse Blues.
He got to the point of touring extensively in WA, Australia and internationally.
But having tired of the travel, after tours in Singapore, Malaysia and Canada, he decided to head home to WA in 2014.
"I was doing my second tour of Canada with my band, but I missed my family too much, so I stopped doing that and I came back and started writing,'' he said.
"I concentrated pretty hard on just doing that.''
Dr Morris has published two novels, My Dog Gave Me the Clap and Bird - the latter about the WA prison system - he's also written a local history book and has a new novel coming out next year, Winter of One Fire.
The philosophical new book contemplates fatherhood and is set in a no-where-in-particular country town.
"It's just not down here,'' he said.
He also has a PhD in writing from The University of Western Australia, where he teaches creative writing, Australian literature, cinema and courses on Shakespeare.
He has just learned Bird will be translated into German next year.
Dr Morris said being flexible and multi-talented has been professionally essential.
"Being an artist in the country, these are the kinds of things you have to do,'' he said.
"You need to write a few books, write a few albums, play a few gigs and make a few movies and you have to get everyone involved to be able to do it.
"It is a lot of fun, it's great fun.
"But you can't be just a novelist or a musician, or at least I can't be anyway."
Dr Morris's first and second films, Edward and Isabella and Frank and Frank respectively, were also shot in Albany and his movies are released following a similar pattern - via the national and international festival circuit and then into independent cinemas in WA and interstate through distributor Halo Films Perth, headed by WA film industry champion Ian Hale.
When its cinema release ends, Dr Morris will then look to move each film onto an Australian and international streaming service.
They would also like to get the films into international cinemas, but they still need to work out how to do that.
"We will figure this out as we go,'' Dr Morris said.
"If we are able to keep up the quality with Frank and Frank and the next one, hopefully we will build up our reputation as an independent company doing interesting films."
Dr Morris turned to writing Edward and Isabella in the middle of COVID, when the lockdown forced a change of plans and a professional re-invention.
"I did it because we had no music work when everything got shut down,'' he said.
"I had a little book tour planned as well, but that got shut down too."
The multi-award winning film of his debut screenplay was shot in three weeks in a house in Albany, where the crew also stayed.
It also has some of the South West's most beautiful locations as co-stars - with shooting also taking place in the Porongurups and the Stirling Ranges.
"We try to make everything as local and simple as possible,'' Dr Morris said.
"But because we live in Albany, there are so many beautiful spots around.''
Edward, played by WA actor and musician Daniel Barwick, who came over from Melbourne to be in the film, and Isabella, played by Perth actress Chloe Hurst, are literally the heart and soul of the character-driven story.
Dr Morris filmed Frank and Frank in August last year - a seasonally brave move given how much time the lead actors Myles Pollard and Trevor Jamieson spent in a freezing King River, about five minutes' drive from Dr Morris's home.
"They were very brave, they were in the water for a long time,'' Dr Morris said.
"We did about 12 takes of that scene, then we ended up using the first take.''
The film will have its world premiere on July 15, when it headlines the Perth International Film Festival, at the 500-seat Luna cinema in Leederville.
Dr Morris raised about $70,000 from the Albany community for Frank and Frank to fund the shoot and the secondary cast are all locals.
Community funding for the projects comes in several ways - people can make an investment in the co-op which gives them a percentage ownership of the film, some comes as in-kind support, such as accommodation, plus there's philanthropic donations.
"For Frank and Frank, we raised it from the local bookshop, the local pubs, restaurants, the local radio station and the local arts and culture magazine,'' Dr Morris said.
"The Hilton hotel here in Albany sponsored us with accommodation for the actors.
"Hilton's sponsorship meant there was close to $15,000 we didn't need to come up with to house and feed the actors.
"It saves us, but also makes it attractive for the actors.
"We can tell them they are going to be staying there for three weeks, which helps us get amazing actors to come on board for the films."
Though the State funding body, ScreenWest, is very active in its support of film projects in WA at the moment, Dr Morris said his projects had not received "one dollar of ScreenWest money as yet".
He said the local landscape was also really important to the economic viability and the cinematic success of his films.
"Especially when you are doing character films, a lot of the film is occurring in their own heads,'' he said.
"It is about how the characters are feeling and interacting with each other.
"If you can move from that space, to interact with Bluff Knoll or the Porongurups, it creates a really nice visual impact on the audience.
"That contrast between the inner lives of the character and the landscape is the most fun to play with."
Filming on top of Bluff Knoll for Edward and Isabella was memorable and breathtaking and remained one of his favourite places to film.
"Anywhere in rural Albany is gorgeous,'' he said.
"For Edward and Isabella, we went up Bluff Knoll.
"It was quite intense.
"It is my favourite place once I am up at the top, but getting up to the top is not fun."
Despite the beauty and convenience of his immediate Albany location, Dr Morris said he might start to cast his cinematic horizons a bit wider.
"I would like to make a film out in the Wheatbelt and to play with that space,'' he said.
"That might be something we need to put on the cards."
