SPA Pays Tribute to David Tiley, a renowned advocate for the Australian screen industry.
Screen Producers Australia (SPA) acknowledges the sad passing of Australian writer, former ScreenHub editor, and passionate screen industry advocate David Tiley.
David was a long-time friend of SPA, and his contributions to policy matters surrounding the Australian screen industry were extensive. David was the Editor of ScreenHub from 2005 until he became Content Lead for Film in 2021 with a special interest in policy.
He was a writer in screen media with a long career in educational programs, documentaries, and government funding, with a keen interest in script editing.
“The sad news of David’s passing today is a huge blow to our screen sector. David’s long career and dedication to promoting and protecting our unique industry made him one of Australia’s most knowledgeable and renowned screen experts.
“SPA thanks David for his support of Australian visions and the art of storytelling, tireless efforts in sharing information about the health of our industry, and being a voice for the industry,” said SPA CEO Matthew Deaner.
Owen Johnston, who the SPA community will know as a long-time collaborator in our industry and valued contributor to SPA’s activities, has written a detailed and heartfelt tribute to his friend, colleague, and peer HERE.
We offer our condolences to David’s family, friends, and colleagues.
VALE DAVID TILEY 1950-2024
David Tiley, writer, ScreenHub editor, and renown advocate for the screen industry has
passed away.
I first met David Tiley at Kestrel Film and Video in Bridge Road, Richmond in the 1980s. I was
an editor there and David had been employed by John Richardson to come in and look at 70
hours of footage about a World Health Organisation program, and write a one hour script
from it. There are few people who can do this kind of work and it highlighted his
extraordinary ability to wade through enormous detail, understand it all, prioritise it, and
structure it into a story. It was this ability to understand the layers, what was going on
beneath, and what was important that led him to be one of the most incisive writers on
screen policy in the years to come.
Born in the UK into a Royal Navy family, David migrated with his family as a young child
eventually settling in Adelaide. He attended the nascent Flinders University at the end of the
swinging 60s alongside Kim Dalton, Ron Saunders and other soon to be film makers. He was
influenced by the documentary work of the British GPO Film Unit and film makers like
Humphrey Jennings. This led him to find work with the South Australian Government film
unit, researching and writing instructional films. David told me, “They were tolerant of me
even though they thought I was strange.” One of the films he worked on, Food from the
Reluctant Earth, about dry land farming, had 5 million copies made in China.
David went on to research and write for the Central Office of Information in London (the
evolution of Grierson’s GPO Film Unit) for some years. Instructional film was his first love
and ideally suited to his intellect, patience, and analytical skills. “I saw it as a space where
you could share insights and open minds,” he told me, “And look for joy and explore the
feelings behind what you learn.” The social purpose and artistic treatment of the British
state funded informational films struck a chord with David as a young migrant. “I was
interested in the politics of feeling secure.”
“I came back to Adelaide broke,” David recalled, “and set off for Sydney.” Offered a bed by
Kim Dalton while passing through Melbourne led to some work at Open Channel making
health and safety tapes. He never made it to Sydney. Like so many in the screen industry,
David struggled on for many years researching and writing on short term contracts until Tim
Read employed him as a Project Officer at the Australian Film Commission (AFC). “Tim told
me that they wanted me for my intelligence. I thought if you say another word, I’ll burst into
tears,” David said. “There I was at the age of 46, with a real job in the industry for the first
time.” He quickly became a champion of young Australian film makers utilising his script
editing skills to help the development of many projects and careers.
Our paths diverged for a while, and I next met him in the late 1990s cycling his bike along
Clarendon Street in South Melbourne. He was on his way to work at the AFC and I had the
privilege of working with him there for a while. David loved a chat and often worked deep
into the night with his headset on talking to film makers. Until his old and dear friend Kim
Dalton became CEO and suggested David move on! David and Kim remained firm friends to
the end and Kim did us all a favour really as David went on to a new career of importance to
the Australian screen industry that utilised his writing talents, and his gift for analysis and
communication.
Digital publishing was in its early years and David could see it would grow in importance. He
ran Film Victoria’s fledgling multi-media division and started his own website blog – Barista:
Heartstarters for the Hungry Mind where David gave vent to what was on his mind. It also
allowed him to refine his writing style that he told me was set early writing for Anni
Browning’s film mag Get Out in Adelaide in the 70s. “I always treated people with generosity
in interviews even if they were mad or egotistical. Though I could be quite catty!” David had
a distinctive voice all his own – insightful, analytical, slightly critical, and humorous.
Finally, Tiley was induced by Alex Prior to be the editor of ScreenHub, a digital publication
covering the screen industry. It was here that David used his experience and talents to craft
an agenda that celebrated Australian content, analysed the industry and its intersection
with government, supported new talent and developed the industry’s primary job listings.
He was a great supporter of all the industry sectors and a particular friend to producers. “Ive
always respected the relationship between art and commerce. You can’t have one without
the other.”
“One of the weird things about my life,” he told me recently, “is that for much of it I have
been quite deaf. I’ve had to watch and try to piece things together. Communication
matters.”
David was able to parse the complicated grammar of Australian screen industry policy like
few others and communicate the important bits. As he said in his ScreenHub farewell
speech, “everything in our sector was political, and depended on government and could be
ruined at a stroke of the pen.” He had many contacts within the industry and always
protected his sources, never exposing anyone. I had the pleasure of backgrounding David
for years on policy issues from the producer’s perspective. He didn’t always buy what I was
selling either. He wrote what he thought was right and fair. David’s reflections on policy and
their impact were important. They found their way into state and federal government
departments and onto decision makers’ desks.
The Australian screen industry needs writers like Tiley to help interrogate, explain, and steer
the policy conversation in the industry press. His contribution was important. Not
glamorous, or even duly acknowledged, yet read and valued, and made for a better
industry.
Owen Johnston.
