The first thing we wanted to outline is that obviously a movie is not a documentary (and we’ve already done one of those anyway!) and therefore there are certain techniques, dramatisations and liberties we need to take in order to make a great, memorable movie. However, we are keeping these to an absolute minimum. The fact that we are dealing with a true story actually complicates our task even more but at the same time it also presents us with a huge array of story and character opportunities.

Movie - Step Outline Cards

We are currently working through what is called the ‘Step Outline’ phase. A Step Outline is around 40 odd pages and each step is effectively a short description of each scene, what happens in that scene and who is in it. To the right is an example of a Step Outline, in this case for the Die Hard movie:

This step outline is our roadmap for another full draft script.

Once this step outline is complete and we are happy with it, we then move to a full draft script. A full draft script is usually around 1 page per minute of screen time.

A full draft script is what we use to complete the financing of the movie and secure all of the principle cast and creative team.

However, this is not the end of any changes to the script. This script draft may actually be rewritten anywhere from 2-3 times all the way up to 12 times before we get to a final shooting script. The shooting script is what is used during production of the movie by the director, crew and actors.

We expect to have the full step outline complete in mid to late November and then we will quickly move into the draft script phase. The draft script phase will take around 8-12 weeks depending on how happy we are with its progress!

This will in fact be the third full draft script we have developed. Previously we felt that we just hadn’t yet nailed the drama, character, suspense and ‘whose story it is’. Long Tan is not about a single character, a single person or a single hero. It is the sum of all of the individuals who participated in this amazing story.

A movie is a form of story telling and to enable audiences to understand, connect and empathise with the story they have to follow and live the story through a number of characters. We don’t really want to say too much more about the script direction, suffice to say we are all very, very excited with this new direction and with our new team of writers.

We believe that we now have the makings of an exciting film which will stand the test of time and appeal not only to Australian and New Zealand audiences but also to many other people from around the world.

Please let us know what aspects of the story have resonated with you the most and which characters have made the greatest impression on you!

CSM WO2 Jack Kirby, D Coy 6RAR

Arguably the backbone and discipline of any infantry company is the Company Sergeant Major (CSM). These soldiers of Warrant Officer rank are part father figure, part teacher and part principle / headmaster. Almost all of the CSM’s I’ve come across have had very strong and unique personalities made up of steadiness, humour, discipline but ultimately a sense of fairness. In the case of D Company (Coy), 6RAR, the CSM was the 31 year old WO2 (Warrant Officer) Jack Kirby.

While the short and nuggetty Major Harry Smith, Officer Commanding (OC) D Coy and the young soldiers strode out on training runs, Jack Kirby was feeling his age and weight. Kirby was a Malaya veteran and naturally a big build. Unable to keep up on the runs, he nevertheless plugged along, always finishing and earning the respect of the soldiers. At the Battle of Long Tan he was to deepen and broaden their regard with his steadiness, bravery and humour.

Throughout the battle “Big Jack” Kirby disregarded his own safety while braving enemy fire to distribute ammunition. Kirby continuously exposed himself to enemy fire to carry wounded Australian’s over his shoulder back to the Company Aid Post. At a critical point in the battle Kirby rushed out of the D Coy perimeter to silence a wheeled enemy heavy machine gun which was setting up less than 50 metres away from the Australians. He knew in just a few moments this heavy machinegun would be able to strafe and decimate the Australians. Kirby killed the enemy machinegun crew, rushed back and continued to carry on handing out ammunition, moving around the entire company position and giving out words of encouragement to the D Coy soldiers.

Here are just some highlights of what CSM Jack Kirby was doing throughout the battle:

• The Australian choppers banked over the tree tops, kicked out the ammunition and it crashed down into the centre of D Coy’s position, only metres away from Kirby, but was securely packed in boxes. It was needed at once as many of D Coy’s soldiers were down to 15 rounds of ammunition each. Kirby and Sgt Rankin had trouble trying to break open the boxes to get at the ammo, it seemed to take ages. And firing could be heard to their front again…belts of machinegun ammunition and rifle ammo were carried back to the CHQ position and thrown to each group….magazines were refilled and firing at the enemy resumed.
• Kirby turned up near Private Brian Reilly’s position and called to the nearby diggers: “Do you know who that is? No? Well, shoot ‘im!”
• Kirby noticed a wounded machinegunner, Private Webb, and ran up to the exposed position, picked up the tall soldier and carried him back to the Company Aid Post. Webb’s M60 machinegun could not be retrieved so Kirby had to put it out of action by firing a few rounds into it.
• Out on the thin perimeter of D Coy, Corporal Laurie Drinkwater was watching the area to his front when Kirby came by and called : “Drinky, you can shoot anyone you don’t know!”
• Private Brian Reilly heard Kirby call out, pointing to a group of enemy, “Do you know who that is? No? Well shoot the bastard!”
• With the ammunition starting to run low again, Kirby went over to the three man New Zealand forward artillery party and took their unused magazines, leaving them one magazine each. Throughout the embattled D Coy position, Kirby continued to move around underneath the flights of bullets, steadying soldiers. A long standing joke in the company was Kirby’s insistence that Private Harry Esler was in fact Private Ralph, who had last been heard of on patrol in Malaya. “You remind me of the bludger”, Kirby would say to Esler; and on his journey around the perimeter that afternoon, Kirby would remark: “How are you Private Ralph?” And “You’re not going to get back if you don’t watch out”. Undismayed, Esler would reply: “I will. You make sure you do!”
• At a critical point in the battle Jack rushed out of the D Coy perimeter to silence a wheeled enemy heavy machine gun which was setting up less than 50 metres away from the Australians. He knew in just a few moments this heavy machinegun would be able to strafe and decimate the Australians. Jack killed the enemy machinegun crew and rushed back with the enemy firing at him all the way.
  

  2Lt Dave Sabben surveys the Long Tan battlefield on 19 August. Enemy dead lie beside their 7.62mm heavy machinegun which was silenced by CSM Jack Kirby.

• Kirby again made it around to Esler, doling out the meagre ammunition available and asking Harry Esler, “You alright Private Ralph? Doing a good job?” Kirby then dropped twelve rounds of ammunition by Esler’s side.
• In the midst of the attacks, with no help in sight, one or two of the soldiers began to show signs of strain. Kirby would then place his large hand on the soldier’s shoulder saying, “Get a grip on yourself, son. You’re paid to kill these people and here’s your chance to earn your money. Get over there.” To many of the diggers that long afternoon, Kirby personified the traditional image of a Sergeant-Major. One of the diggers later likened Kirby to the imperturbable British Regimental Sergeant Major who told the redcoats to “do up your buttons, and never mind the spears”.
• On the morning after the battle there were many media and task force HQ personnel crisscrossing the battlefield and making thoughtless remarks about Australian casualties. Sergeant Bob Buick was about to explode when the observant Jack Kirby materialised beside him. Kirby quietly pointed out an area of rubber trees a short distance away: Buick was to be responsible for securing and searching it. This moved Buick away from the scene, gave him something to do, and allowed him to calm down.

CSM Jack Kirby, D Coy 6RAR the morning after The Battle of Long Tan

The tragedy of Jack Kirby’s story is that he was killed six months after the Battle of Long Tan in February 1967 by a friendly artillery salvo misdirected by an inexperienced New Zealand artillery officer.

CSM WO2 Jack Kirby was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) for his actions at Long Tan but many of the veterans, historians and his former commanding officer, Lt Col Harry Smith (RTD) agree that Kirby should have been cited and awarded a Victoria Cross. Unfortunately, immediately after the battle, Harry Smith was only given 18 hours to write and submit all of the citations for his men. Harry did suggest to 6RAR Commanding Officer Lt Col Colin Townsend that Kirby should have got a VC but Townsend said he would only sign a DCM citation.

There have been many precedents for the upgrading of gallantry medals to soldiers throughout all wars (recently some of the other Long Tan veterans) and we believe that Jack Kirby’s gallant and heroic actions at Long Tan are well deserving of a Victoria Cross. Lastly, not a single Victoria Cross was awarded to any soldier in the Task Force, despite 500 men being killed in action.

*Keith Payne, Kevin Wheatley, Ray Simpson and Peter Badcoe were awarded a Victoria Cross in Vietnam but they were part of the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam (AATTV) and not 1 Australian Task Force.

During the Vietnam War a secret radio intelligence and tracking unit from the Australian Army – 547 Signal Troop – was stationed at Nui Dat in support of 1 Australian Task Force (1ATF).

As you will see in the diagram below, believe it or not this secret Australian Army radio tracking unit was, for 16 days right up until 4 days before the Battle of Long Tan, tracking the radio transmitter of the Vietnamese 275 Viet Cong Regiment as it moved from its base area through to when it stopped just short of the Long Tan rubber plantation. This is the regiment comprising 2,500 soldiers who would fight against D Company, 6RAR during the Battle of Long Tan only a few days later on 18 August 1966. Intelligence indicating a possible enemy regiment of 2,500 men being in the vicinity of the Long Tan rubber plantation was not shared with Australian combat commanders like Major Harry Smith who led D Coy, 6RAR during the battle. However, it is important to remember that throughout all wars and conflicts intelligence assessments are just that, assessments. It is always easy in hindsight to say certain pieces of intelligence were proven after the fact but in this case most rational people would argue that this type of information should have been shared with combat commanders as it my alter their planned force disposition, tactics, routes and even the levels of ammunition they take out on patrol.

Click on image for larger version

The interesting aspect of this unit’s operation and the Battle of Long Tan is that the intelligence was only shared with Major Dick Hannigan (the task force operations officer), the two intelligence officers on the task force headquarters, and Brigadier Jackson himself. Information arising from these measures was available to battalion commanders such as Col Colin Townsend Commanding Officer of 6RAR, but they could not be told its source. Such security was maintained to prevent the enemy deducing that their radio traffic was being monitored. But the habitual secrecy also meant that officers other than those of the Intelligence Corps had no experience in interpreting, evaluating or even understanding the strengths and limitations of this form of information. Jackson, for one, had not been exposed to signals intelligence before. As a result his ability to use it, as far as the signals intelligence officer was concerned, was ‘very limited’. Commanders who had to act on the information were not able to assess its reliability for themselves.

But, as you will read in the extract below there were also some other human and personality factors involved in the whole intelligence story behind the Battle of Long Tan. This intelligence also partly or fully explains why Brigadier Jackson delayed sending the relief force comprising soldiers of A Coy, 6RAR and the APC’s for more than hour to assist D Coy during the battle. In his position of overall commander he would be worried about a direct attack on the task force base as the intelligence also indicated another enemy regiment, 274 Regiment also comprising 2,500 soldiers was to the North West of Nui Dat and therefore sending any reinforcements to D Coy would weaken the Nui Dat defences even further.

You can download an (.PDF) extract outlining the fascinating background to the intelligence relating to the Battle of Long Tan below as well as a good document outlining the history of the Australian Army’s 547 Signal Troop during the Vietnam War:

• Battle of Long Tan Intelligence Outline (.PDF 505K) – extracted from Ian McNeill’s book ‘To Long Tan: Australian Army and the Vietnam War, 1950-66 (Official History of Australia’s Involvement in Southeast Asian Conflicts, 1948-75)’ Allen & Unwin Australia, 1993.
• History of 547 Signal Troop, Australian Army (.PDF 794K)

This information was not known to Lex McAulay who wrote the first book about the Battle of Long Tan back in 1986 or the majority of Long Tan veterans until some 25 years after the battle.

In making of our award winning Battle of Long Tan documentary we simply couldn’t cover this topic as it is a story in its own right and we would have had to sacrifice other content. However, we will be including this fascinating aspect of the Long Tan story in the storyline of the upcoming movie.

Click on this link to download The Battle of Long Tan Fact Sheet (.pdf document).

Here is just a sample of some of the Facts & Figures:

A wounded Corporal Buddy Lea from, 10 Platoon, D Company in hospital shortly after the battle. He was shot twice while helping the injured Sgt Paddy Todd back to the D Company aid post.

NVA and VC

This is not to say that we haven’t been doing anything for the past 6 years having produced the critically acclaimed and award winning ‘Battle of Long Tan’ documentary and all the publicity around the 40th Anniversary back in August 2006 and of course much more behind the scenes!

On set on our award winning Battle of Long Tan documentary.

We now feel the time is right and that we’ve established enough of a basic foundation of awareness across the media and film industry about the story to now move things forward more aggresively.

We are currently pulling together the development, production and marketing plans along with timelines covering the next 17-21 months.

Most of what we do over the next 7 months will be behind the scenes from a financing and development point of view but we will be releasing key information on a regular basis as we move forward.

When I begin to feel impatient I remind myself of the nine year development timeline for the award winning Australian film, ‘Shine’ in which Geoffrey Rush won an Oscar for best actor and the film went on to take more than $100m at the box office and DVD. As they say, “Patience is a virtue”.

Onwards and upwards, Martin Walsh – Producer.

Here are some shots outlining the depth of the submission required:

 

 
Screen Australia is a newly established Australian Government agency operating under the Screen Australia Act 2008 (Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts).

Screen Australia commenced operation on 1 July 2008, bringing together the functions of the Film Finance Corporation Australia (FFC) and Film Australia Limited, as well as most of the functions of the Australian Film Commission (AFC).

Screen Australia aims to be a strong centralised funding body, encouraging greater private investment in Australian film and television and building on the enormous contribution the industry already makes to the Australian economy.

Our goal is to develop, produce, promote, distribute and provide access to diverse Australian programs, and support the development of the Australian screen production industry, so that Australian screen content is accessible nationally and internationally.

Screen Australia also administers the Australian Government’s Producer Offset incentive and Australia’s Official Co-production Program.

First of all there is me, Martin Walsh! I produced the ASTRA award winning and TV Week Logie Award Nominated documentary on the Battle of Long Tan for The History Channel in Australia and New Zealand. I am also a senior marketing executive specialising in digital marketing and social influence marketing. You can see me in action below during this interview which I did for Sky Channel on the 41st anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan in 2007:

 

My other Producer is Charles Hannah who was Executive Producer on the acclaimed World’s Fastest Indian movie starring Anthony Hopkins and Directed by Roger Donaldson and has been behind many other films such as Newcastle, Unfolding Florence and Control.

The amazing Bruce Beresford who has directed great films such as Driving Miss Daisy, Double Jeopardy, Black Robe and Breaker Morant is Writing and Directing Long Tan.

We also have two awesome Executive Producers on board. Meyer Shwarzstein who co-produced Bridge to Terabithia and Peter Wetherell. They are both based in Los Angeles and bring many years of independent film financing, distribution and sales experience to the project.

We have also brought on an additional writer, Justin Monjo to help with the final draft of the script as Bruce Beresford is busy filming Mao’s Last Dancer.

And we also have the unique talent and experience of Graham ‘Syd’ Cassidy from Cato Counsel handling all of our media and PR for the project.

Sam Worthington

“I believe Long Tan to be a very important story to tell. It’s a true tale that touched me so much, especially when I had the privilege of meeting the soldiers two years ago,” said Worthington in a message to the Battle of Long Tan producers, Sydney-based Red Dune Films and Beverly Hills, California-based partner Brainstorm Media.

Worthington, who recently completed a starring role in James Cameron’s Avatar, narrated the award-winning documentary on Long Tan produced by Martin Walsh, of Red Dune Films, for the History Channel’s 40th anniversary of the battle in 2006.

Walsh has been developing a feature version of the story since 2004.

“On the 42nd Anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan, Red Dune Films and Brainstorm Media are delighted that the long overdue acknowledgement of the gallantry shown by D Company 6RAR has coincided with receipt of an outstanding screenplay from writers Bruce Beresford and Justin Monjo, which will bring the remarkable story of the 108 men of D Company to the big screen,” said Walsh.

Christian Bale and Sam Worthington in Terminator Salvation

“Bruce and Justin have captured all the drama of the battle and the extraordinary real life characters who fought in it, and have given us the tools we need to attract a dream ensemble cast and financing for our feature film.”

Producing the film with Walsh is Charles Hannah, a US-based Australian with 14 feature film credits, including the criticaly acclaimed and box office success, World’s Fastest Indian, which starred Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins. Hannah brokered the deal between Red Dune and Brainstorm Media. Brainstorm Media’s Meyer Shwarzstein is executive producing along with Peter Wetherell, President of Magus Entertainment.

The producers aim to commence production by mid 2009, with Queensland as the most likely location for the Australian base in Nui Dat and the nearby rubber plantation where the battle took place.

“The Commanders at the Battle of Long Tan, who are marking the 42nd anniversary today, are fully behind the film project,” said Walsh.

Please show your support by becoming a fan of The Battle of Long Tan movie on Facebook and don’t forget to share it with your own network of Facebook friends!

We greatly appreciate your help.

Regards,

Martin