Screenwriting mysteries set to be solved at Bangalow Film Festival

DEB Cox will discuss how she adapted the Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries detective novels for the screen at the Bangalow Film Festival next week.

The Suffolk Park-based screenwriter, who also co-founded the award-winning drama series SeaChange, will join director Rolf de Heer on the From Page to Screen panel at Bangalow A&I Hall on Monday March 11.

De Heer has also adapted several books, including Luis Sepulveda’s The Old Man Who Read Love Stories into a film starring Richard Dreyfuss and Hugo Weaving.

Cox moved to the Northern Rivers region for a sabbatical with her family nearly 30 years ago.

At the time she was working for a company called Artist Services on several projects, one of which became the hit ABC TV series SeaChange.

While a locations survey was conducted to determine if the show could be filmed at Brunswick Heads, it was deemed unfeasible at the time due to the lack of a local crew and the cost of accommodation and travel.

The series ended up being shot at Barwon Heads, near Geelong on Victoria’s Bellarine Peninsula.

“Our two kids had started attending a community school here and the spouse was surfing every day, so that kickstarted a life of working remotely as a scriptwriter with occasional commuting,” Cox said.

“It’s such a common thing now, but then so unusual that initially the only person at the ABC drama department who had the technology to receive my scripts by email was in accounts!”

Cox has been attending the Bangalow Film Festival every year since it was founded in 2021 and was excited to be invited to be on the panel.

“I’m hoping to pass on something useful from my experience adapting Kerry Greenwood’s novels into three seasons of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries,” she said.

For more information or tickets, head to bangalowfilmfestival.com.au/frompagetoscreen