HOW ABBA HELPED GET ME A JOB IN THE AUSTRALIAN FILM INDUSTRY

 

The call was from a film company called Scope Films who said they were interested in me working for them... but there was a catch. The job was based in a small town called Gumeracha, which was only about an hour’s drive from where I lived in Aldgate but as there were no buses from one destination to the other, I would need to find another way of getting there and back each day. I told them I was really interested and would get back to them as soon as I had found a way of resolving my transport issue.

When I arrived at the café, where I was washing dishes three nights a week, the other members of staff were talking about ABBA who were very popular in Australia at the time. The letters in the name ABBA stood for the band member’s first names: Agnetha, Benny, Bjorn and Anni-Frida. One of the waitresses asked me if I would like to go to the concert with her the following evening and the ticket was only $9 but, as I was so low on cash, l turned her kind offer down. Ironically, when I explained my pitiful financial situation to her, ABBA's song Money, Money, Money was being played on the radio.

‘It’s a sign!’ she said as a joke. ‘ABBA are the answer to all your money problems!’ We both laughed and then I went back to washing dirty dishes. Lots and lots of them. As I stood at the sink, the afternoon sun shone through a crack in the window and made a beautiful pattern on the wall. I wished I had my camera with me as it would have made a great shot and was the eureka moment when I knew ABBA really could be the answer to my prayers. If I could find a way of going to the concert for free then I could take some photos of the band and try to sell them to the local paper. I now had a plan so after my shift was over, I plucked up courage and made a call to the local paper to see if they would be interested in buying some photos of Australia’s current favourite band. They told me their staff photographer was already going to the concert so they wouldn't need any but then suggested I contact the promoters for the ABBA tour and gave me a number to call. After I had told the receptionist I was a photographer from England and wanted to know if I could get a press pass to see ABBA, she put me straight through to the tour manager. By pure coincidence it was a chap called Michael Chugg who I had met before. ‘You again!’ he said with a chuckle. After telling me the name of ABBA’s manager and the name of the hotel where the band were staying, he added. ‘Tell him Chuggi sent you!’

On Tuesday the 8th of March, I borrowed my housemate Hugh’s Yamaha RD 350cc to get myself to the Park Royal Motor Inn, where I collected my pass and then rode to the Westlakes Football Stadium. Once I got to the venue, I made my way to the photographer’s pit in front of the stage where there were at least a dozen other photographers already in place, and behind us were around 20,000 fans all screaming ‘We want ABBA!’

All I had to do now was get some good photos but just before the concert was about to begin one of the security stewards, a huge man with muscles like Popeye on steroids, pointed at my camera and told me I wasn't allowed to use flash because it distracted the musicians. I didn’t feel inclined to argue with a man of his stature, so just thanked him for letting me know and then desperately tried to remember what I had been taught at film school about shooting in low light conditions and changed the aperture and shutter speed settings on my camera accordingly. Moments later ABBA took to the stage and hundreds of flashes all went off around me at the same time. Still partially blinded by the lights, I suddenly felt a strong pair of hands lift me up onto the edge of the stage. When I looked down to see who had just given me a better view of the band, I saw the same security steward who now had a huge grin on his face, so I gave him a thumbs up with my left hand and then put my right index finger on the camera shutter. It was showtime!

ABBA started with Tiger and then played a number of other songs I had heard on the radio including Waterloo, SOS, Money, Money, Money, Mama Mia and Fernando. The encore was Dancing Queen followed by a reprise of Thank You for the Music. It was a magical evening and I felt very lucky to be there...on stage with them.

After the entertaining show was over, I rode Hugh’s motorbike straight to Group Colour, a local film Laboratory, to put my roll of film in for overnight processing. When I told the elderly man at the counter, I had just come from the ABBA concert but hadn't been able to use any flash, he asked what settings I had used, nodded to himself, and then took the roll of film out of the camera and quickly disappeared through a set of swing doors without a word.

I went back to the Lab as soon as it opened the next morning and was relieved to discover my images had come out better than I had dared hope. I took them to another company specialised in creating posters and after I had shown the photos to the owner, he bought four of them on the spot for $50 each.

With the proceeds, I bought a 1964 EH Holden for $200, got the ‘rego’ sorted, filled the tank up with petrol at the nearest ‘servo’ and then rang Scope Films to say I could start work as soon as they wanted me to. It was a huge turning point in my life so thank you ABBA and Thank You for the Music!

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