AFTRS student Justine Vlachoulis almost never applied to study at the reknowned film and television school in Sydney.
She had been studying a Creative Writing degree at a university, and enjoying an elective on film when she began to question her path.
‘I did not even know that film schools were a thing [here],’ she confessed. ‘It never crossed my mind’.
An avid cinephile and wannabe director with an award-winning script already under her belt, Vlachoulis was keen to find her next step forward in the screen industry.
It was only when her mentor, Richard Jasek, mentioned that he had studied at AFTRS in the 1980s, and recommended she do the same, that she began to see her career unfold.
Since she hails from South Australia, Vlachoulis did not find the time to formally attend an AFTRS open day before applying to study there. Instead, she and a friend visited the campus on their own time, pretending to already be students to get a real feel for campus life.
Just like a real open day, she and her friend walked around campus and acquainted themselves with everything AFTRS had to offer.
Highlights that stood out to her were the canteen – where large coffees are ‘only $4.50!’ – and the extensive library that she described as ‘the happiest place on earth’.
‘They have an abundance – rows and rows – of movies and TV shows that you can borrow,’ she said. And it’s not just DVDS: ‘The Euphoria script’s in there, the Normal People scripts are there, you can take anything home and read it’.
‘It’s like a candy shop,’ she added.
Describing the following moment as ‘a shot in the dark’, Vlachoulis also recounted walking past Studios 1 and 2 and boldly ignoring a ‘Do Not Enter’ sign to get a look at the inner workings of AFTRS’ production houses.
Building maintenance manager Con Despinidic instantly spotted the two curious girls – but instead of ending their impromptu tour, he let them in for a better look.
‘You know what? Just come in and I’ll show you around,’ Vlachoulis recalled him saying. ‘It was so nice’.
Immediately impressed by the sheer ‘humongous’ space of the studios and the state-of-the-art equipment within, Vlachoulis was ready to apply on the spot.
The course she’s studying now is the Bachelor of Arts: Screen Production (BA). For her application, she had to prepare two key things: a personal piece of work that showed the assessors who she is, and an artifact showcasing her skills and ability in filmmaking.
For the first section, she explains that she ‘got a bit extra’, and decided to film a news-style report that included information about herself. She went as far as to build a set for this piece, and shot it in one three-minute take.
For the artifact, she felt torn between submitting a short film she had made previously, or the aforementioned award-nominated script.
Titled The Dreamscape, Vlachoulis described the short screenplay as a ‘kind of surreal’ drama about domestic assault. It follows a relationship ‘between a man and a woman’, and explores how his ‘overbearing presence’ invades her mind. It was nominated for Best Screenplay at the Adelaide Independent Film Festival.
Deciding it would be more ‘authentic’ to send the script, she finished compiling her application and submitted it.
Soon enough, she was back on the AFTRS campus – this time as a real student.
Vlachoulis currently midway through her first year as a Bachelor of Arts: Screen Production Student, and she’s hoping to make The Dreamscape into a film by the end of the year.
In terms of what she’s doing now, it’s a real smorgasbord of choice.
‘They let you try everything out in first year: producing, directing, screenwriting, sound design, editing, production design, cinematography,’ she said, adding that the one-on-one meetings with teachers were incredibly helpful in fostering her dream career.
‘It’s really exciting. To them, you’re not just another student, they really want to foster your voice and see that to go into your artwork’.
Vlachoulis says she now has an ‘intricate’ 5-year-plan that she hopes to follow as an emerging film director.
While AFTRS is always happy to run personalized tours, anyone keen to step into Justine’s footsteps should check out Open Day – where you don’t need to pretend to be a student: the whole day is set up for you to experience everything the School has to offer.
