The Best Australian Short Film Competition: How HR executive became a documentary maker on maternity leave

A former human resources executive from Perth has explained how she managed to swap lanes into documentary making after doing a part-time Bachelor of Film production course on maternity leave.

Melissa Devlin, 38, says she now plans to share stories about ageism and disability after growing up with her own breathing problems.

Devlin, originally from Adelaide, learned her new skills at the SAE Creative Media Institute in Perth. SAE has partnered with PerthNow to create The Best Australian Short Film Competition, which has a prize pool of nearly $80,000 making it the richest short film competition in Australia currently.

“I am a mum to a four-year-old,” Devlin says.

“My background is in human resources and business improvement. I previously worked in the resources industry. I really loved my role in terms of systems and process. I took a lot from the culture side of HR working with people.”

She had a rethink on parental leave after seeing transferable skills between HR and film.

“I have always enjoyed the storytelling side of strategic change of business,” she says.

“When I opted to go back I realised if I was going to be spending time away from my son I wanted to be learning about something new and be motivated. Storytelling came through as a big part of that as I looked into my interests. I had worked for not-for-profits also around social change. For me, I have a documentary film focus. A lot of what I am learning is broadly about fictional narrative films and more broadly, Australian stories, and getting those out there,” Devlin says.

“I jumped into a creative path, using a different part of my brain.”

Now she has the skills to tell stories about issues close to her heart on camera.

Melissa Devlin aims to tell stories about ageism and disability through film. Credit: Supplied

“I have an autoimmune disease that has affected my airwaves and breathing,” she says on her movie motivation.

“I guess I have a disability but it’s not visible. I have had to work through my life to overcome challenges associated with that.

“I am really hoping to engage with a network of filmmakers that are faced with challenges, whether that be age or ability, in the film industry and pursue ways we can make film that meet our needs as well as people that have lives similar to ourselves.”

As for the skills she learned doing the course part-time, Devlin says it was pretty extensive.

“You learn all the technical aspects of filmmaking: camera, sounds to script writing and production, documentary films to TV broadcasting and advertising,” she said. “All the theory work underpins the live studio work that we are doing. It’s awesome to explore the cultural goings-on in the world.”

Devlin is surprised to find so many synergies between her old office job and creative career and urges it’s never too late to pursue a career behind the camera.

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“Many people have a love of film,” she says, outlining career avenues.

“Being able to help a team achieve a goal can be as small as logistical planning or operating some equipment. Or uncovering stories and connecting people across your network … There are so many different avenues other than carrying around a large camera or writing a script.”

As for her own experience, Devlin admits, “I am not the film guru at uni. I often have to research the history of film. I love that people around me have that knowledge as it brings so much to what we create. My background in project management and leadership brings something different as a mature-age student.”

HR and filmmaking are not as different as people might think, she says.

As for her own golden documentary-making, that’s easy.

“The main rule is having a relationship with the people you are telling the story with and fostering (that relationship) throughout the film process.”

For more details on The Best Australian Short Film Competition, visit bestshortfilm.com.au. Entries are open from September 22, 2023 until January 22, 2024.