Saturday 26 June
Rain and showers again. So we're indoors for strong dramatic scenes between Mitch (Sam Worthington) and Linda (Sophie Lee). It's been a tough week but the rushes are great.

Sunday 27 June
Due to the restrictions of our budget, we could not afford to film on Sunday at the Marathon Stadium, the day of the rugby football match between the Newcastle Knights and Wests. Crew and cast offered to donate their services and give up part of their Sunday so that we could get key shots of the 30,000 strong crowd watching the stunt pulled by the Bootmen to get an audience for their show. We felt like a terrorist group infiltrating the ground! While an announcement was made to the spectators at half time that filming was taking place - no-one knew precisely what was going to happen. When the six Bootmen ran onto the field, they were pursued by "real life" security guards who tried to prevent them reaching the stage where the cheerleaders were performing! We got the shots - many thanks due to all crew and cast who showed such commitment to our film.

Monday 28 June
Arrival of Lindsay Law, President of Fox Searchlight, to visit the production. Fox Searchlight and the Australian Film Finance Corporation are joint investors in Bootmen. Steve Worland (writer) and Hilary Linstead have worked closely with both Lindsay Law and Matt Gannon at Searchlight in the final writing stages of the screenplay. The screenplay has been developed over three years by Steve Worland, Dein Perry and Hilary Linstead. It has been a rewarding collaboration and has benefitted from the input of the actors during final rehearsal stage. The principal actors have all researched their characters exhaustively. Sophie Lee (Linda) even visited Wagga Wagga (from where her character comes) and talked to hairdressers. "Linda" owns a hairdressing salon in the movie. That's dedication.

Tuesday 29 June
Our first dance sequence. A rehearsal by the Bootmen at Forgacs machine shop (previously called Goninans and owned by Newcastle Engineering). This was where Dein Perry did his apprenticeship as a fitter and turner for three years. Live music for this sequence was provided by Grant Walmsley (of the Screaming Jets), Dario Bortalin (bass guitarist) and Mark Marriott (drummer). Time is tight again - we have to release Grant very promptly each day so that he can rejoin the national tour of the Jets. The rushes for the film continue to look great. Adam is giving a marvellous performance as Sean and the camera loves him.

Wednesday 30th June
The hiccups of filming continue. One can of rushes lost for three hours somewhere between Sydney and Newcastle. Every day our rushes are transported by air to Atlab in Sydney and returned to us the following day for screening. The idea being that if there is any damage to the negative during filming we can re-shoot with minimum delay. To date, we have been lucky,only one scratch involving a minor reshoot.

Thursday 1st July
Paul Johannessen, Dein Perry's assistant, a newcomer to film, discovers film practice when his mobile goes off during a take. At the end of the day, he is presented with a case of Crown lager. Grant Walmsley's guitar misses the plane back to Newcastle. Panic, but it catches the next flight and arrives on set just in time.

Friday 2nd July
Filming continues at Forgacs Machine Shop. Important fight and stunt sequence over three days. Glenn Boswell, our stunt co-ordinator, comes to us from The Matrix and has supplied us with one of the rigs bought from that production. His team of stuntmen, Shea Adams, Mick Corrigan and Phil Gibbs have been teaching our dancers and actors the moves required and Glenn has commented on how well co-ordinated the dancers are. Lee McDonald (Derrick) talks about taking up stunt work when the film is over.

Saturday 3rd July
Our leading actor, Sam Worthington (Mitch) conquers his fear of heights and films a sequence on a walkway 10 metres from the ground. It's our last day at Forgacs. Schedule very tight but morale high as we complete several tap sequences on heavy machinery. Wayne Wattus, machinist at Forgacs, operates the machines for us and tells me the story of how he used to drive Dein to work when he was a "skinny boy of about 15".

Part 4
Hilary's diaries continue.