It would not be a proper Australian Christmas without hearing Paul Kelly’s ‘How To Make Gravy’, but from this December, you will be able to watch it as well.
Three-time ARIA Award-winning musician, songwriter, voice actor and Queensland Conservatorium (The Con) alumnus Megan Washington has joined forces with her filmmaker husband Nick Waterman to create a feature film adaptation of the classic song, available on Binge from 1 December 2024.
While the pair had always adored the song, it took a friend’s playful text message suggesting they make it into a film to set the ball in motion.
“We called Paul’s manager to see if the rights were available and he invited us to Paul’s gig the next day, which just happened to be gravy day, 21 December,” Ms Washington said.
“There we were at the Riverstage with 10,000 people starting to cry at the same time and we just looked at each other and decided we had to make it happen.”
The pair wanted to keep the film as true to the song as possible, ensuring those familiar with it would find all the details they love and be able to tick off every lyric, while also making sure it would make sense for those who had never heard the song.
“The song was the stars we sailed by,” Ms Washington said.
“We used it as a map to the world and created the planet from there.
“All the details for the film’s world, plot and narrative had to come from a single song, but we tried to invent as little as we could.”
Audiences will, however, meet a few new characters in the adaptation, including a fellow prisoner named Noel, played by Australian screen icon Hugo Weaving.
The film will also feature several original songs by Ms Washington.
It is far from her first foray into the screen world, having made music for Australian television series Fisk, writing a musical called The Deb which was turned into a feature film by Rebel Wilson, and of course her role voicing teacher Calypso and creating several original songs for kids’ favourite TV show Bluey.
“Bluey has been a really beautiful journey to be part of because it’s just so uniquely itself, and I think that authenticity is just so real and beautiful and hopeful, and it just portrays the best parts of what it is to be a parent and a human,” Ms Washington said.
“I’m very inspired by it.”
While she didn’t meet Bluey creator and fellow Griffith University alumnus Joe Brumm until well after they both graduated, Ms Washington remembers her time there with fondness, saying it challenged her to think about music very deeply and introduced her to different ideas of what music could be.
“The Con was really where I turned from a singer into a musician,” she said.
“I loved all the lectures and classes, but my favourite subject was world music because I loved learning all the different forms and ways other cultures create sound and music.
“I learnt how the spontaneous freedom of jazz works, how the meticulous precision of Indonesian Gamelan works, how the Blues work, how showtunes work, how music is made of both silence and sound, and understanding there’s always something deeper going on, beyond what it sounds like.
“As a young singer, this training helped me to get to know myself and my instrument, and also gave me the skills to look after my voice so I can keep making the sounds I like, whether writing songs for myself to sing, or writing a song for a character.”
Currently on her ‘The Hook’ tour, you can catch Megan Washington at venues around Australia up until 21 December 2024.
