Australian
Screen

Chandon Pictures takes an uneasy look at the notion of 'chasing your dream’. It mines the flaws in the idea, popularised by many a television talent quest and rags-to-riches narrative, that you can have anything you want and be anything you want – you just have to want it hard enough. Rob Carlton’s comically self-important, self-deluding Tom Chandon clings to a vision of himself as the hero in a not-yet-written celebrity success story. He has no work ethic, business skills or visible talent – but he has a dream. So sure is Tom of his eventual success that he acts as though it’s already happened. In ‘Champion Charles’ he is in full swing, grandly discussing the ‘language of cinema’ as he makes a dog tribute video.

Tom is surrounded by characters with their own comic flaws, including his co-workers and guest characters. Chandon Pictures derives comedy from human behaviour ranging from not-quite-normal to completely taboo. In ‘Champion Charles’ we see a woman’s obsessive attachment to her dog following the death of her husband – other episodes broach topics such as incest.

Carlton and his co-creators are interested, in their own words, in the 'gap between what we say, what we think and what we do’. Tom Chandon draws attention to this gap with both his self-delusion and a tendency towards unwitting, taboo-trampling faux pas that expose what others would not be prepared to voice. In this respect he brings to mind Chris Lilley’s mockumentary characters Ja’mie King, Phil Olivetti or Mr G of We Can Be Heroes: Finding the Australian of the Year (2005) and Summer Heights High (2007).

In series one Tom has a foil in his brother Carmichael, a straight man surrounded by comic extremes. Carmichael is Tom’s opposite, a successful banker and the voice of pragmatism. However, as season one wears on the series uses Tom’s relationship with Carmichael to allow the story some flashes of sincerity. It seems both Carmichael and the show’s creators have affection for Tom: neither appears willing to completely condemn him for his dreams.

Rob Carlton and co-director Alex Weinress won the 2006 Tropfest short film competition with their short mockumentary Carmichael and Shane, featuring a similarly self-aggrandising character played by Carlton who believes the secret to parenting twins is choosing a favourite. The successful Carmichael in Chandon Pictures and a tragic figure called Shane (who appears late in the series) seem to reference the twins from this short.

After Carlton and Weinress’s Tropfest win, festival sponsor Movie Extra, along with the Tropfest Feature program, commissioned Chandon Pictures. To date, there are two seasons of eight episodes. ‘Champion Charles’ is the fourth episode in season one, which screened on pay channel Movie Extra in 2007 and on the ABC in 2009. The series has also made international sales, screening on the UK’s Dave channel in 2009. The US company Lionsgate purchased international distribution and format rights; in 2009 there was talk of the Fox Network developing a US version.

In 2008 Chandon Pictures won an AWGie Award (for the episode ‘Death Wish’) and was nominated for Best Television Comedy Series at the AFI awards.