Collection UQFL373 - Gerard Lee Papers

Identity area

Reference code

UQFL373

Title

Gerard Lee Papers

Date(s)

  • 1974-2019 (Creation)

Level of description

Collection

Extent and medium

23 boxes, 1 parcel, 1 tube, 2 albums

Context area

Name of creator

(1951-)

Biographical history

Gerard Lee is an Australian author, screenwriter and director. Born in Melbourne and raised in Brisbane, Lee began writing for The Telegraph newspaper at 16 years of age. Lee studied at the University of Queensland and the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS). He met Jane Campion at AFTRS and began a long standing creative partnership. Lee co-wrote Campion’s feature film debut, Sweetie, which won Best Screenplay at the Australian Film Institute Awards and a Camera d’Or at Cannes.

Lee’s feature film, All Men Are Liars, opened the Sydney Film Festival in 1995 and won awards at the San Remo Film Festival and the Palm Springs Film Festival. Lee produced and wrote the screenplay for the film My Mistress (2014) and was the principal screenwriter on Breath (2018) adapted from the novel of the same name by Tim Winton.

As a television writer, Lee and Campion co-wrote the successful series Top of the Lake (2013), which garnered eight Emmy nominations for its first series. The second season, Top of the Lake: China Girl (2017), was the first television project to be screened in its entirety at Cannes Film Festival.

As a prose writer, Lee has published Pieces for a glass piano, True love and how to get it, Troppo man and Eating dog: travel stories all with the University of Queensland Press between 1978 and 1993. His second novel, Troppo Man (1990), was shortlisted for the Vogel’s Young Writers Award.

Archival history

Collection previously titled as: Papers, 1974-1994
Collection alternatively titled as: Gerard Lee Collection.

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Content and structure area

Scope and content

This collection is comprised of drafts, notes, photographs, correspondence and other materials relating to Gerard Lee's screenplays, novels and short stories. Works reflected in this collection include, amongst others:

Pieces for a glass piano (1978)

True love and how to get it (1982)

Sweetie (1989)

Troppo man (1990)

Eating dog: travel stories (1993)

All men are liars (1995)

Top of the lake (2013)

Top of the lake: China girl (2017)

My mistress (2014)

Breath (2017)

It includes over 100 typescript and handwritten drafts, over 200 letters and over 200 photographs, amongst other materials. Lee's creative partnership with Jane Campion is reflected regularly in this collection, with many materials containing annotations and notes by Campion.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Unrestricted access.

Conditions governing reproduction

In copyright. Can be reproduced for personal research and study. For other uses see About copyright. Please attribute the Fryer Library.

Language of material

  • English
  • French

Script of material

Language and script notes

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

Finding aids

Uploaded finding aid

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

Related units of description

Notes area

Alternative identifier(s)

Alma MMS ID

991006012709703131

Access points

Place access points

Name access points

Genre access points

Description control area

Description identifier

Institution identifier

Rules and/or conventions used

Status

Revised

Level of detail

Dates of creation revision deletion

Migrated from LMS: April 2019, P.A.

Language(s)

Script(s)

Sources

Accession area