WA filmmaker Scott Kunesch goes for gold with directorial debut

There’s not going to be too much of a shortage of intense drama-comedies from Western Australia this year, especially of the grassroots kind, with local debut feature For the Love of Gold premiering this Sunday. Shot across Perth, Gingin, Yarra Yarra Lakes, and Wundowie, its writer and director Scott Kunesch began working on this with his producer partner Daniel Court, the two of whom make up Coin Toss Productions, after meeting at SAE and collaborating on numerous short films together before working on this debut feature. DAVID MORGAN-BROWN caught up with Scott Kunesch to talk about the making of the film, letting the script evolve in real time, and why he’s calling it an Australian “Greek” tragedy.

How do you go about even getting started with the film, with both the screenplay and the production?

I like to write a script and then tell people I’m making the film, that it’s already happening, and then it kind of creates a sense of urgency, and then people want to get attached to it. And so I basically just kind of build the path in front of me as I go.

What’s the process of referring to the script as you go through production/principal photography?

I just design a script so that gets us on set, and then I just play and make shit up when we get there. I do work on the film [script] as we were filming, so we would lose a location or something would fall through, and then I would write a couple of pages to change the context of that scene as we went along, so the script kind of evolved in real time. It’s funny how you get bad breaks, but then it ends up being a blessing in disguise; it all works out.

I just look at everything like, “I get to see the character a different way or choose someone else” [when recasting]. I can’t help but always tinker on the day. So the actors will come in really prepared, and I’m like, “Actually, fuck that; instead, say this and do this.” I just get there on the day and tell everyone I have a vision and then make it up as we go. You’ve just got to tell everyone, “I know what I’m doing.” But I’ve learnt that’s my style.

With this being the biggest project that you’ve pretty much ever worked on, how does it feel having all the responsibility and that many people under your wing?

I’m very humbled because a lot of people are coming together just to make my film, my story, my idea and stuff. So that’s really cool. But I feel comfortable in this space. I think I’m better at being creative and pointing people towards a target than necessarily hitting the target myself.

What sort of films inspired this one? Were there films that you wanted to rewatch in preparation?

One of the big pitches, one of my original concepts, was I said to my producer and a few other people, “What if No Country for Old Men was funny?”

It already is.

But I want to make a film and play it straight but have all the humour in the dialogue and the situations and play everything straight and see if the humour still comes through. And, with the way we’d shoot it, I also said in my pitch, “What if Liar Liar won the Oscar for Cinematography? What if Roger Deakins did it?” My prediction is the audience is going to start watching the film, taking it very seriously, and then by the halfway point being like, “What is happening right now? This is a fucking comedy!” And by the end, they’ll be like, “Brilliant, stealth comedy.”

Do you think there’s going to be any more screenings after this?

It’s going to play at The Backlot weekly for a while. Then it’s going to play around Australia as well in a few little cinemas. And at SAE, the film university, because we’re alumni and we made a film, they’re like, “Oh my god, that’s like the whole thing we’re trying to get students to do.”

You say you’ve got plans for your next film.

It’s an Australian Christmas film called Boxing Day. And it’s about a guy who goes to meet his family-in-law because he wants to propose to his missus, and her family has a ritual where you have to literally fight the dad for the daughter’s hand in marriage in a boxing fight on Boxing Day. That’s where Boxing Day gets its name from! So it’s a three-day story, so it starts on the 24th, 25th, and then it’s like 26, Boxing Day, ding, ding, ding, the third act of the film, and then they have a big epic fight. And I just wanted to basically be up there in the pantheon of boxing films like Rocky and … and other ones, I don’t know, Cinderella Man.

Raging Bull.

Right, that’s the one I should have said. Creed 2.

Actually better than the first one!

Yeah, I’d say I like Creed 2 more than the first one.

For the Love of Gold premieres at Luna Leederville at 6pm on Sunday, March 8, 2026. Tickets are on sale now from humanitix.com