Needed, but never perfect
John Swainston served as both AIPP President (2018-2019) and Treasurer (2017-2018). His connection to the AIPP began in 1979, when it was the craft collective, IAP, and the only way to gain professional recognition. In 1982, his company was asked to become a sponsor. “We eventually did and never regretted it. For 40-odd years I attended many of the conventions, conferences, and dinners, and made some outstanding friendships that continue to this day. I learned the craft from the AIPP’s generous leaders and fellow members,” he says. The AIPP met many challenges, he notes, such as the arrival of digital in the mid-1990s and the launch of cameras in mobile phones. “In the end, though, the failure was of lack of cashflow; the cause of most business failures,” he states.
From Hilary Wardhaugh’s perspective, one of its fundamental problems was failing to keep up with the gender equality movement that film direction (as well as business in general) had embraced. “When I joined the AIPP, I had heard it was known as a boys’ club, but I felt it necessary as a professional to be part of the professional organisation. When digital became popular there were a lot more women coming into
