Richard Vilensky feature wins West Coast Visions 2026 funding – Western Australian writer-director Richard Vilensky will make his debut feature, Everyone’s Having a Good Time But You, after the project was selected as the 2026 West Coast Visions recipient.
The selection gives a locally developed feature access to as much as $1.5 million in production funding. It also continues a pathway that has helped launch distinctive WA films including Sweet As, Birthright, Last Train to Freo and How to Please a Woman.
Described as a noir-inflected, performance-driven dark comedy, the film combines a family crisis with an insurance scam that goes badly wrong. Production is expected to begin in Western Australia in mid-2027.
What is Everyone’s Having a Good Time But You about?
On the eve of his daughter’s wedding, the owner of a failing furniture chain is forced into extreme action. He must keep his family in the dark, himself out of jail and the big day on track while his plan begins to unravel.
The project has been pitched as Fargo meets Father of the Bride. It draws on Vilensky’s experience within Perth’s Jewish community and will explore a contemporary Jewish-Australian family through dark comedy and surreal farce.
Vilensky said the film was inspired by the people and contradictions he grew up around. He described the selection as an opportunity to tell a culturally specific Western Australian story on a larger scale.
West Coast Visions funding
The West Coast Visions initiative provides up to $1 million through the Western Australian Government and Lotterywest for an emerging local filmmaker’s debut feature. Screen Australia has also pre-committed $500,000 in equity funding, bringing the project’s possible production support to $1.5 million.
Screenwest CEO Rikki Lea Bestall said the selection reflected the strength of Western Australia’s emerging screen talent. Screen Australia Director of Narrative Content Louise Gough said the film’s voice, cultural specificity and genre approach made it stand out.
Creative team
Shane McNeil, Matty Limpus and Grady Habib of Sandbox Productions will produce with Ari Harrison of Sanctuary Pictures. Julie Ryan, whose credits include Late Night with the Devil, Hotel Mumbai and Red Dog, is attached as executive producer.
Jamie Bialkower and Jump Street Films are also supporting the project alongside the Jewish Australian Screen Fund. The production is a joint venture between Habib, Harrison, McNeil and Limpus.
Everyone’s Having a Good Time But You is scheduled to enter production in mid-2027. Casting and release details have not yet been announced.
Visit Screenwest for information about Western Australia’s screen industry.
For more upcoming film stories, visit TV Central’s Movie Previews page.
