''Big Ideas'' is a 1993 TV movie,Ed. Scott Murray, ''Australia on the Small Screen 1970-1995'', Oxford Uni Press, 1996 p14 touted as "From the Producers of

Blue Heelers ''Blue Heelers'' is an Australian police drama series that was produced by Southern Star Group and ran for 12 years on the Seven Network, from 1994 to 2006. Although based around the policing of the town, the series generally depicted the ever ...

Plot

Jimmy Kovak attends a

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

public (State) school, and is falling behind in his studies, partly because of his love of

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

, and his part-time work producing

compost Compost is a mixture of ingredients used as plant fertilizer and to improve soil's physical, chemical and biological properties. It is commonly prepared by decomposing plant, food waste, recycling organic materials and manure. The resulting m ...

from garbage he collects, and which he sells at a local hardware store. His next door neighbor has an antipathy to the Kovaks, at least partly because of their nationality, and runs a spiteful campaign against the boy, resulting in confiscation of his compost bins, and other harassment. His widowed mother is handicapped by her inability to recognize the

Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet or Roman alphabet is the collection of letters originally used by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered with the exception of extensions (such as diacritics), it used to write English and the o ...

(presumably she can read

Cyrillic , bg, кирилица , mk, кирилица , russian: кириллица , sr, ћирилица, uk, кирилиця , fam1 = Egyptian hieroglyphs , fam2 = Proto-Sinaitic , fam3 = Phoenician , fam4 = G ...

perfectly), and is too embarrassed to seek help, so is forced to accept

piece-work Piece work (or piecework) is any type of employment in which a worker is paid a fixed piece rate for each unit produced or action performed, regardless of time. Context When paying a worker, employers can use various methods and combinations of ...

, sewing at slave wages. Financial relief comes in the form of Sam Stevens, who recognizes the boy's ingenuity and offers him a contract to invent a chicken feeder. Sam gives Jimmy some valuable lessons in planning and

time management Time management is the process of planning and exercising conscious control of time spent on specific activities, especially to increase effectiveness, efficiency, and productivity. It involves of various demands upon a person relating to Employme ...

. Jimmy is made aware of

oil pollution An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially the marine ecosystem, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term is usually given to marine oil spills, where oil is released into th ...

from a nearby

outfall An outfall is the discharge point of a waste stream into a body of water; alternatively it may be the outlet of a river, drain or a sewer where it discharges into the sea, a lake or ocean. In the United States, industrial facilities that discha ...

, and with a team of fellow students investigates its source and photographs the culprit in the act. His teacher, Mr. Searle, accepts the report as their Social Studies homework. His mother grows closer to Sam Stevens, and enrolls in an English reading course.

Cast

Peter Kowitz Peter Kowitz is an Australian actor. Film and television acting His television credits include: ''Prime Time'', '' Richmond Hill'', ''Rafferty's Rules'', '' Chances'', ''Pacific Drive'', '' Water Rats'', '' Big Sky'', ''Halifax f.p.'', ''Swim ...

as Mr Searle *

Justin Rosniak Justin Rosniak (born 11 May 1977) is an Australian television and film actor, best known for his appearances in the television series '' Packed to the Rafters'', ''Police Rescue'', ''Squinters'' and ''Mr Inbetween''. Career Rosniak appeared ...

as Jimmy Kovak * Troy O'Hearn as Ronnie Dixon *

Salvatore Coco Salvatore Coco (born 22 April 1975) is an Australians, Australian film and television actor of Italian descent. Biography Coco was born in Sydney and is of Sicily#Demographics, Sicilian (from Italy) descent. He performed with the Australian Th ...

as Ernesto * Adam Lloyd as Harry * Mario Gamma as Ben *

Peter Lu Peter James Lu, PhD (陸述義) is a post-doctoral research fellow in the Department of Physics and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He has been recognized for his discoveries of ...

as Van *

Paul Chubb Paul Dunford (14 January 1949 – 9 June 2002), professionally billed as Paul Chubb, was an Australian film, television and stage actor and scriptwriter primarily in genres of comedy and drama. Early life He was born in Arncliffe, a suburb of Sy ...

as Noel Draper *

Gosia Dobrowolska Małgorzata Dobrowolska (born 2 June 1958, in Kamienna Góra Kamienna Góra (german: Landeshut, cs, Lanžhot or Kamenná Hora, szl, Kamiynnŏ Gōra) is a town in south-western Poland with 19,010 inhabitants (2019). It is the seat of Kami ...

as Anna Kovak *

Genevieve Lemon Genevieve Lemon (born 21 April 1958) is an Australian actress and singer who has appeared in a number of Australian television series and international film, including a frequent collaboration with Jane Campion for Academy Award-winning ''The P ...

as Beth Draper * Silvio Ofria as Mr. Galea *

Glenda Linscott Glenda Linscott (born 1958) is an Australian actress and director, born in Rhodesia of English descent, she is best known internationally for her performance in cult drama series ''Prisoner'' as tough bikie inmate and top dog Rita "The Beater" ...

as Liz Dixon *

Demetra Polycarpou In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Demeter (; Attic Greek, Attic: ''Dēmḗtēr'' ; Doric Greek, Doric: ''Dāmā́tēr'') is the Twelve Olympians, Olympian goddess of the harvest and agriculture, presiding over crops, ...

as Maria *

Nicola Lester Nicola may refer to: People * Nicola (name), including a list of people with the given name or, less commonly, the surname **Nicola (artist) or Nicoleta Alexandru, singer who represented Romania at the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest * Nicola people ...

as Susie Peters *

Bruce Venables The English language name Bruce arrived in Scotland with the Normans, from the place name Brix, Manche in Normandy, France, meaning "the willowlands". Initially promulgated via the descendants of king Robert the Bruce (1274−1329), it has been ...

as Mr. Hartley * Harold Hopkins as Sam Stevens *

Xuan Mai Xuan () may refer to: * Xuancheng, formerly Xuan Prefecture (Xuanzhou), Anhui, China ** Xuanzhou District, seat of Xuancheng and Xuan Prefecture ** Xuan paper, from Xuan Prefecture * Xuan (surname), Chinese surname * Xuan (given name) Chinese rul ...

as Mr. Tranh *

Anna Hruby Anna Hruby (born 1960) is an Australian actress and voice over artist band TV commercial advertiser, who has appeared in many Australian television series and theatre productions. She is the daughter of actress, entertainer and television pers ...

as FACS Woman * William Usic as FACS Man

DVD

Flashback Entertainment has had copies for sale, rated PG (Adult Themes), but it is hard to see why. There is no Sex, Nudity, Violence, Gore, Profanity, Alcohol, Drugs, Smoking, Frightening or Intense Scenes. The "Adult Themes" are loyalty, the futility of retribution, cooperation, politeness, planning ...

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 0121998 Australian drama television films Films set in Sydney 1993 television films 1993 films British drama television films 1990s English-language films 1990s British films