About Greg lynch
author of “they built an empire”
and “al daff. downunder in
hollywood-land”
Greg Lynch entered the industry in 1954 under the management of Howard Keast, repairing film for 20th Century Fox in Perth, WA, later moving to Bob Yelland’s Consolidated Theatre Group and a position at the Regent Theatre Guildford, WA, as Assistant Projectionist. During 1956, the Lynch family moved to Victoria and a position was taken with Hoyts Theatre, once again as an Assistant Projectionist. Exploring further opportunities, Lynch moved to Universal Pictures under the eye of Brian Casey, as Dispatch Manager, and then into ad sales, later graduating to Film Booker.
Universal became part of the Cinema International Corp and a move was made to United Artists as Film Booker, with a subsequent promotion to State Branch Manager. During the early Seventies under the management of Irwin Marks, Lynch moved to Sydney to take up the position of (GSM) General Sales Manager for Australia, NZ & the Pacific. This involved extensive USA travel and saw involvement in the Peter Weir production "The Last Wave", also the national distribution of "Rocky", "Carrie", "Annie Hall" & "The Spy Who Loved Me".
1979 saw a return to Melbourne and the formation of Greg Lynch Film Distributors and the release of the AFI Award Winning production “Hard Knocks” winning Best Actress for Tracey Mann and the Jury Prize for Direction. Joint production of the award winning “Centerspread” is to follow resulting in extensive overseas sales. This was the first Australian production to be shot in Super-16. Major records fall with the purchase of the new StereoVision 3D technology and the motion picture “Comin’ At Ya” in 3D. The film premiered in Melbourne at Village Theatres Swanston Cinema, smashing every record in the theatres history. "Comin' At Ya" continued to break box office records right across Australia and New Zealand. The year is rounded off with the acquisition of "The Secret Policemans Ball" and "A/C D/C Let There Be Rock" through Golden Lion.
This is followed by the worlds first successful 3D Drive In theatre installation at Armadale NSW, utilising a new metal based silver paint, developed in Melbourne which would not oxidise on a Drive In theatre screen. 1983 saw the production and distribution of Australia’s first full length music video and the first ever reunion of Melbourne Rock 'n' Roll - “The Thunderbirds Rockin' at The Arcadia". The company went on to produce television commercials for Channel 7 and Walt Disney. Later Greg Lynch directed the Ist Australian / Japanese production “Arigato Baby”. The balance of the 80s sees the production of a series of documentaries for international distribution.
Into the 1990s, Tony Barber commissions Greg Lynch to produce the video, "The Lost Forests" plus two episodes of “The Letter Licker Series” for Warner Vision - a division of Warner Bro’s. The 90s also sees a move into live entertainment and personal management. This involves the import and production of legendary international artists for Derrick Gray & Watts Rockin', such as Tommy Sands / Dave Sommerville / Wanda Jackson and locally with Col Joye, Lonnie Lee, Issi Dye, Vicky O'Keefe, Malcolm Arthur / Billy Owens / Betty McQuade & Judy Cannon.
A long association with legendary composer Bob King Crawford results in a commission to write a song concerning the Gallipoli invasion for submission to Melbourne Legacy. Leslie Martin celebrity singer is chosen to record the resulting King Crawford composition "Glory of Gallipoli". The song is embraced and endorsed by "Legacy Victoria" and released in 2014 for the Centenary of Gallipoli. The first performance for Legacy by Leslie Martin was at Federation Square on August 31st, 2014 to a capacity crowd. A further Legacy concert is held at the Melbourne Town Hall on December Ist 2014, where Leslie is invited to reprise her Federation Square performance. This time in the presence of the composer Bob King Crawford.
Greg Lynch continues to be involved with the cinema & entertainment industry as an author and historian, and there are more books and articles in the offing..