Adrian Powers on the set of Love is in the Air.

Adrian Powers is an Australian film and television director, screenwriter and editor, with almost twenty years of experience. His work has been seen across the globe, including at the 69th Venice Film Festival, where his film Scruples screened as part of a special collaboration between Sir Ridley Scott, Michael Fassbender and YouTube, and during which Scott commented that Adrian and his fellow finalists were “all clearly talents for the industry to watch”.

After graduating from the International Film School Sydney, Adrian completed work as co-director and editor on the WWI feature Forbidden Ground.. Adrian has edited thirteen feature films, including Skin Deep and Rip Tide, as well as the acclaimed TV series Starting From Now and A Chance Affair. Since 2017, Adrian has worked alongside creative partner Caera Bradshaw to develop and write multiple projects, including the feature screenplay, Skylab Stan, which advanced to the quarterfinals of Screencraft’s annual drama screenplay competition in 2020, and the AACTA and Logie Award nominated Netflix original series, Dive Club.

In 2019, Adrian’s short film Brolga was successful at festivals both at home and internationally, garnering multiple Best Film and Best Director awards, as well as inclusion in the Australian National Film and Sound Archive. In 2023, Adrian co-wrote and directed the TV movie A Royal in Paradise and the Netflix original film Love is in the Air which Adrian discusses here.

Roy Billing, Steph Tisdell, Adrian Powers, Delta Goodrem and Joshua Sasse on the set of Love is in the Air.

“I want to work with Delta on all my films. She’s warm, she’s friendly, she’s so funny. She’s super smart and knowledgeable and super committed. She’s such a hard worker but is fun and keeps the energy light.”

Interview by Matthew Eeles

We’re here to chat about your new film, Love is in the Air, so I want to start by congratulating you on the success of the film so far. When I checked the stats recently, the film was sitting at number two on the Netflix charts with over 11 million views. That’s an incredible success.

Thank you so much, by the way. It’s lovely. I’m still actually spinning from it myself. We really hoped that the film would make a bit of a splash, and we were all desperately hoping it would get into some top ten lists, and for it to have the result that it’s had is like a dream come true. I think it was at number three in Australia yesterday, and I know it’s been hovering around that mark, so it’s been great. So many folks from all over the world have reached out to me and told me how much they enjoyed it, but especially so many friends and family. It’s nice because a lot of friends and family are like, “Oh, okay, so you do have a job.” [Laughs]. It’s been lovely.

What do stats and figures mean to you as a filmmaker overall?

I think that it has a lot to do with the fact that I’m a millennial. I grew up with computers, and I’m obsessed with them. I actually kind of got into filmmaking through computers and editing software when I was younger, and that was my way into film. I’m very computer and tech-based and interested, so I’m on social media, and I read all the trades all the time. So I’m always lurking and seeing what people think of my films because I’m one of those people that lurks on the internet and talks about movies. I’m always interested to see what people are saying.

The film is produced by Jaggi Entertainment, previously The Steve Jaggi Company, which has produced a ton of these direct-to-streaming films, and they’ve all had great success. This is the third time you’ve written and/or directed for Jaggi Entertainment. How did this partnership come about?

I have known Steve for quite a while. Love is in the Air is the second film I’ve directed for that team, and I’ve co-written with my co-writer Caera Bradshaw. We also did a film together called A Royal in Paradise, which actually comes out in Australia later this month. Caera and I had also worked with Steve on his Netflix series Dive Club back in 2021, but I’ve actually been working with Steve since about 2014 because in addition to being a writer and a director, I’m also a film editor. I initially worked with him in an editing capacity, and I’ve worked on a bunch of films with him as an editor. Then we’d gotten close professionally, and then we’d become friends and just continuously worked with each other. He knew that I was also a director and a filmmaker, so at a certain point, he was like, “You really ought to make one of these films that I’m working on. It’s a wonderful opportunity for you.” And I was like, “You’re a hundred percent correct.” He told me that I could work on it, develop it, and write it as long as I kept it within this certain kind of genre. It’s really been great. It’s been a wonderful experience, and I’m so happy with the films that we’ve made together.

Are romantic comedies something you want to continue making going forward?

I mean, look, there are so many romcoms that I’ve loved over the years and have strong memories of. I went and saw things like You’ve Got Mail, which has a lot of similarities with Love is in the Air in some ways. I remember seeing that in the cinema with my parents. I’m not really one of those people that only watches one type of movie or who wants to make just one type of movie. I love all sorts of movies and all genres of films, and I enjoy making them. I’ll probably go and do something else relatively soon. But it’s been really, really fun making these because they do allow you to connect with a certain type of audience that really enjoys these kinds of films. It’s really satisfying to make them and to have people enjoy them.

Other than the cyclone towards the end of the film, Love is in the Air really does succeed at showcasing Queensland as the stunning location that it is.

I’m born and bred in Sydney, but I love Queensland. Having worked with Steve for a while, and he’s been living there for quite a while now, I love going there and they’re always so welcoming. It’s kind of my home away from home now. I spent so much time there that I’ve become almost like a local. I’ve got my haunts, and it’s such a beautiful area. The film locations there that we were able to shoot at are the best in the world. So it’s a real treat to make movies there.

Adrian Powers, Delta Goodrem and Joshua Sasse on the set of Love is in the Air.

Delta Goodrem has been acting for a long time. I was interested to discover that her first on-screen role was in Hey Dad! in 1993. Love is in the Air is a good reminder that Delta is a great actor. Can you tell us about working with Delta here?

It was a dream. I want to work with Delta on all my films moving forward. [Laughs]. She was so great. I met her over Zoom when we were talking about doing this, and I knew that Delta was going to be a good fit. The thing that I tell everyone is that your perception of Delta Goodrem as a person, that is correct. She is exactly like she presents herself. She’s lovely. She’s warm, she’s friendly, she’s so funny. She’s super smart and knowledgeable and super committed. She’s such a hard worker but is fun and keeps the energy light. There’d be situations where maybe I was feeling a little bit under pressure, and she’d be like, “Hey, we’re having fun. It’s all good. Remember we’re doing a great job.” Obviously I think she’s an amazing actor, and I think she did such a good job in this. She really runs a whole big gamut of emotions in this movie, and she just smashed it out of the park. So working with her was a delight. She was the ideal person for this part. Basically, we were kind of conceiving it with her in mind. I’m just so blessed and so grateful that she was willing to do it and that she responded to the script and that she came up and delivered one hundred and fifty percent.

With Jaggi films, there’s always a component to them that could be challenging for filmmakers, like surfing in Rip Tide and diving in Dive Club. Love is in the Air features a lot of flying as it’s set at an airport. How do you go with flying yourself, and was it a challenge to shoot so many flight scenes?

I love flying myself. I enjoy flying a great deal. Working in film, you get to fly in helicopters and do all sorts of cool stuff, and you have to do it for work that you might not normally have to do. So I think it’s great. And the flight stuff in this movie was beautiful, and we were able to do all this beautiful aerial photography where we’re shooting the plane with a helicopter and doing all sorts of great stuff. But, as you said, we were working at an airport. We were working at Whitehaven Airport in Airlie Beach, which is breathtaking. It’s the most beautiful airport in the world. It’s absolutely breathtaking. It’s perfect, but you’re shooting a movie in an operational airfield, and it’s an airfield that has a flight school and a helicopter school in it, and it also has tourists constantly zipping out. The staff that worked there were gracious and kind enough to let us shoot there. They were supportive. They kept their lines of communication open to us. When you’re dealing with helicopters and planes, the sound is an issue. And obviously the Queensland weather can change on a dime. You could be shooting out there in beautiful sun, and then five minutes later you’re in a thunderstorm. You’ve just got to deal with it. That’s just how it works. You’ve got to embrace those challenges because you’ve got no other choice.

You mentioned A Royal in Paradise earlier, which will hit cinemas before streaming, I believe. What can you tell us about that one?

That’s another lovely movie. I’m so happy that Aussie audiences get a chance to finally see that. We actually shot that last year, and it came out in January this year all over the world. It started in the States and then it’s had a rollout, but it hasn’t come out here yet. So I’m really happy that it’s finally doing that because the cast and crew will get a chance to see it. And so many of them have stayed away from watching it and using VPNs. So I’m super excited. It’s a different kind of film than Love is in the Air, but again, it really showcases Queensland so beautifully, and I think it’s a sweet little movie.

Love is in the Air is now available to watch via Netflix. A Royal in Paradise hits cinemas on October 17.