IN the late 1990s, David Chitty stepped off the corporate treadmill to walk a path less travelled.
IN the late 1990s, David Chitty stepped off the corporate treadmill to walk a path less travelled.
The Sunset Events managing director was a market analyst with a global company based in Sydney when he was promoted.
Transferred to Indonesia to be trained as a country manager, he lasted three days before giving it all up to be a nightclub doorman.
“I spent around three days in Jakarta, and was on a great salary, a cook, a cleaner and a driver, the whole thing,” Mr Chitty says.
“Something happened one day when I was just strumming my guitar when I realised, this isn’t for me, I’m doing this for money.”
He decided to “have a crack” at something else and returned to Sydney, reassuring himself he could always go back to that field if things didn’t work out.
“I got a job as a doorman in a bar in Surry Hills and despite the fact I was paid very little I actually really enjoyed the job and enjoyed talking to people,” Mr Chitty says.
“That’s when I realised I wanted to go into something being involved with people.”
Mr Chitty took on four jobs during this period, one of which was working at the Moonlight Cinema in Sydney’s Centennial Park.
“I enjoyed that even more, setting up the screen, getting everything ready then collecting tickets and packing down,” he says. “I guess I just really enjoyed seeing how much people enjoyed being entertained.”
Realising there was nothing like the Moonlight Cinema in his home-state of Western Australia, he started drafting a business plan with partner Andrew Chernov, and returned to WA in 1997 to set up Sunset Cinema at Kings Park.
“If I wanted to do something I wanted it to be unique, be pioneering,” Mr Chitty says.
“It was instantly successful, from our first night we had a queue.
“I think it hit a nerve in the Perth outdoor market.”
Mr Chitty decided to add in some music, creating theme nights with the films, like a jazz band before ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ or a DJ playing before ‘Trainspotting’.
Then, in 2001, he and Mr Chernov organised the first contemporary music concert to take place in Kings Park, which until then had only ever hosted Shakespeare and the WA Symphony Orchestra.
“People wanted something unique, and once again, that event sold out, so I thought, let’s get into the music business,” Mr Chitty told Business Class.
When Sunset lost the licence to show movies in Kings Park to Mr Chitty’s ex-employer Moonlight Cinemas in 2004, the company turned its focus to music in earnest.
It’s a move that’s paid off, with Sunset’s festivals now entertaining around 100,000 people in WA every year.
