She eventually came back to the Commonwealth Film Unit, and with her family in mind, she opted to work as a freelance scriptwriter rather than a full-time employee.
[13] The film is both a critique of the male-dominated society and its scrutiny on women, and a highlight on the implications of being a working-class single-mother during this period in time.
[17] Long founded the company Limelight Productions in 1975 and under its name, she continued to tackle subject matters related to the film industry.
After The Picture Show Man, Long continued on her path as a producer and worked on various other films, with an emphasis on social justice and gender issues.
After having seen the young filmmaker's previous work Letter from Poland (1978), Long tried to bring one of Turkiewicz's other scripts, written in 1974, to the screen.
After several modifications done on the original screenplay, Long decided to bring Australian playwright Tom Keneally on board to help forge a story.
Eventually, on their eleventh draft, they got green-lit with a story that depicted the Polish post-war refugees' journey to Australia, after World War II, focusing on a time that greatly shaped the nation's current multiculturalism.
[4] Long received three AWGIE Award, for the films The Pictures That Moved: Australian Cinema 1896-1920 (1968) and The Passionate Industry: 1920-1930 (1971), and Paddington Lace (1970).
[1] Jennie Boddington wrote a eulogy for her long-time friend and colleague in which she described Joan as a "fire ball", with a "spirit of obligation, of service, of giving herself to the community"[3] Even during her final years, she was supposedly working on a screenplay for a documentary about Australia's famous pioneers of the silent-era, the McDonagh sisters (Paulette, Phyllis and Isabella).