Working initially in both television and theatre, twin brothers James and Hal McElroy began their careers in the Australian entertainment industries in Melbourne during the mid-late 1960s. In 1971 the brothers set up the film production firm Salt Pan Films (later McElroy and McElroy). The company's film debut was as co-production company on the 1973 feature film The Cars that Ate Paris (with Royce Smeal Film Productions). Directed by Peter Weir (q.v.), it became the first Australian film to gain international recognition at the Cannes Film Festival. The McElroy brothers' next two films were also directed by Weir, these being the critically-acclaimed Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) and The Last Wave (1977).
Among McElroy and McElroy's later productions (both film and television) are: Blue Fin (1978), New South Wales Images (1979, TV), The Year of Living Dangerously (1982), Return to Eden (1983, TV miniseries), Razorback (1984), Melvin, Son of Alvin (1984), Remember Me (1985, TV), Return to Eden (1986, TV series), The Last Frontier (1986, TV), A Dangerous Life (1988) and Which Way Home (1991, TV).
The McElroy brothers dissolved McElroy and McElroy in March 1992, with James focusing his attention to feature film production while Hal turned to television. Hal McElroy later founded Southern Star McElroy, a subsidiary company to Southern Star Entertainment.
