In great news from last week:
“NSW is set for a bumper year of screen production with the announcement today of 20 new Australian film and television to receive production investment from Screen NSW.”
Highlights include 7 new local television dramas, a new season of Love Child, a new adaptation of “Monkey” (that many of us enjoyed in the eighties) and a story about soldiers returning from Afghanistan.
Michael Wong explains how much fun he has had meeting new people and challenging himself.
First, Second, Third AD, Oh My where will it all end. Knowing who is who is pretty important when you are on set as an actor or background extra.
The first Assistant Director (First AD) reports to the director of the production and is there to “keep the production on schedule throughout the day, communicate to the entire crew, and to maintain the safety and security of the staff and shot itself”
Depending upon the size of the production, there may be a Second AD and /or a Third AD. The Second AD will report to the First AD and “serves as the backstage manager, liaising with actors, putting cast through make-up and wardrobe, which relieves the first of these duties”
If there is a Third AD, they are normally responsible for crowd scenes, getting extras to and from set at the correct time.
So, depending upon your role in the production (Actor or Extra) and the size of the production your main point of contact could be any one of these people. That’s the person who will let you know when you can go on set and leave set. That’s the person who will usually arrange for sign in and sign out sheets.
These are the top 10 productions that MCTV talent worked over the last week. There were others too like commercials for Youi, Rabobank, LG, Commonwealth Bank and a shoot for A Current Affair to name just a few.
For a bit of fun on your Friday, why not check out this guide about how to improve your voice. There are 4 different ways and who knows, it might help you land your next big role.
Every year for the past 20 years MCTV has been asked to supply supernumeraries for Opera Australia. What’s a Supernumerary you ask? Well it’s really just a fancy name for a background extra or someone who does crowd scenes and minor singing roles.
The great thing about the Opera Australia work is that it often continues for the whole season of the production. So you might get regular work for auditions and then every night the production is on stage. Not only that, you get to tell your friends about how you have been on stage in an opera. I bet they wouldn’t have expected that.
This week we have 20 MCTV people auditioning for the latest Opera Australia production and we have our fingers and toes crossed for them.
Well done to everyone from MCTV who helped make this DJ’s Christmas commercial an absolute stunner. It does a great job of uniting the random variations we have on Christmas here in Australia. Well done in particular to the MCTV kids who remind us of the true joy and wonder of Christmas. A quick congratulations to Pablo, Debbie, Ryan, Ava, Ashley, Ann, David, Harrison, Jacob, Sebastian, Karen, Reese, Charles, Angelina, Lilia, Olev, Ivy, Lara, Sidus, Marcela, Jozef, Livia, Tamarka, Paopao, Brooke, Isabelle, Kawiti, Tatiana, Rochel, Efe, Samantha, Amanda, Finn and Zac.
This is the main commercial, but each of the sections have extended versions which can be found on this Youtube playlist.
The director of Pacific Rim 2 Steven DeKnight has posted a tweet confirming that Pacific Rim 2 has started filming here in Sydney. This is the beginning of what is expected to be a 3 or 4 month shoot. Well done to everyone who has already landed a role on this production and fingers crossed for anyone who has not yet been confirmed.
Day 1 of shooting. The adventure begins… #PacificRim2 pic.twitter.com/IONAg1gsfd
— Steven DeKnight (@stevendeknight) November 9, 2016
The Drama Report for 2015/16 has just been released by Screen Australia. It shows that a more than half the money spent on Film and TV in Australia ($463M) was spent in NSW. A distant second place going to Victoria ($219M) and Queensland coming in third with just ($101M). Despite all the talk from the other states, NSW is the state that just gets the job done.
MCTV has been involved in just about all the productions that were named in the report including Alien: Covenant (US), Hacksaw Ridge, Doctor Doctor, A Place to Call Home and Top of the Lake: China Girl.
Source: The Drama Report 2015/16
The Drama Report 2015/16 covers the production of feature films and TV drama programs (mini-series, telemovies and series/serials) by financial year.
Carolyn Mullen tells us why working in Film and TV makes her happy.