Australia’s screen professionals must be free to practice their skills anywhere in the world, but how do we stop this healthy career development from becoming a dangerous brain drain? Miguel Gonzalez reports.
If we were to make a list of all the Australian screen practitioners who have made it overseas, it would be a very long list indeed. It would probably start with the A-list creatives everybody knows, followed by the more anonymous and numerous executives, directors, producers, editors, cinematographers, VFX artists and technicians working all over the world.
While it is to be expected that many – if not all – industry practitioners would seek to expand their horizons and work internationally at some point in their careers to reach other markets, work in other systems and cultures and develop new skills, leaving Australia should not be an act of professional desperation.
The historical fluctuation in the volume of international...
If we were to make a list of all the Australian screen practitioners who have made it overseas, it would be a very long list indeed. It would probably start with the A-list creatives everybody knows, followed by the more anonymous and numerous executives, directors, producers, editors, cinematographers, VFX artists and technicians working all over the world.
While it is to be expected that many – if not all – industry practitioners would seek to expand their horizons and work internationally at some point in their careers to reach other markets, work in other systems and cultures and develop new skills, leaving Australia should not be an act of professional desperation.
The historical fluctuation in the volume of international...
- 5/24/2011
- by Miguel Gonzalez
- Encore Magazine
More pilot season coverage
The frantic pilot season is creating a bull market for top-tier talent.
Thirtysomething men including Dominic West, Matthew Perry and Simon Baker are being offered roles, as are Amanda Peet and Amy Smart, the latter of whom recently signed to star in CBS' "The Meant to Be's". Also lured back to TV is "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" star Sarah Michelle Gellar.
As in previous years, there is the young hot ingenue. Last year, it was Jordana Brewster, who was offered a number of plum lead roles and ultimately picked ABC's "Mr. and Mrs. Smith". This year, it's "12 Miles of Bad Road" co-star Eliza Coupe, who is in hot demand.
There also is an accomplished foreigner who is taking over the lead of a pilot despite the fact that he's virtually unknown in the U.S. Last year, Brit Michelle Ryan was tapped in "Bionic Woman"; this year, Australian Josh Lawson landed the lead in "Spaced".
Foreign-born actors continue to be hot this pilot season: West and "Eleventh Hour" star Rufus Sewell hail from the U.K., while Baker is from Australia.
As usual, there is a departing HBO series that has freed up actors for pilot season.
Two years ago, it was "Six Feet Under", whose stars Peter Krause, Michael C. Hall, Rachel Griffiths and Lauren Ambrose landed leads on new series. Last year, it was "Rome", with Kevin McKidd, Ray Stevenson and Polly Walker doing broadcast pilots.
This time around, it's "The Wire", whose star West is a hot commodity.
The frantic pilot season is creating a bull market for top-tier talent.
Thirtysomething men including Dominic West, Matthew Perry and Simon Baker are being offered roles, as are Amanda Peet and Amy Smart, the latter of whom recently signed to star in CBS' "The Meant to Be's". Also lured back to TV is "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" star Sarah Michelle Gellar.
As in previous years, there is the young hot ingenue. Last year, it was Jordana Brewster, who was offered a number of plum lead roles and ultimately picked ABC's "Mr. and Mrs. Smith". This year, it's "12 Miles of Bad Road" co-star Eliza Coupe, who is in hot demand.
There also is an accomplished foreigner who is taking over the lead of a pilot despite the fact that he's virtually unknown in the U.S. Last year, Brit Michelle Ryan was tapped in "Bionic Woman"; this year, Australian Josh Lawson landed the lead in "Spaced".
Foreign-born actors continue to be hot this pilot season: West and "Eleventh Hour" star Rufus Sewell hail from the U.K., while Baker is from Australia.
As usual, there is a departing HBO series that has freed up actors for pilot season.
Two years ago, it was "Six Feet Under", whose stars Peter Krause, Michael C. Hall, Rachel Griffiths and Lauren Ambrose landed leads on new series. Last year, it was "Rome", with Kevin McKidd, Ray Stevenson and Polly Walker doing broadcast pilots.
This time around, it's "The Wire", whose star West is a hot commodity.
- 3/24/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Will Sasso and Federico Dordei have joined Fox's comedy pilot Spaced.
Spaced, from Warner Bros. and Adam Barr, revolves around two strangers (one played by Josh Lawson) who pose as a married couple in order to rent an apartment and become intimately involved with the other misfits in the building.
Mad TV alum Sasso will play the guy's best friend who believes in government conspiracies. Dordei will play a neighbor who is a struggling artist.
Spaced, from Warner Bros. and Adam Barr, revolves around two strangers (one played by Josh Lawson) who pose as a married couple in order to rent an apartment and become intimately involved with the other misfits in the building.
Mad TV alum Sasso will play the guy's best friend who believes in government conspiracies. Dordei will play a neighbor who is a struggling artist.
- 3/23/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Oscar winner Davis Guggenheim will direct CBS' drama pilot The Tower.
Meanwhile, Timothy Busfield has been tapped to direct CBS' drama pilot Mythological X, which is based on an Israeli format, and Drumline helmer Charles Stone is set to direct another pilot based on an international format, Fox's British comedy import Spaced. Additionally, Bryan Gordon is directing Fox's comedy pilot Outnumbered.
Tower, from CBS Paramount Network TV and Cold Case creator Meredith Stiehm, revolves around a group of Chicago reporters who treat breaking news as cases to solve. Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth) will serve as an executive producer alongside Stiehm.
Mythological X, from 20th Century Fox TV and writer Diane Ruggiero, centers on a woman who, after learning from a psychic that she already has dated the man she's supposed to marry, revisits all her past relationships. Actor-director Busfield most recently helmed episodes of NBC's Lipstick Jungle.
Spaced, from Warner Bros., Wonderland, Granada America and writer Adam Barr, revolves around two strangers (one played by Josh Lawson) who pose as a married couple in order to rent an apartment.
Meanwhile, Timothy Busfield has been tapped to direct CBS' drama pilot Mythological X, which is based on an Israeli format, and Drumline helmer Charles Stone is set to direct another pilot based on an international format, Fox's British comedy import Spaced. Additionally, Bryan Gordon is directing Fox's comedy pilot Outnumbered.
Tower, from CBS Paramount Network TV and Cold Case creator Meredith Stiehm, revolves around a group of Chicago reporters who treat breaking news as cases to solve. Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth) will serve as an executive producer alongside Stiehm.
Mythological X, from 20th Century Fox TV and writer Diane Ruggiero, centers on a woman who, after learning from a psychic that she already has dated the man she's supposed to marry, revisits all her past relationships. Actor-director Busfield most recently helmed episodes of NBC's Lipstick Jungle.
Spaced, from Warner Bros., Wonderland, Granada America and writer Adam Barr, revolves around two strangers (one played by Josh Lawson) who pose as a married couple in order to rent an apartment.
- 3/18/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Three months ago, Australian actor Josh Lawson came to Los Angeles to take a shot at a Hollywood career.
Now he has scored a talent deal at Fox as well as his first U.S. role as the lead of the network's comedy pilot Spaced.
Lawson was auditioning for small movie parts when he was spotted by Fox talent scouts who brought him in to meet with the network's head of casting Marcia Shulman.
Shulman called the meeting "my little 'American Idol' moment," saying she knew right away she had discovered a great new talent.
"He was really genuinely funny and understood comedy in a very classic way," Shulman said of Lawson, a graduate of Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art who lists Groucho Marx and Buster Keaton among his influences. "He is adorable but brilliantly and surprisingly funny. We all have been describing him as Matthew Perry meets Robin Williams."
Shulman and her team were putting the finishing touches on a talent deal with Lawson when Fox picked up the single-camera comedy pilot Spaced.
Based on the British series of the same name, the project, produced by Warner Bros. TV, Wonderland and Granada America, revolves around two strangers who pose as a married couple in order to rent an apartment.
Now he has scored a talent deal at Fox as well as his first U.S. role as the lead of the network's comedy pilot Spaced.
Lawson was auditioning for small movie parts when he was spotted by Fox talent scouts who brought him in to meet with the network's head of casting Marcia Shulman.
Shulman called the meeting "my little 'American Idol' moment," saying she knew right away she had discovered a great new talent.
"He was really genuinely funny and understood comedy in a very classic way," Shulman said of Lawson, a graduate of Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art who lists Groucho Marx and Buster Keaton among his influences. "He is adorable but brilliantly and surprisingly funny. We all have been describing him as Matthew Perry meets Robin Williams."
Shulman and her team were putting the finishing touches on a talent deal with Lawson when Fox picked up the single-camera comedy pilot Spaced.
Based on the British series of the same name, the project, produced by Warner Bros. TV, Wonderland and Granada America, revolves around two strangers who pose as a married couple in order to rent an apartment.
- 3/12/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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