If you have been with us for a while, or if you haven’t landed a role yet, maybe it’s time for a new photograph. MCTV members get free photo updates. You just need to book and come in to the studio.
Our office reopens today for photographs. If you would like to arrange a photo update, please get in touch with our booker, Paul.
📷: Charlize Theron in ‘Monster’… and as herself! A fresh photo can make all the difference!!
MCTV has been built on the idea that there are many roles for all sorts of people and looks in the film and TV industry. We pride ourselves on fitting the right people to the right roles. Recently, it was revealed that James Cameron only cast extras that were shorter than 5’8” to save money and increase the apparent size of the sets for ‘Titanic’.
The 1997 movie cost a then record US$200m to produce because of the huge scale of the sets and sequences that needed complex engineering and massive resources.
Speaking about the film’s casting, Cameron told the LA Times: “We only cast short extras so it made our set look bigger. Anybody above five foot eight, we didn’t cast them. It’s like we got an extra million dollars of value out of casting,” he said, explaining how the strategy helped them to also save money. He added that the studio “would have cut the entire ship sinking.” due to costs. In the end the movie was a box office smash – setting new records and totalling $2.264 billion worldwide so far.
We are always looking for new members to join MCTV. We place more people, more often than any other agency in Sydney. We love having a diverse membership to fill all the requests we get from productions, apply here to get involved.
Merry Christmas to all our wonderful members, casting directors and production crews. We wish everyone a very happy and safe festive season. The office is now closed for holidays, but we look forward to a busy start to the year on Wednesday 3rd of January 2024. Please note, our office in Pitt Street will not reopen until 8th of January 2024. You can still apply here over the holiday season.
A huge thanks to everyone for your support and hard work over the last 12 months. Every time you send in a self test, turn up to set on time or attend an audition helps keep our reputation as the biggest and best extras agency in Sydney. We have been part of many of the top releases over the past year such as The Fall Guy, Wellmania, Last King of the Cross, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, Wolf Like Me 2, Bump 3, The Artful Dodger, NCIS Sydney and Heartbreak High 2.
2024 promises to be a huge year with the actors strike over and a few big projects already in the pipeline. More to come….
Beth, Paul and the MCTV team
📷: Will Ferrell as Buddy in ‘Elf’, 2003
‘Jill, Uncredited’ is a new short documentary by Anthony Ing, that reveals the 60 year career of British extra Jill Goldston, who holds the Guinness Book of Records title for “The most appearances by an extra/background actress” (over 1,950!!).
Jill loved her career as an extra and worked with loads of famous faces such as Tom Cruise and Timothy Dalton. You can read more about Jill and her movies in The Guardian. You can watch the 18 minute movie on Mubi.
We aim for all our members have a great experience every time they visit set – many of you have shared your experiences which mostly agree with Jill’s description – “I’ve had an amazing career,” “Self-indulgent, really – I was getting paid to have fun and I always found the people fascinating.”
📷: World’s most prolific extra, Jill Goldston in ‘Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines’ (1965)
The third and final season of critically acclaimed ABC series ‘Total Control’, starring Deborah Mailman and Rachel Griffiths is coming to ABC in January 2024.
The six part series picks up two years after Series 2. Outsider turned kingmaker, Alex Irving (Deborah Mailman), is completely at home in the nation’s capital, however things begin to unravel when Rachel (Rachel Griffiths) discovers allegations of corruption that could destroy them both.
If you missed Series 1 and 2, you can catch up here.
Well done to the 23 MCTV members who worked on Series 3. The total for the three series now stands at 83. Looking forward to the premiere of this one on Sunday 14th January at 8.30pm on ABC.
Lots of excitement about Rebel Wilson’s directitorial debut, ‘The Deb’. Filming of the movie has started in NSW and Rebel has been posting lots of Instagram updates, as reported by The Daily Mail.
‘The Deb’ is a comedy musical, set in the (fictional) country town of Dunburn, NSW where high school outcast Taylah joins her inner-city cousin Maeve to snare the spotlight at the annual debutante ball from jocks and cool girls.
Congratulations to everyone who has worked on this so far. More to come…
📷: Rebel Wilson on set of ‘The Deb’ in Carcoar, Central West NSW. Instagram: @rebelwilson
‘Strife’, the new 8 part series from Binge, based on Mia Freedman’s memoir ‘Work, Strife, Balance’ premieres today, December 6 on Binge and Foxtel. The series is produced by award winning production company Made Up Stories (‘Big Little Lies’, ‘Pieces of Her‘, ‘Wolf Like Me‘, ‘Roar‘, ‘Lost Flowers of Alice Hart‘) in conjunction with FIFTH SEASON.
Set in the dynamic and ever-changing world of publishing, digital media and its origins, the series stars Asher Keddie as Evelyn Jones and follows her journey from lounge room blogger to becoming a force in women’s media.
Can’t wait to watch this one. Congratulations to the all the MCTV members who worked on it – looks great!
Film co-productions between Australia and India received a significant double boost recently, with the ratification of a treaty and the Indian government’s major enhancement of filming incentives. The treaty encourages greater creative collaboration and assists filmmakers to share resources and the risk of financing a film and will provide access to new markets and audiences.
Indian origin Australian filmmaker Anupam Sharma, who also serves as director of the Australia India Film Council, estimates that the current set of films that are being developed between Australia and India have a combined budget of A$65 million.
Sharma also notes “Australia is the most professional film industry in the world and India is of course, by far the most prolific film industry. And the marriage between the two is a win win for both.” You can read more about the treaty here.
More to come on this….
📷: Films and Casting Temple
In what is fast becoming a great Christmas tradition, the trailer for ‘Bump’ Season 4 has been released ahead of its traditional Boxing Day premiere on Stan.
Two years on from the end of Season 3, Oly (Nathalie Morris) and Santi (Carlos Sanson Jr) are back together, having finally stabilised their small family unit with their challenging seven-year-old Jacinda. Oly’s the brand new breadwinner; Santi’s the unhappy stay-at-home dad, and the endless interventions from their big mess of a family are going to make or break them.
Angie (Claudia Karvan) has moved out of the Chalmers-Davis house into a protest camp, focusing on environmental activism and the climate crisis in part as a useful distraction from her recent heartbreak.
Congratulations to the 32 MCTV members who worked on this series. We are up to 382 MCTV members across the 4 series so far!! Well done everyone, this looks great – we are almost more excited for Boxing Day than Christmas!
‘The Last Anniversary’ was announced by Nicole Kidman last month at SXSW. Filming is now underway in Sydney with a fantastic Aussie cast.
Casting includes Teresa Palmer (‘The Fall Guy‘), Miranda Richardson and Danielle Macdonald, with Helen Thomson (‘Colin From Accounts‘), Susan Prior, Claude Scott-Mitchell, Charlie Garber (‘Barons‘), Uli Latukefu and Jeremy Lindsay Taylor.
The story is an adaptation of Liane Moriaty’s novel of the same name, and will be produced by the same team as hits ‘Big Little Lies’ and ‘Nine Perfect Strangers’.
Good luck to everyone submitted for this so far and congratulations to everyone who has already made it to set – this will be a great project to work on. More to come…
📷: Cast of ‘The Last Anniversary’ on set in Sydney Credit: Binge/Mark Rogers
