Archive for category: Acting and Extras Work in Sydney

Translation: Movie Metropolis of the East

Qingdao Movie Metropolis (Pronounced Chyingtao) is scheduled to officially open in August 2018 but MCTV people have already been involved in a production that was filmed at the enormous facility. Pacific Rim 2 filmed earlier this year in Sydney, Brisbane and the Qingdao facility.

The facility includes a “high-tech, airport-hangar-sized structure of 6,000 square meters (about 65,000 square feet), which ties a stage at Pinewood London as the world’s largest film stage. Once completed, Wanda’s Movie Metropolis will contain China’s largest outdoor and indoor underwater stages, 221 acres of backlot and 45 soundstages comprising nearly twice the square footage of Universal, Hollywood’s biggest filmmaking facility” source: The Hollywood Reporter

There is an enormous opportunity for cooperation between China and Australia on productions destined for Chinese screens as well as for Australian audiences and the broader market. We have recently had the Mandarin language remake of the hot TV series Chosen filming here in Sydney and many MCTV actors have featured in TV commercials filmed here in Sydney and shown only in China.

“China itself has more cinema screens than any other country in the world,” AACTA chief executive officer Damien Trewhella said. Wanda, the company behind Qingdao Movie Metropolis is also the new owner of  Hoyts cinemas in Australia.

AACTA is driving a push for further collaboration between Australia and China and Screen Australia has a funding program available for such collaboration.

Based upon the “Comic Masterpiece” Women in Black which “looks home to Sydney in the late 1950s, an optimistic romantic comedy about an ensemble of women selling cocktail frocks in a department store like David Jones. St John cleverly dramatises the meeting of conservative Anglo-Saxon Aussies with European migrants who opened them to sophisticated attitudes, cultural experiences and romance.” source: Sydney Morning Herald

In his first film since Mao’s Last Dancer, Academy Award® nominated director Bruce Beresford (”Breaker Morant”, ”Puberty Blues”, ”Tender Mercies”, ”Driving Miss Daisy”) is working with Allanah Zitserman and Samson Productions’ Sue Milliken.

Screen Australia CEO Graeme Mason said the feature “promises to be visually stunning, with a female-led story that has the potential to be another box office hit like The Dressmaker.” source: IF Magazine

Great work from our MCTV extras on this new Uber Australia commercial. Great soundtrack too!

Uber – Discover A New Way To Move from Oh Yeah Wow on Vimeo.

Performers, producers, writers, directors and crew are joining forces to campaign for the future of the screen industry. We want Australian stories told on Australian screens by us, to us, about us. We want to Make It Australian.

Anyone who is working in the Australian film and TV industry should care passionately about this issue. With recent technological changes we have gained far greater access to content than ever before, but there is a huge risk that the content will end up targeting the largest global demographics and ignore local cultures. Show your support by registering for the campaign launch.

There’s a storm brewing in the world of streaming platforms.

On the one hand you have the main TV channels who are compelled to offer 55 percent local content between 6am and midnight.

On the other, you have Netflix and other streaming platforms walking in to the Australian market with no such requirement.

Netflix is planning to spend $7Bn on original content in 2018 with very little of that in Australia. We have Netflix’s first Australian production Tidelands filming in Queensland and a handful of co productions such as Glitch, Beat Bugs, Bottersnikes & Gumbles, Kazoops, Mako Mermaids: An H20 Adventure, White Rabbit Project and the upcoming Legend of Monkey.

There is also the opportunity for locally produced series to be licensed for global distribution through Netflix like Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries and The Code which have already secured deals.

While things are improving, it’s nothing like a 55% local content mandate.

Whatever way you look at it, something has got to give. It’s impossible to apply the traditional local content rules to an on demand platform but something needs to be done to level the playing field.