Archive for category: Acting and Extras Work in Sydney

The new ‘Planet of the Apes’ movie has been a huge production for Sydney. The latest talent to be attached to this instalment is ‘Severance’ actress, Dichen Lachman (pictured).

In an exclusive report, The Hollywood Reporter outlines the plot of the new movie:This movie is set “many years after the conclusion of 2017’s ‘War for the Planet of the Apes’. Many apes societies have grown from when the Moses-like Caesar brought his people to an oasis, while humans have been reduced to a feral-like existence. Some ape groups have never heard of Caesar, while others have contorted his teaching to build burgeoning empires.

In this setting, one ape leader begins to enslave other groups to find human technology, while another ape, who watched his clan be taken, embarks on a journey to find freedom. A young human woman becomes key to the latter’s quest, although she has plans of her own.”

This is a unique production to work on, we hope everyone who has been to set so far has enjoyed the experience! More to come…

Submissions have been happening for ‘Paper Dolls’, which follows the meteoric rise and fall of the fictional girl band INDIGO – a manufactured pop group born out of one of the first reality TV shows.

Set in 2000, five hopeful women step into the spotlight only to find that their dream of fame is compromised by what it takes to achieve it. As INDIGO is unleashed into the world to instant success and stardom, the girls’ connection with each other evolves from competition to confidants.

The series, appears to be loosely based on the story of Bardot (pictured)– the all girl band that was launched from Seven’s 1999 program ‘Popstars’, the precursor to ‘Australian Idol’. Belinda Chapple, one of the original members of Bardot, is co-executive producer.

The series will be produced by Helium Pictures (‘Last King of the Cross‘, ‘6 Festivals‘) for Channel 10. Good luck to everyone who has been submitted so far.

Applause from the local production industry this week for the Federal government’s Revive cultural policy. The policy outlined almost $300m in funding for culture and the arts.

A key initiative of the policy is to impose a local quota on multinational streamers such as Netflix and Stan to ensure some of the profit from local screens is reinvested in producing content locally.

While Stan and Netflix are both producing and exporting some excellent locally made content, such as ‘Bump‘, ‘Wolf Like Me‘ and ‘Heartbreak High‘, extra encouragement by way of quotas could be a big boost to the local industry.

According to ScreenHub ‘A streaming quota that requires such services to reinvest 20% of their combined estimated $2.4 billion annual revenue into local content would result in the investment of $480 million a year into new Australian content (approximately 400 hours of new content a year)’. The government hopes to start industry discussions soon and that a quota would be in place by mid next year.

More to come…

Back in 2020 as the world was shutting down, a remake of a Stephen King short story-turned movie was filming in Sydney. Under strict COVID protocols, filming of ‘Children of the Corn‘ was completed in June 2020. Now, almost 3 years later the film is set to have its theatrical release on March 3rd before being released via demand and digital on March 21st (according to Deadline).

‘Children of the Corn’ follows a 12 year old girl in Nebraska who is possessed by a spirit in a dying cornfield. She recruits the other children in her small town to go on a bloody rampage and kill all the adults and anyone else who opposes her. A bright high schooler who won’t go along with the plan is the town’s only hope of survival.

Congratulations to the MCTV members who stuck to the strict COVID protocols and travelled to Richmond and Rylestone for filming at a difficult time. The local industry was very lucky to be able to film in some capacity throughout the pandemic thanks to your diligence. Sydney’s international reputation as a safe haven for film has been strengthened through projects such as this one. Well done!

Submissions are underway for a new six-part drama series ‘House of Gods’, set to air on ABC and ABC iview in 2023.

Set in Western Sydney ‘House of Gods’ is a gripping tale of faith, family, secrets and lies, which takes audiences behind the walls of an iman’s family and the Australian Arab/Iraqi community he leads. The series explores the personal cost of influence and ambition as the Imam, Sheikh Mohammad, and his family grapple with newfound power, politics and privilege.

The son of a Head Cleric, co-creator and writer Osamah Sami (pictured) has drawn on his own, real-life experiences to share his beloved community, in all its colour and flaws, with audiences.

Good luck to all those submitted so far…