While the new marvel movie Shang-Chi has been prevented from shooting in Sydney due to the pandemic, speculation has been mounting about a possible restart date. Fans might be reading too much into comments by Florian Munteanu suggesting that a restart is on the cards. We here are certainly optimistic that it might start again soon.
There was also a cool segment from the set caught by seven news before their cameras were obscured by security guards.
Mixed in with the real footage of Adem Somyurek covered in the 60 minutes story “The Faceless Man”, there are a couple of short segments of our own MCTV actors playing Adem Somyurek. Here you can see the back of his head but in the clip below you will see obscured footage of his face while the real audio of Adem Somyurek plays.
We regularly submit people for re-enactment roles and 60 minutes and other current affairs shows and the work is usually pretty fun. Many of our extras have used small parts like these to demonstrate their talents for other roles too.
Three Thousand Years of Longing is the new film by Mad Max director and producer George Miller. Production had been delayed by the pandemic but there are signs that production will be starting up again soon with MGM signing up for the rights to North American distribution. Looking forward to getting started on this one!
Playing a character from the 1950’s is a pretty fun way to pass the time and that’s exactly what 40 of our MCTV extras had the opportunity to do late last year. If you haven’t had a chance to check it our, it’s available on iView.
Well done to everybody who appeared in the latest Budget direct 20th Anniversary TVC. It looks like it would have been lots of fun.
It’s early days but Ausfilm boss Kate Marks says “18 Hollywood-backed features and TV series [are] looking to shoot here”. There’s “over $900 million worth of real enquiries out there at the moment”. With post COVID restrictions likely to ease much faster than in other parts of the world, Australia is looking like an extremely attractive place for film production.
These big productions do expect support from the Federal government in the form of tax incentives. In 2018, the government set up a system where the maximum tax rebate offered to foreign productions was limited to $140M over 4 years. Almost all of that money has been allocated and the industry is waiting on an announcement from the Federal government about further funding. “The location fund has been really successful, but once it runs out the projects run out,”. For more information see this article in The Age.
One of the ways that TV commercials and Film productions have been able to continue safely was by filming groups of people who already live together. A great example of how this works is shown in this latest CBA commercial. Each of the groups in this commercial were filmed in their own houses, garages, front gardens and all with film crews that observed strict social distancing.
A big congratulations to Rasha and her Sister (The girls who clap hands during the pushup.)
While many film productions were postponed due to coronavirus, there were a small number that were able to push on. Children of the Corn is a US funded feature film based on the Stephen King short story fo the same title.
Shooting has continued in Richmond near Sydney with strict social distancing measures observed. The majority of the production was based outdoors in cornfields so providing a safe work environment was possible.
We feel very privileged to have been part of this major production and the MCTV talent who were able to participate feel very luck to have had such a great distraction while coronavirus shut down the rest of Sydney.
For more details on how Children of the Corn and Neighbours have been showing the rest of the world how it’s done see the Sydney Morning Herald article.
The first step in getting the booming Australian Film and TV industry back to work has been completed. The Australian Screen Sector Task Force has developed a series of guidelines that allow both large and small productions to progress with safe work practices in place. The guidelines ensure social distancing is enforced in the majority of cases and provides a protocol to be applied when close contact is required.
The guidelines are a welcome relief to tens of thousands of people working in the Australian Film and TV industry. The guidelines have been published on the Screen Australia website .
If you have been following Simu Liu on twitter you will know that he is pretty excited about being a superhero in the new movie shooting here in Sydney. While any details about the new movie are strictly under wraps, Simu Liu shared a quick pic from one of the hair and makeup trucks the other day. I think he is still pinching himself to check that he is not in a dream. You can see his tweet below and the excitement of all his fans and followers.
ugh guys my job is the worst pic.twitter.com/xOcH3vuJJx
— Simu Liu (@SimuLiu) March 2, 2020