Americ-aussie
Sat, 1 Oct 2005, 05:40 pmWalter Plinge10 posts in thread
Americ-aussie
Sat, 1 Oct 2005, 05:40 pmWhy do people in charge of casting choose an american over an aussie to play an australian character?
Australian actors struggle to get work while americans are just swimming in it and then casting directors have the nerve to do this. Take a moment and think about how many people in this site alone desperately want to be actors and actresses and that is one site alone. Out of all the want- to- be- actors only about 3-6% make it and the rest struggle to survive, juggling 3 jobs and still hoping they will get a break!
GIVE AUSSIES A FAIR GO AMERICA!
P.S I would also like to add that there are only a few australian dramas on tv at the moment. aka blue heelers, all saints, home and away and neighbours.
Home and away has been bought 5 years in advance and Neighbours is loved so much by britain that they have bought it 10 years in advance so that only leaves all saints and blue heelers.
Producers are now thinking about cutting either blue heelers or all saints because you don't need more than one aussie drama on channel 7. All saints's rating have sky rocketed so they are untouchable now so that leaves blue heelers on thin ice. Blue heelers has been on channel 7 for as long as i can remember and it will be a shame for all the talented actors and actresses on this show to lose their jobs.
Australian actors struggle to get work while americans are just swimming in it and then casting directors have the nerve to do this. Take a moment and think about how many people in this site alone desperately want to be actors and actresses and that is one site alone. Out of all the want- to- be- actors only about 3-6% make it and the rest struggle to survive, juggling 3 jobs and still hoping they will get a break!
GIVE AUSSIES A FAIR GO AMERICA!
P.S I would also like to add that there are only a few australian dramas on tv at the moment. aka blue heelers, all saints, home and away and neighbours.
Home and away has been bought 5 years in advance and Neighbours is loved so much by britain that they have bought it 10 years in advance so that only leaves all saints and blue heelers.
Producers are now thinking about cutting either blue heelers or all saints because you don't need more than one aussie drama on channel 7. All saints's rating have sky rocketed so they are untouchable now so that leaves blue heelers on thin ice. Blue heelers has been on channel 7 for as long as i can remember and it will be a shame for all the talented actors and actresses on this show to lose their jobs.
Re: Australican't
Mon, 3 Oct 2005, 02:40 amNimrod wrote:
>
> Na wrote:
>
> > Don't blame casting agents - blame the executives and the
> > government who allow it.
>
> and don't forget to blame everyone that sits down, tunes in
> and helps promote the TV Channels' airing all the american
> crap. While these are valid people to lay the blame on lets
> not forget all of us here in Joe Everybody land that love to
> sit down and watch the CSI's and the Law and Order's every
> night of the week. But then again, its so much easier to
> blame someone else isnt it?
I agree with a lot of Na's points. Government de-regulation and funding cuts are devastating the ABC, which in the past was one of our prime producers of Australian drama. The other networks are still producing prime time soaps like Home and Away and Blue Heelers (on its last legs), but there hasn't been a new contender for years, and the percentage of Australian-made drama has seriously dwindled. We haven't yet seen the effects of the Free-Trade Agreement, which is most likely going to kill any chances of turning the situation around. Cheaply-bought American product is here to stay, and due to the free trade agreement, likely to increase its prolificness.
One of our problems in competing with the overseas market is the scale of production. The market for CSI or any big drama is so massive (without including their potential for overseas sales) that they can afford high film production values, great actors & directors, and hundreds of top scriptwriters. The shows we get have already been tested in the biggest market in the world; what we see is the tip of an absolutely massive iceberg, so it's got to be of decent quality. When I look at recent Aussie efforts like The Alice I see them struggling with a product that's filmed nicely but really just doesn't grab me in the quality of its writing. And I'm frankly embarrassed at the standard of any of our comedy shows. So even when we produce a show, it just doesn't compete.
I don't understand the fixation with shows about detectives, lawyers and doctors, but they're obviously popular. But it's a circular argument....they screen because they're popular, but they're popular because nothing else good is screening.
Cheers,
Craig
>
> Na wrote:
>
> > Don't blame casting agents - blame the executives and the
> > government who allow it.
>
> and don't forget to blame everyone that sits down, tunes in
> and helps promote the TV Channels' airing all the american
> crap. While these are valid people to lay the blame on lets
> not forget all of us here in Joe Everybody land that love to
> sit down and watch the CSI's and the Law and Order's every
> night of the week. But then again, its so much easier to
> blame someone else isnt it?
I agree with a lot of Na's points. Government de-regulation and funding cuts are devastating the ABC, which in the past was one of our prime producers of Australian drama. The other networks are still producing prime time soaps like Home and Away and Blue Heelers (on its last legs), but there hasn't been a new contender for years, and the percentage of Australian-made drama has seriously dwindled. We haven't yet seen the effects of the Free-Trade Agreement, which is most likely going to kill any chances of turning the situation around. Cheaply-bought American product is here to stay, and due to the free trade agreement, likely to increase its prolificness.
One of our problems in competing with the overseas market is the scale of production. The market for CSI or any big drama is so massive (without including their potential for overseas sales) that they can afford high film production values, great actors & directors, and hundreds of top scriptwriters. The shows we get have already been tested in the biggest market in the world; what we see is the tip of an absolutely massive iceberg, so it's got to be of decent quality. When I look at recent Aussie efforts like The Alice I see them struggling with a product that's filmed nicely but really just doesn't grab me in the quality of its writing. And I'm frankly embarrassed at the standard of any of our comedy shows. So even when we produce a show, it just doesn't compete.
I don't understand the fixation with shows about detectives, lawyers and doctors, but they're obviously popular. But it's a circular argument....they screen because they're popular, but they're popular because nothing else good is screening.
Cheers,
Craig
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