Americ-aussie

Why 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.

And why do directors choose Aussies over Americans to play American characters? (Russell Crowe, Toni Collette, Guy Pearce...)

Blue Heelers has been renewed for 2006 (it started in 1994, FYI); however The Alice has been given the axe.

Other Aussie dramas you missed - MDA (it's on the ABC, peoples), McLeod's Daughters, The Latham Diaries...

I'm still really new to the acting business in Australia, but I haven't really seen any instances where Americans are chosen for Australian parts. I've seen some Australians chosen to do American parts, though (i.e. that women on Neighbours with the really LAME American accent). Maybe I'm a rare one, but I don't want to play Australian characters. I'm not Australian. The accent doesn't come by naturally, so I don't want to pretend that it does. If a director is looking for someone to play a part using any variation of an American accent, then I'm game. Otherwise, I totally think that they should be looking for someone who comes by whatever accent they desire naturally.

One example is lost. I'm not talking about the main characters like mathew fox but the others survivers.

The reason why we see so much of American content on TV here is two main reasons - Americans produce shows that are cheaper to buy (you only pay for the cost of airing the show, which can be covered by advertisement spots, whereas buying a show from Australia is much more expensive as you would be paying for the actual cost of producing the show - another reason why 'reality' TV is so readily available, it's cheaper to produce than a drama), and that Australian television networks have a 'quota' that they have to fill with Aussie shows - which is practically nothing, something like 10-20% of all network time. Also, as the US makes more free-trade agreements with Australia, and the biggest networks are owned by American companies, more and more of Aussie TV goes down the drain, with less and less money and time on offer to produce it.

Don't blame casting agents - blame the executives and the government who allow it. You also have to remember that there is a smaller percentage of Aussies in America than Americans - and that we are only viewing a small percentage of American shows here, what with the Americans having more than 100 free-to-air stations, plus all the cable channels they have. The fact remains that it is tough to get into the industry no matter where you are.

Ahh...see...I didn't think of that. ;) I don't watch that show, though, so I wouldn't know. Something about a plane crashing between Australia and the US scares me. Not sure why. ;) LOL I'm going to visit my family via boat from now on!

That's one example as opposed to all the movies and shows out there with Australians playing Americans. I disagree with this claim. And using one example like lost is a bit tenuous. Americans generally can't do a convincing Australian accent anyway.

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?

Nimrod 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

Agreed! LOL Lord knows that my Australian accent isn't up to par!