Today I met Andrew Denton on the set of 30 Seconds.  Andrew is Co-Executive Producer of the new satire which looks closely at the crazy workings of the advertising industry.

'The six part series is the creation of real-life advertising insiders Tim Bullock of Prodigy Films, Justin Drape and Scott Nowell of Sydney agency, Three Drunk Monkeys – the team behind FOXTEL’s recently-successful value-oriented marketing campaign.
A stellar line-up of Australian talent has been assembled for the four-week shoot which is currently taking place in Sydney. The who’s who of the Australian acting industry include, Stephen Curry, Peter O’Brien, Joel Tobeck, Gyton Grantley and Kat Stewart.' Foxtel (More)

I play the marketing manager for a beer manufacturer in the very first episode of the series. This is a must see production. It's not often that it happens but I laughed out loud when reading the episode I appear in. If all six are this good, it's going to be great!
Image by Foxtel.  Links by Foxtel and IMDb.

'The Square' - available on dvd.
'Some things can't be buried.'
"The Edgerton brother's thriller will have you on the edge of your seat." - OK! Magazine.
"Not since Fight Club has a thriller thrilled like The Square." - Movie Juice.
"The brothers Coen just got stiff competition Aussie-style." - City Search.
Official website.

I've just spent the last three days in the Barossa Valley at the National Screenwriters' Conference - fantastic. This is the first time I've thrown myself into the writers' arena and it was well worth it.  I learnt a great deal about the art and met some industry greats: Mike Bullen - Cold Feet and Life Begins creator and writer; Jan Sardi - writer on Shine and The Notebook; Andrew Knight - After the Deluge creator/writer and writer on Sea Change; Underbelly's writer/producer Greg Haddrick and writer Felicity Packard; comedian and Whatever Happened To That Guy? creator/writer Peter Moon, along with many more.

I had a mentoring session with experienced writer, John Reeves.  One of the above read my script (I've created a drama series and taken it to the point of writing the pilot) and very generously gave me constructive feedback.  Also, my script is presently being read by an executive of one of the major TV stations.  Who knows what will come of it but it wouldn't have happened if I'd not attended.  This is a must for any budding writers!

For more information contact AWG.

Over the last two days I spent many hours in a dark performance space at the National Institute of Dramatic Art, all leading up to the performance of a production I wrote and directed - Redemption, Through the eyes of Shakespeare.  I wrote this exploration as a student performance piece in 2005, when I directed it's first production.  The text contains segments of Shakespeare's best plays and links them together with a revolving chorus who like many of Shakespeare's characters, speak in iambic-pentametre.  I submitted the text to NIDA and a new production was confirmed for late 2008.

The 2008 cast included 21 actors from NIDA's Drama Studio and was rehearsed on Sundays over a 9 week period.  It was a great success with many of the cast getting their mouths around the words of Shakespeare for their very first time.  The production was stage managed by Lisa Gormley, an actor in her second year of study at NIDA (we'll be seeing a lot of her in the future) and lit by Matt Tunchon, a graduate of NIDA's Technical Production course.  This was my NIDA directorial debut and I look forward to many more.

Fortunately I was able to fine tune the text a little as rehearsals progressed as I'm looking to publish the text making it available to schools and production companies - one of my goals for 2009.

I'm getting recognised in the street for... wait for it... my role in the GIO TV Commercials.  I've been approached in the street with "Are you the guy in the GIO ads"?  I say yes, and they ALL tell me how great they think the ads are: "You see most ads and don't pay attention, but yours, I watch it every time I see it!" "I look at you in the ad and I can tell you're a great actor.  You are so real."  "You two are sooo married, I can't believe it."  "Mate, you nailed it.  I put the car one, up there with 'Not happy, Jan'."  One woman was so happy to have me shopping in her store that she hugged me.

I like the attention - it means I used my talents and did something well.  This is a hard industry to work in - income is sporadic, satisfaction is irregular and we're constantly criticised about our work.  I found working with the Orange Whip team a real pleasure and I'm proud of the results.

See for yourself.  I've done two ads for GIO and you will find them both here - Flood and Can't Argue (car).