Camera operator Toby Hogan and Arnie Custo on location.

Veteran Home and Away director Arnie Custo and series producer Lucy Addario describe how cast and crew are adapting to the Covid-safe guidelines.

Plus, Custo’s tips for emerging directors. First up are the responses from the director who has been with the Seven Network show since 2013.

Q: How are you, the cast and fellow crew members adjusting to the new health and safety protocols?

A:Very well all things considered. We have great nurses and safety officers keeping us vigilant and the crew are doing a fabulous job getting the job done whilst maintaining distance from each other. The cast have been wonderful as well and very understanding of any changes we make in terms of blocking scenes to keep distance.

Q: I imagine it may be difficult to stop some reflexive actions like touching colleagues or props?

A: Incredibly so,...

Aussie actor Martin Dingle Wall has a long list of local credits, having appeared in 'Home and Away', 'All Saints', 'Satisfaction', 'Underbelly', 'Rescue Special Ops' and 2015 feature 'Strangerland'.

Dingle Wall has returned to Oz from La, where he's lived for the past four years, to promote 'All That Jam', a rom-com shot in Moscow for which the actor had to learn Russian.—.only days before the shoot began. The feature screened in Sydney last week as part of The Russian Resurrection Film Festival.

Next year Dingle Wall stars with Olga Kurylenko and Antonio Banderas in 'Salty', which has been drumming up interest at Afm. He also plays the lead role in indie horror feature 'Happy Hunting', co-directed by Louie Gibson, son of Mel.

How did All That Jam come to you?

It's really the quintessential Hollywood left-field scenario.

Ben Mingay.

Ben Mingay (Packed to the Rafters, Hacksaw Ridge) will star as Alan Bond in House of Bond, Nine's miniseries now in production.

House of Bond tells the tale of Australia.s most controversial tycoon, whose excesses ran to women, fame, money, crime and everything in between..

The mini-series co-stars Rachael Taylor (Jessica Jones) as Diana Bliss, Adrienne Pickering (Rake) as Eileen Bond and Sam Neill (House of Hancock) as Roland .Tiny. Rowland.

House of Bond is the rags-to-riches tale of Bond.s incredible rise and spectacular fall in the 1970s and 80s as the cheeky, knockabout .Ten Pound Pom. who fought his way from the back alleys of Fremantle to become the richest man in Australia and one of our greatest sporting heroes for winning the America.s Cup..

The series will also star Gyton Grantley, Samantha Jade, Anne Looby, John Howard, Johnny Ruffo, Roy Billing, Paul Gleeson and Jack Campbell.

Kerrie Mainwaring.

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Screentime, a Banijay Group company, has appointed producer Kerrie Mainwaring as head of production - scripted.

Mainwaring has produced projects including Peter Allen: Not The Boy Next Door, Catching Milat, Inxs: Never Tear Us Apart as well as new production.Brock..

Previously head of production - drama for Southern Star, Mainwaring's other credits include Paper Giants: Magazine Wars, Howzat: Kerry Packer.s War, Puberty Blues and Wild Boys - as well as having line produced Paper Giants: The Birth of Cleo and Rescue Special Ops. .Her earlier credits include East West 101, Spirited and the first series of Rake.

.Working alongside head of drama, Greg Haddrick, and reporting to chief executive, Rory Callaghan, Mainwaring will be responsible for the management of the company.s drama slate including budgeting and reporting.

..I am delighted to be joining the team at Screentime, and to be continuing the collaboration with Rory Callaghan,...

The Nine Network is channelling tens of millions of dollars freed up from the end of its output deal with Warner Bros. into a record investment in local content.

Spending on local production will continue to rise over the next three years to the point where the network invests $100 million more per year than currently, executives said at the upfronts presentation today.

While Nine retains the first-run rights to The Big Bang Theory, director of programming and production Andrew Backwell said the broadcaster decided to relinquish the re-runs (subsequently acquired by Seven) because it preferred to spend the money on local content.

The 2016 line-up includes the Matchbox Pictures drama Hide & Seek, Cjz.s previously announced two-part Alan Bond miniseries House of Bond and a new factual series, Prison: First & Last 24 Hours.

Daryl Somers will return to TV as the host of You.re Back in the Room, a FremantleMedia Australia...

The Nine Network.s drama House Husbands is being remade in France and Italy.

The French version of the Playmaker Media series co-created by Ellie Beaumont and Drew Proffitt will be produced by Paris-based Made in Pm.

The Italian remake will be produced by Rome-based Publispei. Both companies will adapt the scripts of the first season.

Neither has yet been sold to a broadcaster, although Made in Pm produces drama for the channels TF1 and France2. The format deals were negotiated by Zdf Enterprises.

Playmaker Media.s David Maher said, .'The rise of the stay at home dad is obviously happening everywhere and it's great when a warm, funny and relatable Aussie drama like House Husbands resonates internationally..

Andy Ryan, Nine.s co-head of drama, said, .We are thrilled to be exporting the House Husbands format to such competitive TV markets. Just like Australian viewers, the French and Italian networks...

After focussing on TV dramas, David Caesar plans to direct a conspiracy thriller, his first feature since Prime Mover in 2009.

Scripted by Terence Hammond and produced by Antony I. Ginnane, Spontaneous Combustion is set during a pandemic involving government and Big Pharma.

The plan is to start shooting in Melbourne in the first quarter of 2015, with post production and VFX in Queensland. The logline reads, "When a marine biologist who saw his father burst into flames for no reason is drawn into investigating an outbreak of spontaneous combustion deaths by an investigative journalist, they uncover a Big Pharma conspiracy and put their own lives on the line in a race to stop the development of a deadly global weapon."

.David is harking back to his Dirty Deeds milieu here, and he.s a big fan of The Parallax View, Three Days of the Condor and The Conversation, which is the zone we are in here,...

Director Ben Chessell finishes principal photography on Sucker, his debut feature, in Melbourne today, full of praise for the chemistry between his young lead, YouTube star John Luc, and veteran English actor Timothy Spall.

Luc plays Lawrence, an 18-year-old Chinese Australian who cheats in his high school final year exams and fails to get into medicine. Banished to stay with his uncle for the summer, Lawrence meets Spall.s the Professor, a colourful, ageing conman.

Lawrence begins a road trip with the Professor and his daughter Sarah (Lily Sullivan) as the Professor teaches him the art of swindling and cheating, while from Sarah he learns a hard lesson in unrequited love.

.John, Tim and Lily showed a real chemistry and camaraderie which comes across in their scenes," said Chessell, who was one of 10 directors on the 2007 comedy Little Deaths and has since directed episodes of Offspring, Rush, Rescue Special Ops and Camp,...

Young YouTube star John Luc and veteran English actor Timothy Spall are playing the odd couple at the centre of Sucker, director Ben Chessell.s. feature which is shooting in Melbourne.

Luc plays Lawrence, an 18-year-old Chinese Australian who cheats in his high school final year exams and fails to get into medicine. Banished to stay with his uncle for the summer, Lawrence meets Spall.s the Professor, a colourful, ageing conman.

Lawrence begins a road trip with the Professor and his daughter Sarah (Lily Sullivan) as the Professor teaches Lawrence the art of swindling and cheating, while from Sarah he learns a hard lesson in unrequited love.

As Lawrence and the Professor plan their biggest scam, the teenager and Sarah plan a swindle of their own. and Lawrence is forced to make a choice between love, life and lies. Kat Stewart is cast as Sarah.s mother and Jacek Koman...

Rebecca Gibney is set to star in and co-produce The Killing Field, a telemovie for the Seven network.

She.ll play the leader of a task force that.s sent to a country town to investigate a shocking crime.

The concept and screenplay came from Sarah Smith and Michaeley O'Brien. Samantha Lang (The Monkey.s Mask, episodes of My Place and Packed to the Rafters ) will direct.

Bill Hughes and Smith are producing for Seven, with Gibney as co-producer. Seven.s head of drama Julie McGauran is executive producer.

Smith co-created and produced with McGuaran Wild Boys and Rescue Special Ops for Southern Star Entertainment.

O.Brien.s screenwriting credits include episodes of Serangoon Road, Underbelly, Rescue Special Ops, City Homicide, McLeod.s Daughters, Sea Patrol and Blue Heelers.

Lang most recently directed Carlotta, the ABC telemovie which stars Jessica Marais as an Australian transgender pioneer who was a colourful figure in Kings Cross.

Films directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse, Michael Rowe and Ben Chessell received a total of $4.4 million in funding at Screen Australia.s board meeting on Wednesday.

The agency said the three features will generate almost $25 million in production investment. The casts include Kate Winslet, Judy Davis, Melissa George and Canadian Roy Dupuis.

Winslet and Davis will star in writer/director Moorhouse and producer Sue Maslin.s comic drama The Dressmaker.. Adapted from Rosalie Ham.s novel, it.s described as a Gothic tale of love, revenge and haute couture.. Winslet will play Tilly, a glamorous young woman who returns after many years in Europe to her small home town in rural Australia aiming to right some wrongs from the past as she was accused of murder when she was a child. She also falls unexpectedly in love, which leads to her greatest loss and her most destructive deed. Davis will play her eccentric mother.

At least two actors formerly represented by International Casting Services (Ics), the talent agency that is closing down after 52 years, have signed with other agents.

It.s expected that a number of other actors on Ics.s books will cross to Lisa Mann Creative Management (Lmcm), a process which will play out over the next week.

nm2942148 autoMelina McKenna[/link], a senior agent at Ics, is joining Lmcm on June 4. The decision to close Ics was sparked by the retirement of veteran agent Pauline Lee, If believes.

Lisa Mann told If that the question of which Ics actors would transfer to her agency is still in discussion. She said, .When Melina was offered senior agent position here at Lmcm we had no way of knowing that Ics.s doors were about to close, so the shock was as great to us as it was to her, the industry at large and...

Les Hill will play one of the leads and co-produce Bride of the Dead, an Australian zombie horror/romance/adventure/comedy.

The film will mark the feature writing and directing debut of Ryan Eckersley, who cut his teeth as a director on Neighbours and Big Brother. Eckersley has teamed up with executive producer Robert Lewis Galinsky and they are confident of raising the budget of $5-8 million from private investors..

Set in a post-Apocalyptic world, the plot follows a woman named Samantha who gets engaged to her boyfriend Peter. During his buck.s party at a zombie strip club, Peter is bitten on the arm. He flees the city to protect Samantha and she hires Jack, who is struggling to let go of his past, to help find her fiancé before he becomes a zombie. Jack and his band of brothers are zombie hunters, employed by life insurance companies to find infected people,...

Australians in Film President Andrew Warne has announced the fifteen finalists for the 2013 Heath Ledger Scholarship. The Scholarship is named after Oscar-winning Australian actor Heath Ledger, who tragically passed away in January 2008, and has the full support of the Ledger family and friends. Of the final fifteen, an esteemed panel will choose one winner and two runners-up, who will be announced in Los Angeles on June 12. The overall winner will received Usd$10,000 in cash, a return ticket to Los Angeles, a one-year Scholarship to Stella Adler Acting School in La, a trip around California for two a Showcast & Breakdown Services VIP casting package and $5000 worth of visa and immigration services. The runners up will round-trip ticket to Los Angeles plus a Showcast VIP casting package. The 2013 finalists are: Hannah Barlow, Elizabeth Blackmore (Home & Away), Laura Brent, David Coussins, Ashleigh Cummings (Puberty Blues), Georgia Flood (Wentworth & House Husbands), Geraldine Hakewill, Andrew Hazzard (Home & Away), Will Howarth,...

Two up-and-coming Australian actors have been cast in AMC’s Revolutionary War-era drama pilot Turn, TVLine has learned.

Related | Pilot Season 2013: Get Scoop on This Fall’s (Possible) Newcomers

Meegan Warner will play Mary Woodhull, a mother who doesn’t want to see her young son grow up to be a soldier. She adamantly does not want to become involved in the war with England and hopes it will leave her family alone.

Daniel Henshall will play Caleb Brewster, a near-fearless former whaler who’s now a lieutenant in the Second Continental Artillery and loves hand-to-hand combat. He’s...

The Australian Army’s 34th Battalion arrived in France in 1916 and fought against the Germans on the Western Front. The unit’s little-heralded story will be chronicled in the ensemble war drama The 34th Battalion.

A soccer hardman and Hollywood action star, Vinnie Jones and Avatar’s Stephen Lang will now join a cast that includes Luke Hemsworth (brother of Chris and Liam Hemsworth), Emilie de Ravin (Brick), Charles Mesure (Desperate Housewives), Les Hill and Andrew Lees of Rescue Special Ops, Claire van der Boom (Hawaii Five-0), Tony Bonner (Quigley Down Under, and Vince Colosimo (Body of Lies), respectively.

Jones will play the British-born Lieutenant-Colonel who led the battalion, while Lang is a U.S. officer who is part of the squad.

Ian Sparke will serve as executive producer and his son Luke Sparke will be making his directorial debut on the feature. The father-son team also wrote the screenplay.

Local feature film Drown has cast Matt Levett in the lead role and has launched an online crowd-funding campaign.

The low-budget film, which will tackle themes of bullying and homophobia, aims to raise $100,000 in 65 days via Indiegogo.

Levett is currently working on upcoming Seven Network drama, A Place To Call Home, and has previously appeared in Winners & Losers, All Saints, Home and Away, Rescue Special Ops, Two Twisted and as a series regular on ABC.s third season of Bed of Roses.

He will play lead character Len in Drown, which follows three lifesavers on a big night out when jealousy, homophobic fears and unrequited lust culminate in a tragic booze-fueled episode of bullying.

Other roles will be cast shortly through Maura Fay Casting.

Drown is being directed by local filmmaker Dean Francis and is based on a play by Stephen Davis. Francis made his feature film debut with Road Train...

Regular observers will be aware that Nine’s promo team is, shall we say, unafraid to draw inspiration from other cultural sources.

There was, for instance, the rip-off of a Bear Grylls ad for the now sadly deceased Rescue Special Ops.

And now comes the network’s promo for House Husbands, which appears to share a fair bit of DNA with The Hangover. The baby’s even wearing fricking sunglasses.

Dr Mumbo can only hope that the programming is more original then the promo. But he’s not holding his breath.

(Hat-tip: Sunday telegraph)...

Almost 300 people attended Nida.s annual Foundation Trust fundraising Gala on Saturday night, July 21, at the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Kensington.

Nida.s foyer was transformed to reflect the theme of the evening: .Trip the Light Fantastic!. and the evening featured entertainment provided by Nida.s acting students. The Nida Foundation Trust.s annual fundraising dinners have raised close to $700,000 over the last six years (with support from Seven Network) to support Nida student projects and other opportunities for the creative development of emerging Australian talent.

Among the guests were Nida acting graduates Sarah Snook (Not Suitable for Children, Spirited), Ryan Corr (Not Suitable for Children, Packed to the Rafters), Miranda Tapsell (The Sapphires), Andrea Demetriades (Sydney Theatre Company.s Pygmalion, Crownies), Hugo Johnstone-Burt (cloudstreet, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries), Benedict Samuel (Home and Away), Arianwen Parkes-Lockwood (Home and Away, A Place to Call Home), Susie Porter (Bikie Wars,...

Bonds has recruited Aussie actor Todd Lasance to be part of the underwear brand’s summer advertising offensive.

Lasance, who has been filming Spartacus in New Zealand, will team up with Rachael Taylor, Bonds’ main brand ambassador.

“We love Australians doing well on the international stage – and Todd fits that description. He’s mates with Rachael, so they should have good chemistry in our ads. He also looks fantastic in a pair of briefs,” Bonds marketing manager Zoe Hayes told Mumbrella.

She would not comment on how whether Lasance’s brushes with bad headlines in the past had effected the brand’s decision to hire him.

Lasance’s career includes stints Bikie Wars, Home & Away, Underbelly, Rescue Special Ops, Cloud Street and Crownies.

Terry O'Quinn as Gavin Doran in "666 Park Avenue" (ABC/Andrew Eccles)

ABC‘s slate of new shows for fall has a strange flavor to it, and it’s going to be a bumpy ride. The network has about as many new shows as returning ones (if you count all the midseasons), and a good percentage of the returning offerings are a year old or less, making this look a bit like a rebuilding year.

Not only is it a rebuilding year, but it’s the year of bringing back every actor and actress who ever had a decent run on a show before. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a network’s new season slate that was so crammed with people returning from something else. If you can’t make it good, I suppose, make sure viewers recognize the faces.

It’s tricky to get a solid feel...

Australian production company Playmaker and the Nine Network have announced the cast of new series House Husbands.

The 10 part series about stay-at-home dads is due to begin production at the end of the month.

The series is produced by Slide’s Sue Seeary and Lockie Leonard’s Drew Proffitt and created by Proffitt and Ellie Beaumont and directed by The Great Mint Swindle’s Geoff Bennett and Offspring’s Shirley Barrett.

The cast includes Gary Sweet of Rescue Special Ops, Rhys Muldoon of Lockie Leonard, Gyton Grantley of Underbelly and Firass Dirani of Underbelly: Golden Mile as well as Celebrity Apprentice’s Julia Morris, Underbelly: Razor’s Anna McGahan and Winners and Losers’ Natalie Saleeba.

Executive producers are Nine’s Jo Rooney and Andy Ryan and Playmaker’s David Maher and David Taylor.

House Husband’s received funding from Screen Australia two weeks ago.

Australia.s highest-rated TV drama series Packed To The Rafters is back to claim its crown.

The Seven series, which last year averaged 1.8 million viewers, returns next week with another 22 episodes.

It.s the nation.s favourite drama, having netted Best Australian Drama at the last three Logie Awards. Two weeks ago it also took out the Audience Choice Award for Best TV Program at the inaugural Aacta Awards.

Series producer Chris Martin-Jones, who occasionally sits in the director.s chair, puts the show's success down to it being so relatable. The drama focuses on the Rafter family . a family, which, like any, faces pressures of life and love while dealing with serious social issues.

.They can see the characters in their own lives. They can see the situation the character.s in,. Martin-Jones says from his Sydney office.

He says tackling serious issues such as abortion, drug abuse and...

Horror feature 100 Bloody Acres has begun production in Adelaide. Actor Damon Herriman (Love My Way, Offspring) leads the cast, which also includes Angus Sampson (Where the Wild Things Are, Spirited), Anna McGahan (Underbelly 4: Razor, Spirited), Oliver Ackland (The Proposition, The Slap), and Jamie Kristian (Underbelly 4: Razor, Rescue Special Ops). Guest appearances include John Jarratt (Wolf Creek), Chrissie Page (Last Ride), Paul Blackwell (Red Dog) and Reg the dog (Dr Plonk). 100 Bloody Acres is the debut feature from brothers Colin and Cameron Cairnes, who won several awards for their short 2009 film Celestial Avenue..The feature screenplay, which.follows two brothers and their struggling organic blood and bone fertiliser business, won first place in the horror section...

Horror feature 100 Bloody Acres has begun production in Adelaide. Actor Damon Herriman (Love My Way, Offspring) leads the cast, which also includes Angus Sampson (Where the Wild Things Are, Spirited), Anna McGahan (Underbelly 4: Razor, Spirited), Oliver Ackland (The Proposition, The Slap), and Jamie Kristian (Underbelly 4: Razor, Rescue Special Ops). Guest appearances include John Jarratt (Wolf Creek), Chrissie Page (Last Ride), Paul Blackwell (Red Dog) and Reg the dog (Dr Plonk). 100 Bloody Acres is the debut feature from brothers Colin and Cameron Cairnes, who won several awards for their short 2009 film Celestial Avenue..The feature screenplay, which.follows two brothers and their struggling organic blood and bone fertiliser business, won first place in the horror section...

Horror feature 100 Bloody Acres has begun production in Adelaide. Actor Damon Herriman (Love My Way, Offspring) leads the cast, which also includes Angus Sampson (Where the Wild Things Are, Spirited), Anna McGahan (Underbelly 4: Razor, Spirited), Oliver Ackland (The Proposition, The Slap), and Jamie Kristian (Underbelly 4: Razor, Rescue Special Ops). Guest appearances include John Jarratt (Wolf Creek), Chrissie Page (Last Ride), Paul Blackwell (Red Dog) and Reg the dog (Dr Plonk). 100 Bloody Acres is the debut feature from brothers Colin and Cameron Cairnes, who won several awards for their short 2009 film Celestial Avenue..The feature screenplay, which.follows two brothers and their struggling organic blood and bone fertiliser business, won first place in the horror section...

The quality of the relationship that is built between the director and actor can mean the difference between a pretty good performance, and a fearless performance that takes everyone’s breath away. Actor Gina Morley explores the ways to best build that relationship.

When I think of directors that I love working with, directors that have the ability to help me fly, the feeling that comes to mind is fearlessness. But sometimes directors don’t know what actors are thinking and feeling…To explore the actor-director relationship, I went in search of old notes I have jotted down about direction and what has worked for me. I will share my personal experiences, combined with comments from indie director Alkinos Tsilimidos (winner of the Montréal First Film Prize for Everynight … Everynight, AFI Award nominee for the short Tom White) and fellow actor Katherine Hicks (Rescue Special Ops, Logie nominee and If...

Animal Kingdom (A. Partos/S. Petty) , Beneath Hill 60 (C. Skubiszewski), Mao’s Last Dancer (C. Gordon) and The Waiting City (M. Yezerski) are competing for the Best Feature Film Score at this year’s Screen Music Awards.

In the television categories My Place (R. Mason), Rescue Special Ops (N. Tyson-Chew), Tangle (B. Marks) and Underbelly (B. Dallwitz) have been selected for the Best Music for a Television Series category.The 2010 Screen Music Awards, presented by Apra (Australasian Performing Right Association) and the Agsc (Australian Guild of Screen Composers) will be held at BMW Edge in Melbourne on Tuesday 9 November.

The nominees are:

Best Feature Film Score

Title Animal Kingdom Composers Antony Partos and Sam Petty Title Beneath Hill 60 Composer Cezary Skubiszewski Publisher Albert Music Title Mao’s Last Dancer Composer Christopher Gordon Title The Waiting City Composer Michael Yezerski Publisher Sandcastle Music Pty Ltd

Best Music for a...

Actor Gyton Grantley believes more and more screen work for actors will be in projects made for online distribution.

“Personally, I would aspire to work in feature film and TV drama, but we can’t deny the fact that entertainment is moving more towards the internet and computer screens, because it’s so easily accessible and a lot cheaper,” Grantley told Encore.

“In terms of being an actor and executing my craft, when I’m on a set and there’s a camera in front of me, it doesn’t matter if it’s for the big screen or for online,” he added. “There are more options; we wanted more than four TV stations and now we have 100. The internet arrived and everybody loved it because we are not being force-fed things we don’t like – although there is so much content now that we might miss out on something good.

It’s been four years since Encore published its Top 20 Directors and Producers list, and we felt it was time to compile a new, more comprehensive list that included professionals working across all areas – film, television and Tvc production – as well as the leaders and decision-makers that determine the direction of the industry.

Instead of having a limited list of panellists, we consulted with the main agencies and organisations, and also asked our readers to nominate their candidates. We ended up with a list of more than 200 screen industry professionals, and deciding the final 50 was indeed a difficult task. Of course, some other very influential and successful people didn’t make the final cut, but there were only 50 spots and too many talented men and women!

We hope you’ll enjoy – or not, and if so, debate it passionately – the selection of what will become our annual Power 50 list.

1. Christopher Mapp...