Another Aussie in LA
Join Ansuya Nathan as she navigates the city of Angels, chatting to some of the shiniest Aussies in L.A., sharing their tales of living, working and playing on this side of the globe.

Vivienne Walshe (2012 Griffin Award winning playwright and 2015 AiF Gateway LA finalist) is finding her feet in Los Angeles. She shares her experiences of pitching in LA, finding her inner showman, taking pleasure in the act of doing and knowing you are getting better at your craft. In a town built on referrals, she relishes her relative anonymity and how well read people in the biz are. Cultural comparisons abound and I manage to get some dating stories! Well, kinda sorta...

Direct download: Vivienne_Walshe_.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 11:45am PDT

It’s a the ongoing adventures of the One Eyed Girl team with Writer Director Nick Matthews and Producer/EditorDavid Ngo! Their decade long partnership made the leap from short to feature via the SAFC FilmLab program resulting in their Austin Film Festival Jury Prize winning thriller. They debate the merits of reviews vs festival fronds, the market driven system vs the filmmaker driven system and the longest of social media long games. They illuminate this Aussie on the advantages of having an Australian film on the world festival circuit and the the differing paths of directors and producers in Hollywood. Here’s a few helpful hints: 1) Be ready with you want to do next and 2) if you are going to 'them', you’re not ready yet… Anyone for table tennis? 
Direct download: Nick_Matthews_and_David_Ngo.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:27pm PDT

Third time's a charm in Los Angeles for actress Charlotte Best (HOME AND AWAY, PUBERTY BLUES). The 2014 Heath Ledger Scholarship Runner Up talks about her growing affection for this city, trusting the right job will come along, moving up the casting hierachy, the rebirth of her audition techniques LA-style and putting her boyfriend Andy through her film appreciation course. She reflects on her breakthrough role as Cheryl in Puberty Blues and the relish she took in getting to play the class 'mole'. While the grass may always be greener, Charlotte's seems pretty happy with her patch! 

Direct download: Charlotte_Best.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:39am PDT

Tracy Bacal is CEO and SVP of Karga Seven Pictures, an LA and Istanbul based production company who specialises in non-fiction television and feature films. But don't let the important sounding letters fool you. This down to earth woman is all about teamwork - there is no 'us vs. them' in this camp. She defines her job as how to give everyone what they want for the money you have. She talks about the having to choose between the scripted and un-scripted genres when arriving here, fufilling her childhood dream to live in Los Angeles, the importance of persistance and how helpful her mum's scrapbook was in applying for a visa. 

Direct download: Tracy_Bacal.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 4:03pm PDT

Simon Burke (The Devil’s Playground x 2) is in LA for pilot season for the first time EVER. With a career spanning 40 years and two continents, he has found a sense of freedom in being an unknown quantity in this town with a wealth of experience. His no expectations approach is allowing him to enjoy LA for what it is. Of course, it helps that he’s just produced the award winning TV series The Devil’s Playground. He shares with us it’s serendipitous birth, the balance between a producers objectivity vs an actor’s subjectivity and his thoughts on personifying adolescence for a generation of Australian cinema goers in the original film by Fred Schepisi. 
No pressure… 
Direct download: Simon_Burke.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 9:04am PDT

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