Media Kit - LateNite Films

 Copyright © LateNite Films Pty Ltd 2015.
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Director’s Statement
I shot the very first footage for The Wizards of Aus when I was nineteen with a couple of my friends acting in it. Upon reviewing said footage, I thought ‘Wow, this is terrible’ and continued living my life. However, I never could quite shake the idea out of my head. The sheer lunacy of the concept rattled around in my brain, and then five years later I found myself pitching it to an alarmingly enthusiastic Screen Australia. The Wizards of Aus represents everything I’m passionate about when it comes to filmmaking. It’s absurd, it’s fun, it’s (hopefully) unique and it aspires to do nothing if not be entertaining. It tells the story of Jack; a young wizard who decides he’s rather sick of fighting Goblins for Breakfast and Dragons for lunch and thus demands a change of scenery: Footscray. Failing in his bid for secrecy, Jack’s magical existence is abruptly ousted to the Australian public and now he must deal with being an apathetic all-­‐powerful God in a City of Melbournians. To write the show, I teamed up with my high school buddy Nicholas Issell and we took delight in writing a show that no sane person would write. Our ethos was to let the scripts take us anywhere. As we bounced scene ideas around in the office, it didn’t matter how absurd (or expensive) they were -­‐ as long as they were funny they were considered. If the script demanded a giant fish monster, we wrote it. If the script demanded we suddenly teleport to the moon and murder main characters (for no other reason than it was funnier than not to do it) then we wrote it. It was key to us that the scripts always turn in unexpected directions to keep the audience guessing. However, no matter how much we subvert tradition, there are some fundamentals to writing narrative comedy that Nick and I are very passionate about respecting. This isn’t a sketch show, and as such there was always a reason behind each absurd choice -­‐ why should the audience care about the laws in our Universe if we didn’t’? I’ve been messing around with visual effects in my spare time since I was 16, thus VFX was an inexpensive resource that allowed Nick and I to write the sort of scripts normally reserved for animations. It costs as much to animate characters in a spaceship as it does to animate them in a house – and that principle affords animation writers with a real freedom. Having access to free, albeit exceedingly time consuming VFX allowed us the same freedom, and we abused the fuck out of it. Across the 90-­‐minute runtime of our series, we have well more than doubled the amount of VFX shots as The Fellowship of the Ring (which is unprecedented for an Australian series – especially in the low-­‐budget space). Now, of course, having an excess of VFX certainly isn’t a measure of quality – otherwise The Phantom Menace would probably be the greatest film of all time, which I’m pretty sure it isn’t. What that does mean, however, is that this show was exceedingly hard to make – requiring more than 36 weeks stuck in the edit suite with Chris Hocking (Series Producer). Aside from our 1,200 odd VFX shots, we had our amazingly talented production people create great costumes for wizards, orcs, and men made of endlessly melting butter. Our puppeteers built several working puppets, ranging from the simple (a talking hat), to the Copyright © LateNite Films Pty Ltd 2015.
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difficult (a 7 foot tall articulated baby-­‐skeleton monster), to the incredible (an amazing talking shark-­‐man named Terry). All this from a team of hungry artisans with an average age of 25! This all contributes to my directing philosophy that filmmaking can’t just be theatre in front of a camera; it can be so much more than that. I’m not interested in making a comedy where every laugh comes from dialogue. Laughs should also come from a camera move, a sound effect, clever blocking and framing -­‐ as much as a laugh can come from some words and a performance. Speaking of performances, we couldn’t have been luckier to work with some of the absolute best Australia has to offer. Mark Samuel Bonanno as the joyously villainous ‘Skulldrich’ gave a perfect comedy performance that somehow makes you cheer for him in spite of the character’s tendency to frequently commit terrorism. We wrote the character for Mark, and Nick and I just about exploded when he agreed to come on board. With a character at the opposite end of the spectrum, Menik Gooneratne brought real warmth and sympathy to ‘Kylie’, Jack’s grounded and caring case worker. To call Menik the utmost professional doesn’t do justice to her wonderful personality and presence. These two performances were the unshakeably, steadfast bedrock upon which I could pitch my own narcissistic and average-­‐at-­‐best performance as Jack. On top of all the budding talents we worked with, we somehow were lucky enough to trick some fully blossomed Aussie legends into appearing in the show. Legends like Guy Pearce, Mark Mitchell, Bruce Spence and Samuel Johnson all brought so much to their roles; a talk show shock jock, a xenophobic politician, a living alcoholic oil painting and a pencil-­‐pushing half man/half Shark respectively. It’s been a crazy journey getting this show made, but it’s never been anything other than joyous, even when it was utter hell. I’ll be a lucky man to ever work with such a talented cast and crew, whose impeccable talents and efforts I truly believe are evident in the finished product. People don’t really make shows like this. Maybe because they know better, or maybe because they’re almost impossibly difficult to make – and I’m so proud of my whole team for always erring on the side of ‘almost’ in the phrase ‘almost impossible’. It’s an insane show, and it’s certainly not for everyone. You could almost say it’s for practically no-­‐one, but I guarantee that you will be startled, you will be entertained and you’ll realise why people don’t make shows like this. Copyright © LateNite Films Pty Ltd 2015.
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Series Synopsis
One Line Synopsis
Everybody needs good Neighbours; even if sometimes those Neighbours are homicidal wizards from the 7th dimension. One Paragraph Synopsis
Fed up with the magical realm’s obsession with large-­‐scale fantasy warfare, Jack the wizard decides to migrate to the sanest place he can think of: Melbourne’s western suburbs. After accidentally causing Flinders Street Station to turn ever so slightly into a giant fish monster, his existence (and that of his fellow magical immigrants) is revealed to the Australian public. Fearing a backlash against himself and his kind, Jack swears off using magic in a bid to better assimilate into human life. But of course, fitting in was never going to be easy when people tend to get a bit ‘explode-­‐y’ whenever you sneeze… Copyright © LateNite Films Pty Ltd 2015.
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Series Synopsis
One Page Synopsis
For countless eons, the seven planes of the magical realm writhed in never ending chaos: legendary battles, fire breathing dragons, fellowships of rings... “Screw this,” thought Jack, a young wizard, “I’m moving to Melbourne”. Jack hoped life in the western suburbs of Melbourne would finally bring him a little bit of peace and quiet. Unfortunately, suburban life isn’t necessarily all it’s cracked up to be; even for a being of near-­‐limitless Godlike power. Jack already has the perils of bureaucracy, local politics and bogans to deal with in his quest to fit in, but things can only get worse when all the other beings of near-­‐limitless Godlike power decide to crash the party. And by crash the party, we mean like, destroy physics. When the Australian public are reluctant to welcome the magical foreigners, it’s up to Jack, and his social worker Kylie, to prove that magical beings can find their place in modern Australian society. Will the public accept these strange newcomers? Will Jack’s nemesis, Skulldrich, stop eating children? Will Terry the shark-­‐monster find happiness? Can a goblin qualify for a home loan? Will anybody actually watch this show? Find out, by actually watching this show. Copyright © LateNite Films Pty Ltd 2015.
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Characters
Jack – a White Wizard (Michael Shanks)
Jack is our protagonist. Born of wizard folk in the arcane realm, he was raised in a world of madness and got bored of it. His personality is incongruous, almost anachronistic to his birthplace – he’s essentially the only rational brain in an insane world. His decision to relocate to Melbourne is to find saner pastures, and hopefully some kindred spirits. Whilst he was hoping to fit in, he accidentally causes Flinders Street Station to transform into a giant fish monster, and this leaves the citizens of Melbourne rather miffed at him. In order to show that not all wizards are threatening to the public, he takes a vow of magical abstinence – a vow that is tested by the everyday bureaucracy of Australian life. Jack is desperate to fit in, but his nemesis Skulldrich and an ungrateful public undermine each good deed he does. Will Jack ever find his place, or is he destined to be the perpetual outsider? Copyright © LateNite Films Pty Ltd 2015.
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Characters
Skulldrich – a Dark Wizard (Mark Samuel Bonanno)
Skulldrich is happiest when he is making others their unhappiest. An evil wizard forged in the darkest planes of the arcane realm, he is miffed when his sworn nemesis Jack crosses over to earth. Missing somebody to torment, Skulldrich follows him to earth to make Jack’s life there a living hell. Though Skulldrich would never admit it, Jack represents the most meaningful relationship in his life -­‐ the hero/villain partnership to him is very sacred. He spends his days on earth thwarting the good reputation Jack is trying to cultivate. For every spell Jack doesn’t cast, Skulldrich casts three – and they almost always inflict disasters. Like, literal disasters -­‐ high body count disasters. Copyright © LateNite Films Pty Ltd 2015.
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Characters
Kylie (Menik Gooneratne)
Kylie is Jack’s case worker, assigned to him by the local Footscray Council. Born of humans in the earthly realm (earth), she’s thrilled at the chance to help a true outsider find his place in Melbourne. Kylie is a strong, capable, career woman who dreams of making a difference but she too is a slave to the bureaucracy she enforces. Focused and grounded, she is sometimes frustrated by Jack’s whimsical nature but fascinated by his alien culture. As lonely as Jack gets, he can always count on the lovely Kylie. Copyright © LateNite Films Pty Ltd 2015.
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Characters
Senator Quinn (Mark Mitchell)
Senator Geoff Quinn is a mid-­‐ranking politician in state government. He is using the ‘Flinders Street Fish incident’ and the ‘Baby Bones scandal’ as a means to further his political aspirations. Harbouring an intense right-­‐wing agenda, he believes Australia belongs to Australians – not ‘Cloak-­‐People’. Scared and threatened by the influx of magical immigrants, he’ll stop at nothing to rid the country of Jack and his ilk. Copyright © LateNite Films Pty Ltd 2015.
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Characters
Regimand (Bruce Spence)
Regimand the wise is Jack’s deceased father. Regimand fell right off his mortal coil and into immortal oil. His soul confined to an oil painting, he spends his afterlife admonishing his son whilst perpetually drunk off the paint fumes. When he has a spare moment, he might pop over to the paintings at the NGV to bother the nude women in Manet portraits. Copyright © LateNite Films Pty Ltd 2015.
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Characters
Morgan Wright (Guy Pearce)
Morgan Wright is a far-­‐right, television shock jock with the amount of credibility that job usually entails. Shamelessly preaching to his own choir, his on-­‐air ‘debate’ with Jack is nothing less than a dissection and destruction of the clueless wizard. Sharply dressed, sharply groomed and sharply critical, his good looks and velvety voice melt the hearts of all those old women watching. His audience fondly remembers an Australia-­‐gone-­‐by; when summers were as golden as gaytimes, and the local shop-­‐keep wasn’t a literal gargoyle. Copyright © LateNite Films Pty Ltd 2015.
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Characters – The Creatures
Baby Bones (Puppetry by Nathan Reardon and Rennie W atson)
Baby Bones is a baby made of bones. The sufferer of a dark wizard’s (Skulldrich) curse, Baby Bones was forced to endure a life without skin. Adopted by the well-­‐meaning Mr and Mrs Swinton, they unconditionally love their Baby Bones – unaware of the fact that he is in fact a hellish demon with an appetite for cats, and other people’s bones. Copyright © LateNite Films Pty Ltd 2015.
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Characters – The Creatures
Terry the Shark (voiced by Samuel Johnson)
When Terry heard about Jack migrating to Melbourne, he thought he’d seek an opportunity here of his own. After all, he and his wife have a school to put through school. A humanoid sharkbeast, Terry has found work pencil-­‐pushing at the local Footscray City Council. In spite of doing a good job, he struggles to ignore the constant taunts by his colleagues who just aren’t used to working with sharkbeasts. Displaced and lonely, he is more depressed than the average amphibian. Copyright © LateNite Films Pty Ltd 2015.
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Episode 1 – Tuesday 19th January 2016
Part 1 – Honk
One Line Synopsis After a disastrous battle with a dragon, Jack the wizard decides to escape the madness of the magical realm by moving to Melbourne, Australia. One Paragraph Synopsis When the constant battles, dragons and fellowships finally become too much for him, Jack – a young wizard – migrates somewhere a little more sane: the western suburbs of Melbourne. Unfortunately, Jack’s peace and quiet is cut short after he accidentally transforms Flinders Street Station into a giant fish monster, and the media has a field day. Making matters worse, his nemesis -­‐ the dark wizard, Skulldrich -­‐ has moved next door and is determined to destroy Jack's new life in the previously peaceful city. Part 2 – Lotus
One Line Synopsis Having sworn off magic, Jack attempts to get himself a new recycling bin the normal, human way -­‐ however if there's anything more confusing than mastering the arcane arts, it might be local council bureaucracy. One Paragraph Synopsis Having sworn a vow of magical abstinence on national television, Jack is determined to do things the normal, human way. When his integration worker, Kylie, informs him that he’ll need a recycling bin, Jack takes this new quest very seriously, despite Skulldrich’s interference. Jack might have left the hazardous dungeons and dragons of the wizard realm behind him, but Melbourne has something just as painful – local council bureaucracy. Copyright © LateNite Films Pty Ltd 2015.
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Episode 2 – Wednesday 20th January 2016
Part 1 - Magic by Moonlight
One Line Synopsis Fresh from a nasty divorce with his unicorn wife, Jack tries his hand at speed dating. One Paragraph Synopsis Still in emotional pain from his divorce from Irene the unicorn, Jack is finally convinced by Kylie to give speed dating a try as a way to meet more Melbournians. They're single, ready to mingle, and possibly accidentally cause murder. Also, a mummy is there. Part 2 – Canvassing
One Line Synopsis When a vote is called to kick all wizards out of Melbourne for good, it’s up to Jack to rally his fellow magical immigrants and convince them to try and fit in a little better. One Paragraph Synopsis Xenophobic politician, Senator Quinn, has launched a savage anti-­‐wizard campaign calling for all wizards to be kicked out of Melbourne for good! Jack pleads for other magical creatures to try harder to fit into Melbourne society -­‐ but it's hard to fit in when you're a skeleton man made of fire. Copyright © LateNite Films Pty Ltd 2015.
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Episode 3 – Thursday 21st January 2016
Part 1 - The Ballad of Baby Bones
One Line Synopsis Jack comes under harsh scrutiny following a television exposé on media darling, 'Baby Bones', an adorable human child cursed to live without skin. One Paragraph Synopsis Jack comes under harsh scrutiny following a television exposé on media darling, 'Baby Bones', an adorable human child cursed to live without skin. With the story building momentum for the anti-­‐wizard cause, Jack schedules a radio debate with Senator Quinn to tell his side of the story. Skulldrich has other plans, however, and goes to extreme lengths to make Jack miss the debate. Part 2 - Molten Gelatinous Sex Ball
One Line Synopsis With the anti-­‐wizard vote looming, Jack calls a town hall meeting in a last ditch effort to turn the tide on anti-­‐wizard sentiment, with fatal and sexual consequences. One Paragraph Synopsis With the anti-­‐wizard vote looming, Jack calls a town hall meeting in a last ditch effort to turn the tide on anti-­‐wizard sentiment. While the turnout looks good, the assembled humans, wizards and magical beasties don’t seem to be happy to see him, and Jack must atone for all the mistakes he's made on his quest for peace. Copyright © LateNite Films Pty Ltd 2015.
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Cast
Michael Shanks
A multi-­‐faceted filmmaker, Michael is an award-­‐winning Writer, Director, Musician & Visual Effects artist. The Wizards of Aus is his biggest project yet -­‐ a feature length series where he takes on writing, directing, acting, composing and visual effects duties. Michael’s first ever foray into filmmaking took the grand prize at the 2008 Escapist Film Festival. In the fallout, he got a job with the company directing a short form narrative series at the age of only 17. Here, he was required to create high-­‐concept narrative content for a fortnightly deadline. This enabled him to develop a guerrilla technique to filmmaking – learning a variety of technical production skills so that in the lack of a budget, he could sacrifice time to make the films he wanted to make. This meant seeing his family and friends a lot less, but most of them were happy to see less of him. Since then, he’s curated the popular YouTube channel Timtimfed, which features a variety of high concept film and comedy content, and has over 35,000,000 online hits. He’s won various awards for his work in music videos, from directing clips of his own band to more recent work with artists such as Guy Pearce on his sophomore musical release, Storm. He also directs the odd TVC here and there and thusly is losing his soul. In his down time, he is obsessed with making strangers like him and is, at his core, a deeply unhappy man. Copyright © LateNite Films Pty Ltd 2015.
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Cast
Mark Samuel Bonanno
Mark Samuel Bonanno is a member of comedy troupe Aunty Donna, whose extremely silly style of sketch has taken them across the world on stage and been seen by millions on YouTube. Recently they made a half hour pilot for ABC iView and were the recipients of Screen Australia's Skip Ahead funding which will see them create 1999 -­‐ an original web series exclusive for YouTube. He is a writer and actor and occasionally scribbles away on msbonanno.tumblr.com. Copyright © LateNite Films Pty Ltd 2015.
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Cast
Menik Gooneratne
Best known for her role as Priya Kapoor on iconic Network Ten television series Neighbours, Menik Gooneratne has had a film and television career spanning over a decade, encompassing both Australian and international productions, including working with Nicole Kidman on the upcoming feature Lion. In 2012 she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the Maverick Movie Awards in New York for her work on the independent feature 41. Her work on Neighbours was ground breaking, as it was the first time in the show’s 30-­‐
year history that South Asian characters were featured as main cast. Due to the character’s popularity with UK audiences, in 2012 Menik made a publicity trip to London on behalf of Channel 5. She appeared on television panel shows The Wright Stuff and Celebrity Big Brother as well as conducted radio and magazine interviews for the BBC and various print and online media. She is a proud ambassador for the charity Welcome to Australia where she advocates for compassion and acceptance for asylum seekers and new migrants. Menik is also a prominent spokesperson and active member of the Equity Diversity Committee, which was formed by the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) to advocate for more diversity in casting in Australian productions. In 2013 she wrote an article on the topic for the 2013 Spring edition of the MEAA magazine and as a result was also featured on the front cover of the edition. Copyright © LateNite Films Pty Ltd 2015.
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Cast
Bruce Spence
Bruce Spence began acting in 1969 and spent several years as a member of the Australian performing group, which pioneered the development of a uniquely Australian theatre. There he directed and performed in numerous productions, mostly new Australian plays, and has also appeared with most major theatre companies in Australia in plays ranging from Shakespeare, Jonson and Moliere through to Brecht and Dario Fo. Bruce has appeared in close to 30 films since his debut in 1971 in the title role of Stork, a comedy which has been credited with reviving the moribund Australian film industry at the time. He has appeared in The Cars That Ate Paris (Peter Weir), Eliza Frazer (Tim Burstall), Newsfront (Phil Noyce), Dimboola (John Duigan), Green Ants (Werner Herzog), Mad Max II (George Miller), Birdsville, Once Upon A Weekend (Yarra Bank Films), and Pallet On The Floor. Some of his feature films include The Year My Voice Broke (John Duigan) and Rikki And Pete (Nadia Tass). For his performance in Mad Max III he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor by the Academy of Science Fiction Fantasy and Horror Films. In 1986-­‐1987, for television, Bruce appeared in Dirtwater Dynasty and Reflections for Kennedy-­‐
Miller and Great Expectations: The Untold Story and Dearest Enemy for the ABC. He also played Clyde Fenton for Michael Willessee’s Australians. In 1988 he appeared in Tanamera for the Grundy organisation and again worked on Dearest Enemy for the ABC. He also made a guest appearance on Rafferty’s Rules and played the role of Spencer in Paramount Pictures’ production of Dolphin Bay. Most recently in 2013 he made a guest appearance in the ABC’s successful series Rake as “George” playing alongside Richard Roxburgh. In 2014 he kicked off the year appearing as Felix in the feature Backtrack by Michael Petroni and starring Adrien Brody. In 2015 he played Mayor Dix in the fifth instalment of Pirates of the Caribbean – Dead Men Tell No Tales as well as a theatre role alongside Hugo Weaving in Endgame. Copyright © LateNite Films Pty Ltd 2015.
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Cast
Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson has established himself as one of Australia’s busiest actors. He has been working in television, film, theatre and radio for over 20 years. He is widely recognised for his role as Evan Wylde in the critically acclaimed series The Secret Life of Us and in more recent times playing Operations Intelligence Officer Leon Broznic in Rush (series 1-­‐5). Other television credits include Underbelly II, After the Deluge (playing brother to Hugo Weaving and David Wenham), and an ongoing role as Dermott Maginnis in Good Guys, Bad Guys. Samuel worked on the HBO mini-­‐series The Pacific, SBS comedy series Wilfred and a series for the Movie Network on Foxtel called Small Time Gangsters. He has also appeared in a number of popular Australian films, including the lead role of Dave in Crackerjack, which was the number one Australian film at the box office in 2002. In addition to acting, in 2003 Samuel rode his unicycle 1003.4 kilometres between Sydney and Melbourne to raise $500,000 for CanTeen and has initiated a film making program for 'at risk' teens through Open Family, as featured in ABC's Australian Story. This year, Sam is riding his unicycle again, this time around Australia, with the goal being to keep his promise to his sister Connie that he would complete this ride, raise $1 million, set a new Guinness World Record for the most distance travelled on a unicycle and spread Connie’s message of breast cancer awareness. Through the Love Your Sister organisation, Sam is well over half way through this marathon, having covered 12951kilometres and already raising over $1 million dollars. Copyright © LateNite Films Pty Ltd 2015.
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Cast
Mark Mitchell
Australia’s gentleman of comedy, Mark Mitchell, is one of our finest performers. Mark first appeared on our TV screens on a late night sketch comedy program on Channel 7 called The Eleventh Hour. The cast of Eleventh Hour also included Ian McFadyen, Steve Vizard, Maryanne Fahey, Glenn Robbins and Kim Gyngell. Following this Mark appeared in various television dramas including The Petrov Affair, The Sword of Honour and Willing & Abel. The huge success of The Comedy Company during the late 1980s brought Mark Mitchell, larger than life, into the homes of all Australians. His character portrayal of a Greek fruiterer named Con endeared him not only to many Australians, but also to the Greek community. So celebrated was Con The Fruiterer that he became the first comedy character to don Melbourne's King of Moomba crown. Mark's first foray into musical theatre was performing the role of Mr Bumble in the Cameron Mackintosh musical, Oliver. Mark also provided the voice of Buck Cluck, father of the title character, in Walt Disney Pictures' computer animated film, Chicken Little. Recently Mark played the role of President Bingham in the Australian Feature Film Mormon Yankees – The Spirit of the Game. Copyright © LateNite Films Pty Ltd 2015.
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Cast
Guy Pearce
Guy Pearce is an Australian actor and musician. He is well known for having starred in the role of Mike Young in the Australian television series Neighbours and in films such as The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994), L.A. Confidential (1997), Memento (2000), The Count of Monte Cristo (2002), Two Brothers (2004), The Road (2009), The King's Speech (2010), Prometheus (2012), and Iron Man 3 (2013). In Australian cinema, he has appeared in The Proposition (2005), Animal Kingdom (2010), and The Rover (2014). He has won an Emmy Award and received nominations for Golden Globe Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards, and AACTA Awards. Copyright © LateNite Films Pty Ltd 2015.
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Crew
Michael Shanks
Writer, Director, Editor, Visual Effects and Composer
A multi-­‐faceted filmmaker, Michael is an award-­‐winning Writer, Director, Musician & Visual Effects artist. The Wizards of Aus is his biggest project yet -­‐ a feature length series where he takes on writing, directing, acting, composing and visual effects duties. Michael’s first ever foray into filmmaking took the grand prize at the 2008 Escapist Film Festival. In the fallout, he got a job with the company directing a short form narrative Series at the age of only 17. Here, he was required to create high-­‐concept narrative content for a fortnightly deadline. This enabled him to develop a guerrilla technique to filmmaking – learning a variety of technical production skills so that in the lack of a budget, he could sacrifice time to make the films he wanted to make. This meant seeing his family and friends a lot less, but most of them were happy to see less of him. Since then, he’s curated the popular YouTube channel Timtimfed, which features a variety of high concept film and comedy content, and has over 35,000,000 online hits. He’s won various awards for his work in music videos, from directing clips of his own band to more recent work with artists such as Guy Pearce on his sophomore musical release, Storm. He also directs the odd TVC here and there and thusly is losing his soul. In his down time, he is obsessed with making strangers like him and is, at his core, a deeply unhappy man. Copyright © LateNite Films Pty Ltd 2015.
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Crew
Nicholas Issell
Writer & Character Designer
Nick Von Issell is a human man who learnt how to write in primary school and somehow turned that into a career. Nick completed a degree in Film and Digital Media and a Master’s degree in Creative Writing and Literature with majors in Film, Animation and Screen Writing and has been working in the film and television industry ever since. Nick started his own company, Colossonaut Productions, in 2011. Under this banner he has produced freelance corporate videos and online content such as band interviews, animations, podcasts and web-­‐comics. He also volunteered with the SYN youth organisation, producing three radio shows in two years. In recent years Nick has shifted his full attention to screen writing. Nick has had a long term working relationship with Michael Shanks, collaborating with him on a number of productions including the web series Doomsday Arcade, his online timtimfed sketches and the sci-­‐fi short Time Trap. The Wizards of Aus is Nick Von Issell’s first major production and one that he is both very proud and excited to have been a part of. Nick continues to write to this day, this bio being evidence of that fact – I’m not dead yet!* *Or am I? – Ghost Von Issell** **What a spooky twist. Copyright © LateNite Films Pty Ltd 2015.
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Crew
Chris Hocking
Series Producer, Editor and Visual Effects
Chris has been working in the entertainment industry professionally since he was fourteen – although he’s been hanging around backstage since as long he could remember. His first proper job was operating animatronics for a BBC kids show, before moving on to lighting design for live productions which has taken him all around Australia as well as Taiwan, South Africa and New Zealand. He was previously the Post Production Supervisor at Melbourne’s award winning editing house The Butchery, and finishing house The Refinery. Chris has an incredibly strong and varied technical and business background, and takes care of the day-­‐to-­‐day operations at LateNite Films – ensuring that each production makes use of the best and most relevant technology and workflows. On this project, as Series Producer, he was in charge of all business, legal and logistics matters, ensuring that the ship kept sailing no matter what – but also took on several creative roles, as both Editor and Visual Effects artist. As you can imagine – it’s been a very sleepless year. He is a member of SPAA and the ASSG. He’s also on the committee for the Australian Screen Editors and is an Adobe Community Professional. Copyright © LateNite Films Pty Ltd 2015.
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Crew
Nicholas Colla
Producer
Nick has been working in the film and television industry since he was eight, featuring in television shows such as The Saddle Club, Holly’s Heroes, Neighbours, Blue Heelers, Winners & Losers and the Channel 7 telemovie, MOLLY. Having spent almost his entire life on film sets has helped him establish a career as a director/producer. His short films have screened both here and abroad at festivals including Flickerfest, Palm Springs, Frameline and Cinequest. As well as shorts he has also directed award winning music videos and advertising campaigns for clients such as Windsor Smith, SEEK, Opel Cars, Herald Sun and the Victorian Cancer Council. Nick has completed Director’s Attachments on Neighbours and the award winning ABC series The Doctor Blake Mysteries. He has also produced a number of projects for award winning filmmakers Nick Verso and Michael Shanks including the recent music video for Guy Pearce’s debut single Storm. Nick is a member of the MEAA, the Australian Directors Guild and the Australian Writers Guild. Copyright © LateNite Films Pty Ltd 2015.
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Crew
Sumah Hurley
Producer
Sumah has a wealth of experience as a Producer and Script Supervisor. Before moving to Melbourne in 2014, she studied a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film, Television and New Media in Brisbane where she produced short films, music videos and projects across all forms of media. Since completing her degree she has been fortunate to work on a variety of television shows including It’s a Date, Secrets and Lies, The Doctor Blake Mysteries and Time of Our Lives. Sumah has produced short films and advertising jobs for LateNite Films, as well as freelancing as a Script Supervisor for television shows, feature films and web series. Copyright © LateNite Films Pty Ltd 2015.
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Crew
Benjamin Hidalgo De la Barrera
Director of Photography
Born in Mexico City, Benjamin Hidalgo studied at the prestigious Centre d’ Estudis Cinematografics de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain, specialising in cinematography. After graduating he worked on countless feature films, high-­‐
end commercials, and short films before moving to Australia in 2008 to further build upon his craft and expand his skill-­‐set. As well as working as a freelancer with the lighting and rigging department for major Hollywood films such as The Matrix 2 & 3 (as a Rigging Electric), Benjamin has continued to shoot a huge variety of award-­‐winning feature films, short films, music videos and commercial/corporate work on both film and digital formats. Copyright © LateNite Films Pty Ltd 2015.
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Crew
Rennie Watson
Art Director & Production Designer
Rennie Watson is a highly visual filmmaker in the art department. Coming from a theatre background, he developed skills in set design and construction, puppeteering, puppet making, costuming, prop sourcing and visual effects make up. Rennie is passionate about creating things with his hands when it comes to visual effects, rather than leaving it all to the guys in post. Rennie trained at Swinburne University, receiving an Honours Degree in Film and Television. Here he built upon and learnt to combine his skills to create handmade worlds for his works. Copyright © LateNite Films Pty Ltd 2015.
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Crew
Marie Kealy
Makeup Designer
Marie Kealy is a TV and film makeup effects artist with over 22 years of experience. Marie is one of the rarer artists in the film industry as an apprenticeship trained hairdresser, beauty makeup artist and prosthetics/special fx technician. Her recent credits include iconic TV series Neighbours and Underbelly, Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy and Pierce Brosnan’s soon to be released The Moon and Sun. Marie’s passion for transformative work has seen her travelling overseas, creating everything from aliens and zombies to orcs and elves. Marie has both an Australian and UK passport. Copyright © LateNite Films Pty Ltd 2015.
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Crew
Paige Prendergast
Costume Designer
Paige’s interest in costumes began in grade three when she was dressed by her parents as a ball of string for Book Week. She became unravelled and knew from that point on, if she was to win best dressed, she'd have to go it alone. Paige went on to study Costume for Performance at Swinburne and has worked on various film, television commercials and theatre productions. Working in music videos, she has dressed high profile Australian artists including Boy and Bear, Kate Miller-­‐Heidke, Architecture in Helsinki and Gotye. Her commercial credits include eBay, Pure Blonde, 7 Eleven and Honda. Paige ran away with the circus in 2013, where she worked in the wardrobe department for Cirque du Soleil's show Ovo. Here she met her partner in costume crime Rebecca Dunn and together they weaved their magic for the costumes on the The Wizards Of Aus. Copyright © LateNite Films Pty Ltd 2015.
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Series Credits
Cast (Alphabetical Order by Character) Anna HANNAH CAMILLERI Art Gallery Attendees ALEXANDRA HILLER JOSHUA POTTS PAIGE PRENDERGAST Bar Punters GABRIELLE COLE Batty RHYS MITCHELL Marvolo JORDAN RASKOPOULOS Billy BRODEN KELLY Bobby NICK CODY Bronlo the Slayer LIAM MCINTYRE Busker GEORGIA BOURK Butterman (Performance) TIM ISSELL Butterman (Voice) MICHAEL SHANKS Cat Legs Woman MARNIE COLLA Citizen 1 NATHAN VALVO Citizen 2 MATTHEW MCCAUGHEY Citizen 3 RENNIE WATSON Citizen 4 JENNIFER LUND Citizen 5 PHIL LETHLEAN CORBEN WHITE Council Office Extras JULZ MAYBERRY MATT CLIFF BAILEY SHANE KORIN Country Singer MICHAEL WAUGH Dating Coordinator WENDY BOS Deborah Brickenwood CHRISTIE WHELAN-­‐BROWNE Distraught Parent ALEXANDRA HILLER Dog Owner MICHAEL LUND Dog-­‐man NATHAN REARDON Drunk Knight SAM MCCABE Elsa LUCIA SMYRK Frank Jilkins BEN RIDGWELL Gallery Attendant EVE ELOISE GILBERT Ghost Writer (Performance) NICHOLAS COLLA Ghost Writer (Voice) JARED DAPERIS Goblins BILLY KELLEHER DAVID HOCKING SEAMUS SPILSBURY TIM ISSELL TOM GORDON Guard ALISTAIR MARKS Hat of Deciding (Voice) NICHOLAS ISSELL High School Girls CATHERINE WARD Copyright © LateNite Films Pty Ltd 2015.
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Horse Guards Irene (Voice) Impossible Greek (Voice) Jack Jack’s Body Double Knights Kylie Lady Caroliniana Lord Mummy Lorraine (Voice) Medusa Megan Miranda Merhtens Morgan Wright Mr Swinton Mrs Swinton Horatio the Blower Radio Presenter Rebecca Regimand Skulldrich Senator Quinn Snot-­‐Beak Fuck-­‐Nuggs Some Other Dude Studio Camera Operators Copyright © LateNite Films Pty Ltd 2015.
ELLA HILL-­‐COTTER EMMASYN WILLIE LEAH RIDIS MARISSA DORIA REBECCA MEZEI ALEX KYPROS LOUIE MCNAMARA CRAIG JANSSON MICHAEL SHANKS TOM KATILIUS BLAKE ALLAN CAMERON MCINTYRE MATTHEW KEATING CLAYTON RADFORD DARCY PRENDERGAST DYLAN SHALLESS EAMONN GEORGE KESS BROEKMAN-­‐DATTNER LAURENS GOUD LUCAS MITCHELL MATTHEW HENDERSON MAURICE CAMPOBASSO PAUL HEEPS PHILL LAPPIN PHILLIP LEITCH ROWAN ALEXANDER WILLS TIM NORWOOD MENIK GOONERATNE KYRIE CAPRI NICK ISSELL MICHAEL SHANKS SUMAH HURLEY MATYLDA BUCZKO LIZ LETHLEAN GUY PEARCE NICHOLAS COLLA NICOLETTE MINSTER PAUL VERHOEVEN CRAIG JANSSON MAHALIA BROWN BRUCE SPENCE MARK BONANNO MARK MITCHELL STIG WEMYSS ALEXANDER RIGNEY BENJAMIN HIDALGO DE LA BARRERA NICHOLAS ISSELL Page 34
Studio Worker Teen 1 Teen 2 Teen 3 Terry (Performance) Terry (Voice) Town Hall Attendees Waiters West Guard Young Girl Zandark NICK LIVINGSTON RYAN O’CONNELL LUKE AGIUS DEAN MICHAEL KEALY BEN RIDGWELL SAMUEL JOHNSON ALLYSON MOLLOY CHRIS HOCKING GABRIELLE COLE JESSE MASKELL ISOBEL TAYLOR-­‐RODGERS KARA STUART KAREN MEAD MARIE KEALY MARISA BROWN RORY KELLY ELISHA RASHLEIGH STEPHANIE PARSONS SUMAH HURLEY CLAUDIA TORY BILLY KELLEHER DANIEL DAPERIS SCOUT JANSSON JACKSON MCINERNEY Created & Screenplay by MICHAEL SHANKS & NICHOLAS ISSELL Directed by MICHAEL SHANKS Series Producer CHRIS HOCKING Producers NICHOLAS COLLA SUMAH HURLEY Executive Producer Director of Photography MICHAEL SHANKS Editors CHRIS HOCKING MICHAEL SHANKS Composer Music Supervisor 1st Assistant Director Copyright © LateNite Films Pty Ltd 2015.
BENJAMIN HIDALGO DE LA BARRERA MICHAEL SHANKS LOU RIGOLLI RISING SOUNDS DANIEL DAPERIS Page 35
1st Assistant Camera 2nd Assistant Camera Drone Operator Additional Camera Operator Additional Camera Assistant Character Designer & 2D Graphics Art Director & Production Designer Props Master & Dresser Props Builder & Puppeteer Terry the Shark Construction Unicorn Origami Costume Designer Costume Supervisor JONATHAN HAYNES STEPHANIE PARSONS TIM MCCARTNEY ALEX CARDY ISABELLE ANGUS NICHOLAS ISSELL RENNIE WATSON EVE ELOISE GILBERT NATHAN REARDON A BLANCK CANVAS JOE BLANCK KAREN MEAD PAIGE PRENDERGAST REBECCA DUNN Makeup Designer Makeup Artist Makeup Assistant MARIE KEALY ALEXANDRA HILLER JULZ MAYBERRY Animals Horse Trainer Animal Wrangler FILM LIVESTOCK AUSTRALIA CODY RAWSON-­‐HARRIS WILL PRIDHAM Snakes Supervisor RAYMOND HOSER Weapons & Armour Supervisor JUSTIN HOLLAND Gaffers Best Boys Sound Recordist Boom Operator/Assistant Production Assistants Casting Assistance Copyright © LateNite Films Pty Ltd 2015.
JOSHUA POTTS TOM SAVIGE NICK LIVINGSTON DARCY CONLAN LOCHLAN BROUGHTAN SANG-­‐THANH PHAN GUNAY DEMIRCI LEON EAST SAM RANKIN JESSE MASKELL ELISHA RASHLEIGH NICHOLAS COLLA LOU MITCHELL CHARLIE RICHARDSON Page 36
KIANE O’FARRELL Behind The Scenes JESSE MASKELL Stills Photographers Logo Design Visual Effects Baby Bones Compositor 3D Artist Digital Artists Additional Rotoscoping Sound Design & Re-­‐record Mixers Dialogue/Foley Editor Sound Production Assistant Music Supervisors Studio Director MICHELLE LEONG ISOBEL TAYLOR-­‐RODGERS SAM MCCABE MICHAEL SHANKS CHRIS HOCKING JACK NOLAN LOUIE MCNAMARA TOBY MORGAN MAT HILL JOSHUA TATANGELO CHRIS FAHEY DAVID FROMHOLTZ CRAIG JANSSON MARK D'ANGELO LEON EAST CRAIG JANSSON DARCY PETITH-­‐JONES ALASTAIR GRIGOR MARK D'ANGELO CRAIG JANSSON TONY IANIRO Mixed & Produced On THE RIPLEY SOUND STAGE at THE BACKLOT POST, MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA Loop Group Colourist Colour Graded at Legal & Business Affairs Copyright © LateNite Films Pty Ltd 2015.
SHARON JONES DARCY PETITH-­‐JONES OLIVER JANSSON SCOUT JANSSON CJ DOBSON PANCHO ANTHONY PALMER Page 37
Production Accountant Book Keeper Insurance TONY NAGLE ANAR SHAH TAHNEE AITKEN MIDLAND INSURANCE BROKERS Post Production Script MEDIASCRIPT EXPRESS NICOLE SPENCER Publicist Camera Equipment ADELE FELETTO THE VISION HOUSE JAMES MACGREGOR BARRY MALSEED Additional Camera Equipment FLYING DRAGON CHRISTOPHER LANSELL Lighting & Grip Equipment Catering SAVAGE FILM SERVICES CATERPAC CORPORATE CATERING CHRIS LIVADITIS ROY DEAN Additional Music Supplied by: Country Song Writer & Performer MICHAEL WAUGH Stock Footage Supplied by: Space Photos Flinders Street 3D Model FREEIMAGES.CO.UK AEROMETREX DAVID BYRNE Location Assistance Provided by: ABBOTSFORD CONVENT FOUNDATION AFL MEDIA CITY OF MELBOURNE FISH BITES ON THE RANGE KRYAL CASTLE MELBOURNE POLYTECHNIC / NMIT NATIONAL GALLERY OF VICTORIA PARIS END STUDIOS WILLIAMSTOWN HIGH SCHOOL YAH YAHS Copyright © LateNite Films Pty Ltd 2015.
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Proudly Supported by: ADOBE SYSTEMS A/NZ HEWLETT-­‐PACKARD COMPANY IMAGINEER SYSTEMS NVIDIA AUSTRALIA & NZ RED GIANT SOFTWARE VIDEO CO-­‐PILOT Very Special Thanks: GILL SHANKS LOUIE MCNAMARA KAREN MEAD Special Thanks: MIKE COWAP JON BARRIE THE BACKLOT STUDIOS OH YEAH WOW KRYAL CASTLE ENZO TEDESCHI JUSTIN HOLLAND, MATTHEW KEATING, PAUL QUARTERMAIN & SERENA ELDRIDGE MARK FENSON, MARTIN BRENNAND, MARY POPLIN & MICHAEL WANG SCREEN PRODUCERS AUSTRALIA MARK DONALDSON & BRAD TAYLOR CORRIE LUCK, EDWARD YATES, EMILY TERRY & MORGAN METIUS ALLYSON MOLLOY, ANGELO RUSSO, BRUCE KANE, BRUCE WRIGHT, BUDGET CAR AND TRUCK RENTAL PRESTON, CHRISTOPHER LANSELL, DAVID PAUL, EMMA PALACKIC, EUREKA STOCKADE HOLIDAY AND CARAVAN PARK, GOVINDA FOLLIE, GREG MILES, HUGH MCMURRICH, J.J. RICHARDS & SONS, JAMES MACGREGOR, JASON ADAMS, JEHAD AHLIP, JESS HOPCRAFT, JIMMY BUTTONS, KAY HAMBLING, LI FAN, SOPHIE PHILLIPS, MALTHOUSE THEATRE, MICHAEL WILLIAMSON, NATALIE SHAW, OLIVER BROWN, OPERA AUSTRALIA, PROP HIRE, PHIL LETHLEAN & LIZ LETHLEAN, PRISCILLA DAFFEN, PROP-­‐A-­‐
GANDA, ROBERT KEARTON, SALLY GIAM, SAM MCCABE, SAS EVENTS, SHANNON SMITH, SOPHIE MASSAROTTI, ST VINCENT'S HOSPITAL, THE PROP STORE, TINA WRIGHT, TOM GORDON, TOM RENDELL, YARRA CITY COUNCIL BRIDGET PAYTON, BGM AGENCY Copyright © LateNite Films Pty Ltd 2015.
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FRANK HANSEN, HANSEN CREATIVE MANAGEMENT OLLIE SIMON, STAR 100 ENTERTAINMENT LAUREN BERGMAN, LAUREN BERGMAN MANAGEMENT BERNARD CARNEOL, JILLANA DEVINE, B&B MANAGEMENT JESSICA OWENS, ARAN MICHAEL MANAGEMENT JOHN AND WENDY POWELL, ACTIVE ARTISTS MANAGEMENT RACHEL SYMES, SHANAHAN MANAGEMENT Edited on Adobe Premiere Pro Puppets, Costumes & Props Constructed within the Factory of Dreams Copyright © LateNite Films Pty Ltd 2015.
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For SBS SBS Commissioning Editor CALEB JAMES SBS Online Representative NEAL DOWNWARD Special Thanks SOPHIE COOKE JOANNE SANDERS RHYS CARMADY NICK CRAVEN For Screen Australia Investment Manager MIKE COWAP Special Thanks TIM PHILLIPS NINA MILNER-­‐PEACOCK MADELINE MILLER VALENTYNA JURKIW Principal Investor © 2016 LateNite Films Pty Ltd Copyright © LateNite Films Pty Ltd 2015.
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