WA home movies win Hollywood
Hollywood roles are closer for a growing troupe of young WA actors, with technology enabling them to audition from home.
Rising Perth stars are finding success through Skype, YouTube or even iPhones as they record auditions at home to send to top casting directors in Los Angeles.
While back in Perth for Christmas, LA-based actress Freya Tingley kept busy filming auditions in her Mt Claremont home with help from her mother Coppelia.
"Freya did quite a few auditions from our lounge," Mrs Tingley said. "We even have a special blue backdrop we hang up.
"It was filmed on her iPad, my husband modified the camera stand and we sent it off to the US."
Last month, Presbyterian Ladies' College schoolgirl Olivia DeJonge, 15, won a lead movie role in Sixth Sense director M. Night Shyamalan's thriller without leaving her Peppermint Grove home.
"Five years ago, there wasn't this instant connection with the States that we have now because just technology-wise we couldn't do that," Nerida Moore, of local agency RGM WA, said.
"Because of the internet and Skype, Australia has opened up to the States in that now people are put up for roles online.
"I've had actors getting roles in the US just by putting their self-tests on their iPhones and sending it to me." The rise of self-recording castings is changing the face of the industry because many actors no longer have to move to LA to audition for film and TV roles once they have representation in the US.
Ms Moore, who represents DeJonge, said she had seen a big proportion of young actors cast outside the US without the presence of the casting director.
Proof of this is Perth teenage actor Troye Sivan, who was discovered through YouTube in 2008 and went on to star alongside Hugh Jackman in the X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
"I would say 70 per cent of what is cast from the US, the actor isn't even in the room with the casting director," Ms Moore said.
"It's all being emailed through to them from, not only Australia, but all over the world."
Perth casting director Jacqueline Alliss, who recently met casting agents in LA, said portable technology such as iPhones and iPads had opened up opportunities for many emerging actors.
"An actor can be anywhere in the world and apply for roles in any country," she said.
"As long as they have a camera, they can record their audition and submit it for roles relevant to their experience."
