Tag Archives: TV

Fon Davis, Movie Model Maker – Episode 118

Miniature model maker Fon Davis has worked on over thirty feature films across a two decade career. He’s an alumnus of the Industrial Light and Magic Model Shop and Disney, having produced concept art and made models for Starship Troopers, Galaxy Quest, The Nightmare Before Christmas and Coraline. Recently, he’s worked on Interstellar, Guardians of the Galaxy and Neill Blomkamp’s Elysium.

Fon founded his own design and fabrication studio, Fonco Creative, in 1997 in San Francisco, and after setting up shop in the premises of Vanaheim Studios in Los Angeles, he bought the whole 16,000 square foot facility out at the end of first quarter 2017, renaming it Fonco Studios.

Join us for a fantastic chat about the importance of a portfolio in the special effects industry (and why Fon didn’t wind up needing one when he interviewed at ILM), the possibilities of virtual reality in entertainment, how special effects folks insert themselves into the movies they work on and the questions from the show’s Patreon backers!

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Bajo: Actor, Author and Host of ABC TV’s Good Game – Episode 96

Television host and actor Steven O’Donnell is better known to gamers across Australia as Bajo, one of the four hosts of the ABC television show Good Game. Bajo’s prestige amongst the Australian geek community has made him a go-to guest and MC for pop culture conventions.

Bajo has acted in close to 40 short films and 6 independent features and is part of a team developing a new children’s TV show for the ABC, which has just been green-lit after four years of development. If that’s not enough, Bajo and fellow Good Game host Hex have written a children’s book series called Pixel Raiders for Scholastic.

Bajo and I have a great chat about night-long Counter-Strike marathons four days a week, making children cry at Warner Bros. Movie World, the sheer amount of work involved in making multiple television shows each week, seeking out challenges that make you feel uncomfortable and how community is at the heart of any passion!

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Crowdfunding Hope for Animated Sci-Fi: Jeff Saamanen – Episode 73

It’s my pleasure to kick Season 4 of the Podcast off with this chat with Jeff Saamanen, one of the two minds behind an animated sci-fi epic called Lost Hope. Jeff and his co-creator Natalie Harvey are currently running a Kickstarter to fund the first four episodes of this fusion of Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica and Archer, and it’s my pleasure to help promote their campaign!

It was great fun to have a virtual sit-down with Geoff and geek out about science fiction, animation, independent projects and games in general! Please listen and enjoy!

Oh, and: Back Lost Hope on Kickstarter!

YouTube

Pending

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The 100 Facebook Likes Party: My Captain, My King

On Facebook, I promised that once a hundred people liked The Paid to Play Podcast’s page, I’d read something out.  Well, thanks to the work of the people who love listening to the podcast, I hit the one hundred likes mark a couple of days ago (as of this writing, 103 people like the page)!

So, of the three requests to read stuff out, here are two. Be warned, I’ve not attempted to do any voices or recreate any performances here; I’ve just read them fairly cold and tried to give them emotion close enough to what’s on the page.

Firstly, Franki Andersen’s request that I read Captain Jean-Luc Picard’s first ever Captain’s Log from Star Trek: The Next Generation.

And secondly, here, per Paul Cockrem’s request, is (most of) Henry V’s “Saint Crispin’s Day” speech from William Shakespeare’s Henry V.

Enjoy or suffer through as appropriate!

Up Shit Creek but with Pozible Odds: Terry Serio – Episode 40

UPDATE 26 April 2015: I cmpletely forgot to mention eleven days ago that the Pozible campaign met its funding goal and beat it by $1,150! Congratulations to Terry and the gang at Sundown Picturehouse!

This episode is going live outside the normal schedule (with apologies to the folks who normally get early access) to support the Pozible crowdfunding campaign for the crime comedy web TV series, Shit Creek, starring Terry Serio!

If you’ve listened to my last chat with Terry for Episode 2, you’ll know (if you didn’t already) that he’s a verteran of Australian stage and screen. Shit Creek is the first web series he’s been involved in, and I’m glad to do my bit to promote its campaign to secure further funding.

As of this posting, the campaign is just under five grand short of hitting its funding goal of $8,000 with 22 days to go, so please open your wallets and chuck these fine folks some of your hard-earned!

If you need a little more selling on the idea, then please listen in for an entertaining chat with a great entertainer. Be warned: This chat is NSFW (not safe for work) and definitely not safe for kids either!

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Keeping it About the People: Deji Adiatu, Actor and Employment Agent – Episode 32

Deji Adiatu migrated from Nigeria to Australia a few years ago and has been working almost non-stop since, not just as an actor who got his break as an extra on no less than The Great Gatsby (yes, that The Great Gatsby) but also with charity organisations like the UN High Commission for Refugees and employment agencies seeking to place people looking for work.

And in the midst of all that, he’s been looking after his young son.

Deji is very much a humanist who believes in helping everyone be the best they can. I’m very lucky to have had him as a guest on the podcast!

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Putting Yourself Out There: Voice Work

Over on my personal web log, I revisited some of the issues that stop me – and a lot of us – from getting stuck into the things that, if I gave myself a chance, could lead to my earning a living wage out of the things I’m honestly interested in and enjoy doing.

But from that post alone, you’d think I’ve not been making any progress. I’d like to apologise for that impression.

Because in the last couple of weeks, I managed to score myself a freelance gig.

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Improving Body and Spirit: Emazon, Episode 24

When she appeared on the 2009 season of Australia’s The Biggest Loser, the red-haired, red-gloved, hooded Emazon cut straight into not only her trainees but also the audience. Emazon demanded nothing less than everything from the contestants in short, sharp sessions that took them so far out of their comfort zones that they could barely remember what comfort meant. And a lot of folks watching at home weren’t sure just what to make of this fierce being.

It’s easy to be shocked or intimidated by that sort of intensity, but it’s just as easy to forget that Emazon, known to friends and family as Emma Barbato, was putting just as much effort into drawing her contestants out of their former selves as she was into challenging their physical limits. Emma has been working to help people overcome their conflicts with themselves for twelve years now, including helping victims of domestic violence and sexual assault find or rediscover their strength.

There was no way that chatting with Emma wasn’t going to be bloody interesting, and while she mightn’t sport that crimson hair colour any more, she is no less energetic and focused than when she first made us couch-potatoes sit up and take notice! We talked about Emma’s career up to now, her plans to take her STAND program to Saudi Arabia this year – and even about how our modern culture encourages us to dislike ourselves in order to get along.

So much strength in there. What happened to it? Where’d it go? My only objective was to get it back out again.

– Emazon on training a contestant, The Biggest Loser Australia Series 4

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Episode 2: Terry Serio, Actor and Musician

Content Warning: This episode of the Paid to Play Podcast contains high levels of Star-Struck Gushing.

See, the gent whom I had the privilege of interviewing for the second episode is Terry Serio, the hardest-working performer in Australia today. He’s been acting and making music since he was knee-high to a grasshopper, and I ask him just how he sustains his career in getting paid to play.

He also happens to be my second cousin, from the Perth branch of the family!

The answers turned into a half-hour long conversation, so grab yourself a cuppa and settle in for a great chat!

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