All speakers were just amazing in their generosity of both time and knowledge. The interactive sessions with the casting agents were loads of fun, and those that got sent for the audition by their agent, ( we did some mock casting sessions and got the audience to act as agents) did really well.

A huge thanks to speakers:
1. Kirsty McGregor - McGregor Casting
2. Anousha Zarkesh - Freelance Casting Consultant.
3. Henri Stride - Channel 9 (Presenter Casting).
4. Alan Nusbaum - Insights to the casting process in the US.
5. Malcolm Frawley - Actor, Theatre Director, Writer.
6. Myles Pollard - Lead actor from McLeod's Daughters (Alias Nick Ryan). 7. Robert Connelly from Arena Film. Director of THE BANK, THREE DOLLARS. Working on a new feature film, ROMULUS- MY FATHER.

Throughout the day there was lots of talk about networking. Sounds like a horrible word, all a bit scary, but really, it just means meeting like minded people. Networking in the business sense, means letting others know about your company or product, networking in the acting business, means chatting to people to source information. That is what the event day is all about, finding that illusive information - and getting it from the experts, not from the people that call themselves actors, and sit in a café all day long, complaining about their agent.

There were 2 girls who came up from Melbourne for the day. How amazing are they. There were over a dozen people who came from Newcastle, and they all got to meet each other and chat about what they are doing, find out about what others are doing, talk about where they get their info from.

That is networking. My sister in law came along as she has a "wanna-be-the-next-Nicole" daughter. She has no idea about the industry but happened to chat to some other mums and kids, found out they were from Newcastle and the kids are actually going to the same course this week. They got chatting about agents and on it goes. A connection has been made.

Talk about being on the spot.. We were chatting to director Robert Connolly about his next film. They are casting for it in September and the lead is Eric Bana. We asked Rob what look or type of actors he was after. He mentioned that he needs a child actor to play Eric Bana's characters son. He looked into the audience, spotted 12 yr old Alex, who had come all the way from Newcastle with his mum, and Robert said, he could be the one. I have since got Alex's biog (which is amazing - not for just a 12 yr old but for any one of the actors in the room) and I am going to send it over to Robert. The others in the audience got tips on nationalities required, the name of the book the screenplay is from, and so I hope they all go out, get the book, read it, and let their agent know about the casting. AND be specific about what role they want to be sent for.

That is networking - networking is sourcing information.

Did you know that director Robert Connolly met actor, David Wenham when he (Rob) was just an assistant light technician or something when they were doing some co-op theatre. They found they had things in common, formed a friendship and David has been cast as the lead in nearly all of Roberts films.

Another version:
Networking means getting out and amongst it, talking to lots of people, forming friendships with like minded, hard working, passionate people, who love the process of creating.

Thanks again to everyone for a great day, and for taking the time to send your feedback. I hope you were all lifted by the information we received and the opportunity to meet such wonderful industry professionals. Next time you come across them, let them know you met them at the QOS event. Don't forget to put the event down on your biog under training.

Cheers
Lee