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The production is described as a musical testimony to girlhood and growing up.\u00a0 (ABC: Ashlin Blieschke)<\/p>\n
“We talk about love and challenges of growing up and sexuality and everything that comes with changing when you get older,” says Imogen Brown, 21, who is also in this production.<\/p>\n
These performers are enthusiastic and optimistic about their futures, but they also know finding full-time work as an actor is a tough gig.<\/p>\n
“It’s definitely difficult,” Manderson says.<\/p>\n
“There are many opportunities, [but] there are twice as many people going after those opportunities.”<\/p>\n
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Sarah Eaton and Imogen Brown were on stage at the Adelaide Fringe. (ABC: Ashlin Blieschke)<\/p>\n
In Australia, there are only about\u00a01,500 employed actors<\/a> across film, TV, radio and theatre; just 29 per cent of those are employed full-time.<\/p>\n This might come as a surprise, considering we see plenty of famous Aussies making it in Hollywood.<\/p>\n Robbie and Elordi sizzle, but Wuthering Heights isn’t quite the full Bront\u00eb<\/a><\/p>\n The two Queensland “bogans” put on a show but Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights is more wish fulfilment than a meaningful adaptation of the classic novel.<\/p>\n This year’s highly anticipated film Wuthering Heights, starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, is a prime example of home-grown talent on the world stage.<\/p>\n In recent years, and more than ever before, we’ve also seen many major international productions, such as\u00a0Elvis\u00a0(2022), Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) and Furiosa\u00a0(2024), and The Fall Guy (2024), come to our shores.<\/p>\n This isn’t just because of our diverse and stunning landscapes, but also a result of tax incentives from both federal and state governments, lower production costs than many other countries, and lots of investment in state-of-the-art studios and training film crews since the COVID pandemic.<\/p>\n In fact, from 2024 to 2025,\u00a0174 productions called Australia home and spent a record $2.7 billion here<\/a>.<\/p>\n This, however, doesn’t always translate to more acting jobs for Australians.<\/p>\n Loading…<\/p>\n Debbie Mitchell, a talent manager with OnCue Talent, says the 2026 film Send Help \u2013 a dark comedy and psychological thriller starring Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien \u2013 is an example of this.<\/p>\n “We shot a couple of scenes here in Sydney, in the CBD, in the office space,” she says.<\/p>\n “But then, in this movie [Send Help] \u2026 they end up on a deserted island.<\/p>\n “In a production, you could have hundreds of actors, [but] on the deserted island, no-one else is coming in.”\u00a0<\/p>\n If we take a look at local productions, they tend to offer more opportunities to local actors, but there aren’t a whole lot of these being made.<\/p>\n In the 2024\/2025 financial year,\u00a0only 34 Australian theatrical feature films were produced<\/a>.<\/p>\n In that same year,\u00a037 new TV and video-on-demand dramas were made<\/a>, the lowest number since 2005, and also the lowest number of total hours made since at least 1995, when records began.<\/p>\n It’s not just an Australian problemCould Western Sydney get its own film studio?<\/a><\/p>\n The NSW government has earmarked three areas in Western Sydney as possible locations for the state’s second film studio.<\/p>\n Streaming services have been struggling to make a profit, and in many cases are scaling back production.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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