Acting is moving online: Gyton Grantley
Actor Gyton Grantley believes more and more screen work for actors will be in projects made for online distribution.
“Personally, I would aspire to work in feature film and TV drama, but we can’t deny the fact that entertainment is moving more towards the internet and computer screens, because it’s so easily accessible and a lot cheaper,” Grantley told Encore.
“In terms of being an actor and executing my craft, when I’m on a set and there’s a camera in front of me, it doesn’t matter if it’s for the big screen or for online,” he added. “There are more options; we wanted more than four TV stations and now we have 100. The internet arrived and everybody loved it because we are not being force-fed things we don’t like – although there is so much content now that we might miss out on something good.”
Grantley is the Ambassador of the online filmmaking competition Movie Extra Webfest, which gives filmmakers the opportunity to win a $50,000 production budget to produce a seven-part web series for the Movie Extra channel. The winning series will premiere online and broadcast on air in 2011. He is also one of the judges – the rest have not been announced yet.
“Here’s a great initiative for people to get some funding. We’re not too concerned about the quality of production or special FX, or a specific genre; we’re looking for a great idea that is engaging and entertaining,” explained Grantley. “They have to enter a 60-second trailer and I want to be left wanting more. It should not just show the highlights, but also the journey that the story will take if the project is chosen.”
Grantley was recently seen in Beneath Hill 60 and Balibo, and in last year’s series of East West 101, Rescue Special Ops and the cancelled comedy :30 Seconds. He also starred in the upcoming feature The Reef, and although he’s waiting to hear from a couple of projects currently in development, he has no film or TV work – other than a couple of short films – lined up for the coming months. He does, however, have plans to go to Los Angeles by the end of the year, to look at other options.
“Some of the work that I missed out on this year was due to funding; projects that fell through because funding disappeared. :30 Seconds was cancelled very close to the last minute because of the funding as well, and sometimes I’m just not right for the role. I still have to audition, there’s no one knocking at my door. It has been a quiet year, from what I’ve heard from other actors. Sometimes these things happen.
“Who knows; when I go over there I’ll tell them that I’ve won two awards, an AFI and a Logie for a highly successful Australian drama, that I’ve worked on respectable films such as Balibo, Beneath Hill 60, etc. I don’t really know; maybe they’re more interested in what you look like. I don’t know; I’ll have to find out, I’ve never been. It’s a whole new adventure for me. I will be starting again, and you’ve got to be in it to win it,” said Grantley.
But, but, you look great Gyton and I’ve just returned from a speaking tour of The Netherlands where the audience re;eatedly told me that like you and your performance enormously.
Good luck to you and never give up,
Shirley Shackleton
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