About Mark and Guest Tutors

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About Mark Piper

Spanning over three decades in the international Theatre, Film and Television industries, Mark Piper’s award-winning career has seen him on the initial teams Producing and Directing many international drama programs. Water Rats -Director Pilot Episodes (Australia), Mercy Peak (NZ), Beastmaster (USA), Ponderosa (USA), Neighbours, Home and Away, All Saints – Co Director Pilot, Blue Heelers, Always Greener, Halifax F.P (Australia), and Gute Zeiten Schlechte Zeiten – Adviser and Pilot Director (Germany), are just some of the popular series that Mark has worked on.
Beginning his career as an Actor in New Zealand, Mark went on to running Director Roger Donaldson’s ( “The World’s Fastest Indian” ) company Aardvark films, and then worked on such films such as “The Blue Lagoon” with Brooke Shields, “Tim” and “Attack Force Z” with Mel Gibson, and “My Brilliant Career” with Sam Neil and Judy Davis.
More recently he has been working with internationally acclaimed actors Eric Bana, Chris Hemsworth, Isabel Lucas, Kylie Minogue, Julian McMahon, Simon Baker, Sharni Vinson.
Mark has just completed judging the 2011 International Emmy Awards – (Best performance by an Actress category)
Mark is a Board member for Screenworks and on the Selection Committee for Flickerfest International Film Festival

You can also read Mark’s full professional profile below or on his LinkedIn profile.

Louise Lee Mei – Meisner Technique
Originally from Newcastle Louise began training in the Meisner technique at 15 completing two years of preliminary teen training and theatre before moving to Sydney and enrolling full time at The Actors Pulse. Whilst completing five years of technique work under the guidance of Billy Milionis, David O?Connor, Luke Ford (The Mummy Returns, Black Balloon) and Jeff Bollow. She has also performed plays (Women of Manhattan and Biloxi Blues) in the advanced showcase from under the direction of Serhat Cardee (Cedar Boys). She later undertook The Screen Actor (2007) at NIDA where she trained with Nicholas Bishop (Walking on Water, McLeod?s Daughters). She currently teaches a private group of advanced Meisner students in Sydney.

Adrian Williams – Brett – Chekhov, Voice, Theatre, Steiner

Adrian is a voice and theatre specialist (Chekhov and Steiner methods) and will be tutoring students on individual monologues. Using movement, body-centres and ‘creative sound-work’, he will introduce an approach to text that brings gesture, dynamic and power to vocal delivery and characterisation.
Adrian trained at the Harkness Studio for Speech and Drama in Sydney before moving to the UK where he has spent the last 24 years working as an actor, director, writer, composer, musical director and acting teacher. He worked with theatre companies including the Rose Theatre Company, Portal Productions, Fairgame, Dionysia Theatre, Circle-X Arts and co-founded the award winning TaurusVoice Theatre Company. He toured widely in Europe and America with classical and contemporary productions.
He co-founded the Stroud Performing Arts Foundation Courses in the UK and ran two large community choirs. He was an original member of the Sydney gospel choir, ‘Café at the Gate of Salvation’ and in the UK sang with the award-winning ‘Naked Voices’ for two years.
He now lives in Byron Bay, where he has established ‘Theatre of Life’, a company running theatre-training and performance projects.

Charlie de Salis – Writer, Producer, Director

Originally from Hobart, Charlie completed an Arts Degree at the University of Tasmania before moving to Sydney, where he worked in film distribution for Roadshow Film Distributors, while also completing AFTRS Open Program courses in screenwriting, editing and scriptwriting. In 1989 he moved to Auckland and embarked on a career in the film and television production sector. His extensive screen credits as a producer, director and writer include commercials, short films, television drama, documentaries, and high-end corporate production.

Barbara Leane theatrical agent & mentor

Australia, New Zealand, South East Asia & America. Renowned theatrical agent and mentor, Barbara Leane is passionate, focused and driven with more than 26 years of experience in the entertainment industry. Utilizing her wealth of knowledge she has been integral in guiding the successes of actors, agents, casting directors and production companies, through her training, coaching and mentoring expertise. Barbara works with a select clientele of industry professionals throughout Australia, South East Asia and the United States where her coaching, negotiation skills, facilitation and training modalities are pristinely deployed. Currently Barbara is open to take on new clients, offering her services for the benefit and maximization of growth potential and education for your business.

Martin Sacks Actor/Director

Martin has worked in Film, Television and Theatre for over thirty years. Having studied acting at the prestigious Stella Adler Acting School in New York, Martin has appeared in many varied film and television roles including the feature films ‘Emoh Ruo’, ‘Slate, Wyn and Me’, ‘Love in Limbo’ with Russell Crowe, as well as the French film ‘LaTricheuse’ co starring Kristen Scott Thomas. His US television credits include , ‘Jake and the Fatman’ and the groundbreaking character drama, ‘ThirtySomething’. In Australia, his television credits include the miniseries ‘Do or Die’, ‘Fields of Fire’, and the telemovie ‘My Husband My Killer’ playing the lead role of Andrew Kalajzic. It was the police drama ‘Blue Heelers’ that established Martin as one of Australia’s most talented actors, earning him five consecutive silver Logies for best actor. Following his departure from the show after eleven years, Martin moved behind the camera to direct his first film, ‘Crushed’, which screened at the LA International Film Festival. He also directed numerous episodes of Blue Heelers and the medical drama, ‘All Saints’. His real passion, however, was acting and after gaining experience behind the camera, was offered the role of loan shark, Mario Condello, in the original and highly acclaimed crime drama, Underbelly. Since then he has featured in guest roles on television dramas including City Homicide, Sea Patrol, Rescue: Special Ops, Lowdown and Offspring. He has recently completed filming the feature film ‘The Cup’, playing Neil Pinner due for release October 2011. Martin has completed filming the eagerly anticipated 3D action adventure feature film, BAIT 3D, at Village Roadshow on the Gold Coast. He is has just completed filming the ABC television miniseries “The Straits” in Far North Queensland.

Anthony Brandon Wong Ivana Chubbuck Acting Technique

ANTHONY BRANDON WONG is an acclaimed Australian-born Chinese performer and writer with more than 25 years professional experience as an actor, comic, singer, and accent specialist. He has also taught acting to professional and aspiring actors for more than 15 years. He has worked extensively in film, television, theatre and radio in the US, Asia, Europe, Canada, Africa, Australia and New Zealand for major production studios such as Warner Bros, Paramount Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, Columbia Tristar, Disney, CBS, Shanghai Film Studios, Channel Four (UK), ABC (US) and Film Australia. He has worked with some of the world’s great directors including THE WACHOWSKI BROTHERS(“Matrix” trilogy), SCOTT HICKS (“Hearts in Atlantis” starring Anthony Hopkins, “Shine” starring Geoffrey Rush), JOHN MOORE (“Behind Enemy Lines” starring Gene Hackman), STEPHEN HOPKINS (Emmy award winning director of THE LIFE AND DEATH OF PETER SELLERS), GILLIAN ARMSTRONG (“Oscar and Lucinda” starring Ralph Fiennes and Cate Blanchett) and CLARA LAW (HK director of “Temptation of a Monk”starring Joan Chen). This year he has also worked with STEVEN SODERBERGH in Dublin, Barcelona and Santa Fe on the new thriller HAYWIRE opposite Antonio Banderas and Channing Tatum and with MICHAEL WINNICK on GUNS, GIRLS AND GAMBLING opposite Gary Oldman and Christian Slater. Additional film credits include the role of Zen Buddhist assassin “Ghost” alongside Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Jada Pinkett Smith, Carrie-Anne Moss and Monica Bellucci in THE MATRIX RELOADED, The MATRIX REVOLUTIONS and the groundbreaking ENTER THE MATRIX video game, and the Twentieth Century Fox blockbuster The FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX, co-starring Dennis Quaid, Giovanni Ribisi, Tyrese Gibson and Hugh Laurie. Other film credits include LITTLE FISH (opposite Cate Blanchett), the lead male role of a womanizing Hong Kong stockbroker in Clara Law’s award-winning FLOATING LIFE, and roles in LILIAN’S STORY (co-starring Toni Colette), TILL THERE WAS YOU (opposite NCIS’s Mark Harmon), SEEING RED (Cannes Film Festival 1992), and THE REUNION (Sydney Film Festival Best Short Film nominee). He played a key role in the Australian comedy film CROOKED BUSINESS, directed by Chris Nyst, whose last film GETTING SQUARE scored 14 Australian Film Institute Award nominations. Anthony’s numerous television credits include: the lead in the BBC’s SECRETS OF THE FORBIDDEN CITY, playing a real life 14th Century Chinese Emperor; a series regular role in SAMURAI GIRL, playing a high powered Japanese business tycoon with a dark past (ABC Family); a lead role in MASK OF THE NINJA, opposite Casper Van Dien (STARSHIP TROOPERS, SLEEPY HOLLOW), NCIS (as Naval Doctor Russell Nguyen), 1% (HBO, directed by Emmy award winning director of THE SOPRANOS, Alan Taylor) “The Unit” (CBS/FOX) playing a Thai prince facing death threats, “All Saints” (as an East Timorese refugee and in another episode, as a gay man who loses his partner),”Water Rats” (as a compulsive gambler), “Stingers”, “Embassy” (in the series regular role of ‘Lee’, a political revolutionary), “Mission Impossible”, “Tanamera: Lion of Singapore” (as Cambridge-educated Japanese spy Miki), “Spellbinder 2? (as series regular Mek – a heroic scientist), “Above the Law”, “Home and Away”, “A Country Practice”, “Cassidy”, “Singapore Sling”,”Xena Warrior Princess”, “Flipper”, “The Saint”,”Acropolis Now”, “The Boys from the Bush”,”BackBerner”, “The Bodysurfers”, “Passwords”, and Francis Ford Coppola’s “Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde” (Zoetrope Studios) as Hong Kong detective BarryTong. Anthony’s diverse stage credits include the Victorian Green Room Best Actor Award (Australia’s equivalent of the Tony Award) for his performance as a Filipino transvestite prostitute in Playbox Theatre’s “Sex Diary of an Infidel” (which also netted him a Sydney Critics Circle Award nomination); further Green Room Award nominations for his work in two acclaimed Australian plays, as a cocaine-addicted paraplegic in “The Temple” and a Bissu priest with magical powers in “The Language of the Gods”; lead and principal roles in “The Emperor Regrets” (Playbox Theatre), “Coup d’etat” (Melbourne Theatre Company), “The Hundred Year Ambush” (Victorian Arts Centre), “M. Butterfly” (Court Theatre, NZ), “The Swan” (State Theatre Company of South Australia), “The Floating World” (Sydney Theatre Company), “Operation Holy Mountain” (Toe Truck Theatre), “Gastronomica” (Melbourne International Festival of the Arts), “Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love” (Belvoir Street Theatre) and “Seven Acts of Love as witnessed by a Cat” (Budinski’s Theatre of Exile, Melbourne), among many others. In 2006, he performed in the hit production “Fast Cars and Tractor Engines” for Urban Theatre Projects, playing a Lebanese tough guy, an Aboriginal rap artist, a New Zealand born Samoan heavyweight boxer, an African schoolgirl and an Anglo-Australian mother and female politician. Anthony’s singing work includes the rock musical “Rasputin” (State Theatre, Sydney), the modern day opera “And It’s got a lovely backyard” (Parramatta Cultural Centre) and numerous cabaret performances at such venues as M Bar (LA), The Gardenia (LA), The Hollywood Bar and Grill, and in Sydney, Australia, Belvoir Street Theatre, Darling Harbour, Harbourside Brasserie, Side On Café, Actors Centre and LA Bar. Anthony danced in “Two Worlds”, directed by former Sydney Dance Company principal Kim Walker (Victorian Arts Centre) and in One Extra Company’s “People Like Us” at Sydney’s Seymour Centre. Anthony’s comedy credits include being one of the original cast members of the Australian hit stage show “Wog-a-rama”, stand-up appearances at Sydney’s Comedy Hotel and comic cameos on TV shows such as “Acropolis Now”, “The Today Show” and “BackBerner”. Anthony has trained with some of the world’s leading acting, voice, movement, singing, dance, accent and performance teachers including: Ivana Chubbuck (world-reknown teacher of HALLE BERRY, BRAD PITT, CHARLIZE THERON, JAKE GYLLENHAAL, JIM CARREY, JON VOIGHT, CATHERINE KEENER, MATTHEW PERRY and DJIMON HOUNSOU), Margie Haber (trained VINCE VAUGHN, TEA LEONI and HALLE BERRY), master voice teacher Rowena Balos (trained JUDY DAVIS, PAUL REISER, PETER COYOTE and JOANNE WOODWARD), Wayne Brady, Tracy Burns (LA Theatresports), David Razowsky and Jane Morris (Second City), Bill Pepper, Claire Crowther, Janice Slater (voice), Dean Carey (audition technique), Carrie Zivetz (Meisner), Candido Minnitti (Strasberg), Veronique Bernard (Stanislavski), Philippe Gaulier (France), Suzanne Celeste Brown (US dialect –accent coach on Matrix and Lord of the Rings), Peisha McPhee (singing), and Elizabeth Sabine (vocal technique – US coach of numerous recording artists including Keith Urban and Axl Rose). Anthony was selected by the Australian Government to be Australia’s sole representative at the UNIVERSITY OF THEATRE OF NATIONS in Seoul, South Korea – an elite actors workshop for 24 actors from around the globe. Anthony has taught creativity, acting, and screen performance workshops at TVI Studios Los Angeles, the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), WAAPA, the Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP), the Australian Acting Academy in Brisbane, Screenwise, 16th Street Studios (Melbourne), The Performance Lab, V for Video (now On-Camera Connections) and Cornstalks Drama School, and Actors Centre Australia. He works with all levels of performers – both aspiring and experienced professionals (series regulars, guest performers,leads and supporting) to help them achieve their creative and human potential.

Robynn Goddard musical/performance. Kids and teens classes

Robynn Goddard studied at the Northern Rivers Conservatorium in both Stage and Screen, and Contemporary Music majoring in vocal technique. Since then she has amerced herself in theatre, becoming an active participant within the Drill Hall Theatre Company , playing Sofya in “Uncle Vanya” (2010), Cassie in “Bold Girls” (2009) and the up and coming “Caldera” playing Maia (2011). She has also performed various roles in productions around the Shire including cabaret, commercials, music videos and short film. In 2006, drawing on 16 years of musical performance Robynn created her business “Bluebird Singing” in which she specializes in teaching vocal technique to adults and children. She is also one of the three founding creators of “KTDS” Kids Talent Development School, who aim to enrich children’s life’s with their unique stage school approach of singing, dancing and acting. Dance is also a strong focus for Robynn having dabbled in jazz, tap and contemporary. She considers herself a well rounded performer.

Chad Beckett movement / voice

TRAINING & EXPERIENCE South Seas Film & Television School (Auckland) Cert. in Holistic Sports Therapies – Wellpark Ayurvedic College Cert. Body , Arts & Science International (US) Dip. Integrated body therapies – ACNT Acting for the camera – Ilona Rogers (NZ) The Power of Acting – Actors Centre Australia Practical Aesthetics – PAA (Melissa Bruder, William H Macy) The Actors Pulse (Billy Millionis, Luke Ford) Cert. Drama – Dave O’Conner Actors Studio (Sydney) 2 Summer seasons at Lynette Sheldon masterclasses for Actors The storytelling body – Le Coq (Lucy Egger) Screenskills – Tony Wickert & Denny Lawrence (head of acting NYU) Bodyweather Butoh -Tess De Quincy Suzuki Actor training – 2003-2011 Ongoing private tuition with Annie Swan 2007 Toured with Ozfrank Theatre to Europe & US 2007 Toga International Arts Festival (Japan) 2010 Practitioner Cert. Soul Voice Int Additional Voice TRaining: Vocalvision- Sylvia Rands Executive Voice- Isobel Kirk (Linklater) Jennifer West Lucy Cornell Susan Main(Actors Studio NY) Rowena Balos Karina Schelde Work 1996/7 Juice Music TV 2005 commercial- KFC 2005 commercial- Amstel light 2006 Short Film- The Lost Old Man(lead)Director Tony Chu 2006 Music video- The Energies (lead)UK top 10 2006 Short film- Interview with the devil,Director Craig Galvin 2006 commercial Ikea 2006 50wdr- All Saint 2006 Wonderbra TVC 2007 commercial- Bundaberg 2007 commercial- Ikea 2007 teaching physical acting workshops & gyrotonics 2007 toured to London, Switzerland,Chicago with Frank theatre 2008 Stromboli theatre project for extraordinary actors with directors Alessandro Fabrizi and Ragnar Freidrank 2010 commercial- Spanline Roofing Facilitated courses/workshops at; Ensemble Studios (Sydney) Practical Aesthetics Australia Dave O’Conner Actors Studio Lynette Sheldon Actors Studio Nida Open Program(Sydney) Apollo Theatre School(Auckland) Ubergumption Theatre Central School of Speech & Drama (London) others in Melbourne, Brisbane, Zurich, Bern, Chicago, and Japan currently facilitating classes at Byron Bay Film & Television School

Scott McGregor Presenting classes

Scott McGregor is a well known face from 30 years of work as an actor, presenter and producer in projects ranging from TV home makeovers to railway adventures. He has been seen recently on the History Channel in a new series he presents titled The Stamp Of Australia, which celebrates and documents the stories behind letters, stamps and getting the mail through in the 200 years since the first Post Office opened. He also hosts the documentary series Australian Icon Towns that screens regularly on the same channel. He has just released his second book for Allen & Unwin titled Big Boys Toys, which has taken him around Australia searching for the most unique and unusual blokey obsessions. This followed his recently released home repair and renovation book Fix-It. Scott’s 6 part railway adventure series Down The Line exploring the great train journeys of Australia, New Zealand and Vietnam first went to air on channel 7 and can now be seen on the Travel Channel in Europe. The ratings winning makeover show Room For Improvement, which Scott hosted on the Seven Network, racked up an impressive 50 surprise makeovers and entertained up to 2 million viewers with mad antics and amazing transformations. Scott has also built just about anything you can imagine as the DIY presenter on the Seven Network’s long running, ratings winning, lifestyle show Better Homes and Gardens. In more than 160 segments Scott shared with the nation the secrets of building everything from a 12m deck, to an oak sideboard, to a model garden railway – all in just 3 minutes! Railway Adventures Across Australia with Scott as host first screened on network ten in 1999. It is still showing on cable channels across the world. From 1997 – 1999 Scott was a regular face on The Lifestyle Channel, where he was the resident Antiques and Collectables presenter on Australian Living, and the travel and leisure guy in Out and About. He trained as an actor at NIDA and since 1979 has featured in scores of TV series, films, stage plays and musicals. He sights starring roles in the ABC’s epic mini-series 1915 and the Coral Island and stage shows Bouncers and the Promise as some of his acting career highlights.

* MARK PIPER’S FILMOLOGY

PRODUCER ? DIRECTOR
FILM & TELEVISION CONSULTANT

About Mark Piper

You can also read Mark’s full professional profile below or on his LinkedIn profile.

SUMMARY OF PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Piper Pictures 1980 – current	Producer, Famous, Feature Film & TV Drama Series TV & Film Director / Producer Various Projects Trainer & Facilitator Mark Piper Workshops Independent Film & TV Consultant
Go Wyld Productions2009	Producer, PHOBOS, Horror Film in Post Production
NIDA, International Film School, Actors Centre2007 – 2009	Teacher and Mentor for Screen Actors & Directors
Network 71980 – 2009	Series Director Home and Away Always Greener All Saints Blue Heelers Rafferty Rules Neighbours Sons and Daughters A Country Practice Acropolis Now (Sitcom)
Hallmark Channel USA2001	Series Director, Ponderosa
UFA / RTL Germany2001	Pilot Director, Gute Zeiten Schlechte Zeiten Drama Series.
Network 91996 – 2001	Series Director, Water Rats Director Telemovie, Halifax FP Director for Murder Call, Prime Time and Chances.
Care Vietnam, Vietnam Government 1995	Executive Producer, Qio Qua Mien Toi, Drama Series
Network 101985 – 1988	Series Director, Beastmaster Series Director, Neighbours 1985 – 1988 Series Director, E Street Director, Richmond Hill 1988 Director, Pacific Drive Director, Prisoner, 1978
ABC1991	Series Director, GP
South Pacific Films, NZ1991	Series Director, Mercy Peak Series Director, Shortland Street
Feature Films1976 – 1980Assistant Director / Unit Production Manager	The Blue Lagoon – Brook Shields, Randal Klieser Attack Force Z – Mel Gibson, Sam Neil Tim – Mel Gibson, Piper Laurie Sleeping Dogs – Sam Neill, Roger Donaldson My Brilliant Career – Judy Davis & Sam Neill Money Movers – Bruce Beresford Dawn – Ken Hanam

EXPERIENCE & ACHIEVEMENTS

Director & Producer

Piper Pictures Pty Ltd 1990 – 2009

Background

Piper Pictures was established as a vehicle for unique and creative Film and TV projects conducted across Australia and in various international markets. The business also offers Business Consulting, Mentoring, Training, TV & Film Consultancy and is engaged across national and international projects. In addition, Piper Pictures has produced a variety of workshops designed specifically for actors, directors and producers, often entering the industry for the first time.

Key Responsibilities & Contributions

“BUSKER”, is a Feature Film and Television drama series, currently in development which has been created by Mark Piper with a scheduled launch for 2010.
PHOBOS ‘fear kills’ is a low budget Horror Feature Film, Mark Piper is the Producer and the project is currently in Post Production phase.
Led a unique project with Care Vietnam, in conjunction with the Vietnamese Government entitled ‘Qio Qua Mien Toi’; a 32-part Drama series, of which Mark Piper was the Executive Producer. This was a TV series utilised on behalf of the Government to highlight the HIV & AIDS problem emerging in Vietnam; Mark was involved from the outset to set-up the concept and assisted in sourcing finance through French private investors.
Director and Consultant of the Pilot TV Drama Series – Gute Zeiten Schlechte filmed in Germany and based on successful Australian series. Engaged by The Fremantle Group who have reinvented and franchised popular Australian serial dramas to other countries. Asked to go to Berlin for one year to direct the pilot and advice in the set-up of the series including casting, locations, style and look of each series.
Engaged as the Director for Water Rats, TV Drama Series about Australian water police which was successfully sold to 179 Countries. Involved in the set-up of the drama show on Sydney Harbour, Directed pilot episodes, initial casting, locations, and set up and style; successfully managed complex water logistics.
Key Director and involved in the initial setting up of Network 7 Australia’s internationally successful dramas, Sons and Daughters, Neighbours, Blue Heelers, Home and Away and All Saints and many other dramas over a 25 year period.
Directed a one-off episode of Home and Away “Hearts Divided” in 2003 which was subsequently used as a template to refresh the look of the entire series.
Engaged on the Blue Lagoon, feature Film; invited to Fiji to coordinate logistics of shoot from USA and Australia to an Island in the Yasawas Islands Fiji. Coordinated all building of sets and setting up of film on Island before main crew arrived, then joined the production as the Assistant Director for Film.
Teacher & Mentor for Drama Directors Network 7, NIDA, Actors Centre, and International Film School and for various workshops conducted nationally.