Gold Coast-based Australian actor Brad McMurray speaks about setting up The Actor’s Club during a global pandemic
One of Australia’s most recognisable actors reveals his latest project and offers a rare insight into the Coast’s film industry. EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW.
Gold Coast
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BRAD McMurray is one of Australia’s most recognisable actors.
And like dozens of his colleagues, he’s found fame overseas and spent decades travelling to and from Los Angeles to film roles in movies and TV series.
But since being grounded by Covid-19 pandemic, he’s had to stay put and work on endeavours such as his Gold Coast business The Actors Club – a performing art’s school teaching Queenslanders the craft he’s honed over the past 20 years.
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The father-of-two grown children is also excited about getting involved in more locally-made productions and showcasing to the world what Australia has to offer.
“I have no plans to travel internationally at the moment, and I am actually okay with that as we (my partner and I Brittany Girven) expand our business and I increase my credits here in the Australian industry,” says Brad.
“Not only is Queensland one of the most sought after filming locations, I think we are genuinely seeing a real boom in the industry.
“Initially when Covid emerged it had a disastrous impact, however with strongly enforced government regulations here in Queensland we find ourselves in an envious position of attracting numerous overseas productions from TV to feature films, documentaries.
“One of the things that I think Covid taught us is that we need entertainment, we need the arts, we need stories to be told, this has seen the streaming services scrambling for content and of course to services that need we are directly in their sights.”
He says Australia, and especially the Gold Coast, is proving to be a very strong contender in the global film industry.
“With a combination of incredible locations, world class crew, and state-of-the-art facilities teamed with a low Australian dollar, very minimal community transfer of Covid and terrific government incentives make for one of the most sought-after locations in the world currently.
“I don’t think the people realise how blessed we are.
“Attracting big productions injects so much money into the local economy over so many different industries, tourism, hospitality all benefit from the film industry boom.”
Although born and bred in Sydney, the glitter strip has been Brad’s home for the past 25 years. With close ties to both the Gold Coast and northern NSW, he recently worked on a new Stan original series called Eden. It was shot around Northern NSW, Ballina and Byron Bay and showcased the beautiful scenery on offer.
As well as featuring in the recent blockbuster Godzilla vs. Kong, Brad’s also recently worked on season 3 of Mr Inbetween, an international critically acclaimed series directed by Nash Edgerton and created by Scott Ryan. It recently aired on FX and Hulu.
“It was amazing to be able to play two characters that really bookend each other, one being a dedicated cop and one being a sinister gun for hire,” he says.
Covid has also changed how actors audition for roles, with a rise in ‘self-tape auditions’ rather than ones in the room.
“Usually I would have to fly down to Sydney or Melbourne to audition for big roles like these but they were all done at home via self tapes,” he says.
“Actually, for Mr. In-between, I didn’t have to audition because I received a straight offer from the casting director, I think due to the demand for content production companies are moving faster and actors are being locked in quicker.”
He says while Australian actors have always been highly regarded overseas for their dedication to their craft, there’s recently been a real resurgence in Australian drama and the Australian public embracing local content.
“Due to very little international projects being filmed during the pandemic we are seeing a sense of acceptance from the Australian audience that our actors and filmmakers are world class,” he said.
“We only need to look at films like The Dry, and the incredible success that it has achieved domestically, to see that audiences are embracing multiple genres of Australian content and understand that our productions are now being consumed globally.”
Using his experiences and talent to help mould the next generation of young Aussie actors, Brad says The Actors Club’s Gold Coast studio has already helped budding stars get ready to hit the big screen. Graduate Zac Lemons just scored a lead role opposite Liam Neeson on the film Black Light, while two others have lead roles on Swimming for Gold.
Offering classes for kids and eight-week intensive programs for adults, The Actors Club six-strong team also offer US accent coaching, voice classes and method acting.
Despite launching the business in January 2020, just one month before the Covid-19 pandemic blew up, Bad says the performing art’s studio has gone from strength-to-strength.
“Industry professionals from around Australia have come on board and there’s a real sense of connection and unity starting to grow, particularly since the start of class coaching,” he says.
“We shoot show reels and offer a self-tape service too. Some of our students have booked huge gigs from shooting their self tapes with us.
“Almost all our classes are at capacity so we are currently going through another expansion as we aim to increase the size of our studio so we can offer more classes to more students.
“Our main focus is on nurturing the next generation of artists and giving a sense of community to like-minded creatives.”
Interestingly, Brad believes Covid-19 pandemic may have been one of the best things for Queensland’s film industry.
He was initially concerned for the future of the arts when the federal arts minister role was amalgamated into a new entity called the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications.
“However, during Covid I feel as though our government started to realise the importance of the arts,” he says.
“We are seeing encouraging signs with the extension of the producers offset rebate, expansion of facilities and studios and a real sense of ramping up marketing in regards to Australia being a primary filming location.
“In my opinion, Australian cast and crew are some of the most talented and hard working people I have ever met, and it’s wonderful to see the industry being backed by the government to keep these people in work.”
Brad credits the government’s decision to extend the producer offset, a refundable tax offset (rebate) for producers of Australian feature films, television and other projects, with providing longevity with incoming productions to Queensland.
“This has already been seen with Marvel looking to lock in a long-term filming contract at Fox studios in Sydney and a significant increase in studio occupancy both here on the Gold Coast and at the Screen QLD Studios in Brisbane,” he says.
“My belief is that places like America and the United Kingdom will unfortunately continue for some time to be impacted by the global pandemic, this is going to funnel more international work into Australia and therefore more jobs for Australians.
“I’m excited for the future of the film industry and to see what unfolds over the next few years.”
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