How to Get on Television in Australia

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Whether you're dreaming of fame or just want to tick this off your bucket list, there are a variety of ways to get your name in lights – or at least your face on a screen!



Warning: undertake these challenges at your own risk ...

Go to a tourist hotspot on a Public Holiday
Effort: low. Results: low.
Often during a heat wave or in the rare instance of snow, a roving reporter will be out and about getting comments from locals on the general state of things. Australia Day is a particularly film-worthy event, with most news stations devoting at least a couple of minutes of air time to uncouth youths, faux-patriotism and a seemingly inevitable bar fight. Perhaps not the style you want to make your TV debut in though, so think carefully before inviting that kind of attention!

Wait behind the Sunrise Window in Sydney
Effort: medium-high. Results: high
The mass hysteria that some guests bring is a level above the excitement that even everyday crowds bring to the Sunrise Windows; large floor-to-ceiling windows which back on to the set of the morning program. Simply being there (bright and early) gives you a chance to jostle to the front and display your handmade 'hi mum' picket sign, gaining your five minutes of ad-break-interrupted quasi-fame.

Get a job as a cameraman
Effort: high. Results: medium
Although this will see you spend much more time behind the camera than in front of it, you will at least get very close to the stars and be in the perfect position to make your on-screen debut when the time comes.

Hang out in Melbourne during Underbelly filming
Effort: medium. Results: low
I did this accidentally once, though I'm pretty sure my passing by in a red coat might have ruined the mood and I probably ended up in the out-takes. Lygon Street in Melbourne is the scene (literal and on-screen) of some of the biggest crimes of the Melbourne gangland war, now broadcast as a television series. It's a lot of loitering for little payoff, but being about when the cameras are on it might just get you in the background.

Scope out a casting site
Effort: high. Results: high.
How many Big Brother seasons are there now; eleven? Twelve? As well as applying for BB, there's also The Shire, The Voice, Don't Tell The Bride, Farmer Wants a Wife, I Will Survive ...
Try StarNow for audition details. FYI: The Price is Right are searching for male models and you can also try your luck with music videos but experience is often required. Finally, Cirque Du Soleil are poaching, so if your TV bid fails, there's always the option of running away to join the circus.

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