The Blank Canvas Podcast

Episode 32 of The Blank Canvas Podcast with Jenna Elfman.

She can dance, she can act, whether it be comedy, drama or killing zombies, this woman is a bombshell performer!

Born and raised in LA, Jenna began her career as a professional dancer, appearing in music videos by Depeche Mode and Anthrax, and she danced in the 1991 Academy Awards live broadcast.

She transitioned to acting and became best known for her role as Dharma in the hit television series Dharma and Greg, for which she garnered a Golden Globe Award and three Emmy Award nominations.

Jenna is currently starring in the hit TV series, Fear The Walking Dead. She joined the series in season 4, quickly becoming a fan favourite as the character “June” (aka “Naomi”/“Laura”) and is currently blowing minds with her performances in Season 6.

Film credits include; Friends With Benefits, Barry, Keeping The Faith, Ed TV, Can’t Hardly Wait, Big Stone Gap.

TV credits include; Imaginary Mary, Growing Up Fisher, 1600 Penn, Shameless, Damages, The Mindy Project, Two and a Half Men, My Name is Earl, Royal Pains and The Twilight Zone.

Jenna and her husband Bodhi have blazed the podcast trail with their video podcast ‘Kicking and Screaming', where they humorously discuss their 25 + year marriage.

“My purpose was always to make people feel alive and that they can think new thoughts, keeping hope alive in people so that they can always at any moment make a change for the better for themselves.” Jenna Elfman

https://www.jennaelfman.com/

https://www.foxtel.com.au/watch/fear-the-walking-dead.html

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Produced by Lee Rogers & Rien MacDonald.

Audio support by Jason Murphy/GASinc

Music by Rodrigo Enrique Bustos.

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Episode 31 of The Blank Canvas Podcast with Radek Sali.

It takes sheer guts and determination to succeed on a grand scale and there is usually some point where the person puts everything they have on the line. This week’s guest is no exception and fortunately for him, the gamble paid off. 

Radek Sali - started out working the candy bar in his local suburban Village cinema and worked his way up to Operations Manager of Village Roadshow. Radek joined the Swisse Wellness group as Operations Manager in 2005, a couple years later he’d become CEO, he steered the company from it’s annual turnover of $14 million to it’s sale 10 years on - for 1.7 Billion dollars. 

Incredibly, just nine months before that deal went ahead, the shareholders of Swisse nearly accepted an offer of just $30 million, which would have left Radek bankrupt due to $15 million in personal debt. I directed many TV commercials for Swisse leading up to the sale of the company - in particular their campaign for the Rio Olympics. The staff culture was something to behold at Swisse and played a huge role in the success of brand, and this was clearly driven by their inspirational leader. 

Radek’s latest role is Chairman of Light Warrior - an investment organisation with a mission to help fund and support an array of other businesses and entrepreneurs, particularly those with a positive societal impact.
https://lightwarrior.com/

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Produced by Lee Rogers & Rien MacDonald.

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Music by Rodrigo Enrique Bustos.

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Episode 30 of The Blank Canvas Podcast with George Adams.

George grew up in a small village in Scotland. He spent the first five years of his working life at an explosives factory, before deciding there must be more to life and self-funding himself through a degree in commerce and marketing, with the dream of writing and making TV drama at the BBC.

Upon graduation, with limited job opportunities in Scotland, George headed to London to try his luck. He landed a job at the BBC through sheer luck and of course, the chutzpah to have a crack.

George quickly worked his way up the ranks, and before long was network executive on dozens major telemovies, A Foreign Field starring Alec Guinness, Jean Moreau and Lauren Bacall, and others starring the likes of Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman, Albert Finney, Richard Harris and Gabriel Byrne.

On leaving the BBC George joined Carlton TV as the Executive in Charge of Drama Production. Then several stints withe biggest players in the biz - VP & Head of Business Affairs & Production for the Columbia TriStar/Sony joint venture, Golden Square Pictures, next up Head of Drama Production at Granada UK (now ITVG)

Whilst at ITV George guided TV shows including: Class Act starring Joanna Lumley, Sharpe starring Sean Bean, Rebecca starring Charles Dance, Diana Rigg and Faye Dunaway, Tough Love with Ray Winstone.

Now married to an Aussie lass, George relocates to Australia to raise their kids.

George’s credits down under include creating the award winning drama, Bed of Roses, which ran on the ABC for three seasons.  EP of the movie Wolf Creek, which went on to be one of the most successful R rated Australian movies of all time. 

George then created and acted as both producer and show runner on Five series of Australia’s highest rating returning drama series year on year with The Doctor Blake Mysteries. A global hit, running in more than 130 territories including BBC1, Netflix USA.

Other major credits included EP on BAFTA award winning UK drama Mrs Biggs and the 3D IMAX movie Hidden Universe.

George has developed, produced, managed and controlled well in excess of $850M of TV drama production in the UK, Europe and Australia. 

Working in the screen industry is not for the faint of heart but George has managed to navigate a path with more ups than downs and keep his sense if humour intact.

IMDB:

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0010984/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_4

https://gambitmediagroup.com/

 

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Produced by Lee Rogers & Rien MacDonald.

Audio support by Jason Murphy/GASinc

Music by Rodrigo Enrique Bustos.

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Episode 29 of The Blank Canvas Podcast with Sam Bloom.

You may have heard of the best selling book Penguin Bloom or the movie starring Academy Award nominee Naomi Watts as Sam Bloom. 

Here’s Sam Bloom’s story in a nutshell. A shy but sporty tom boy became and nurse and lived to travel to far-flung and adventurous places. She fell in love with a like-minded free spirit, Cam Bloom, a professional photographer, they raised 3 boys and built a life on the Sydney’s Northern Beaches. 

Then while on holiday in Thailand, in a single horrific moment, a decayed balcony gives way and Sam suffers a near fatal fall that leaves her paralysed from the chest down and deeply depressed.

Into her life comes Penguin, an injured Magpie chick abandoned after she fell from her nest. The necessity to care for Penguin, a living creature more fragile than herself, helps lift Sam out of her black hole and together they find a way through the overwhelming adversity.
Sam’s husband Cam photographs the whole journey, this becomes the core of the book and it’s a bestseller. Sam takes up competitive para-canoeing, eventually placing 13th in the world and winning two Australian titles. Then as part of the Australian Adaptive Surf Team, Sam wins two Gold medals for Australia at both the 2019 and 2020 World Para Surfing Championships.

Meanwhile the movie Penguin Bloom is made, it’s big hit, on track to pass 8 million at the Aussie box-office. Netflix release the film internationally in many territories.
This no ordinary tale and Sam Bloom is no ordinary woman. Our chat took place in Bloom family home on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, March 2021. 

http://sambloom.com.au/penguin-bloom/

https://www.penguinthemagpie.com/

BloomPhotography.Com

 

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Music by Rodrigo Enrique Bustos.

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Episode 28 of The Blank Canvas Podcast with Graham Shearer.

One Australia’s most revered photographers, Graham Shearer's path to success sounds like something out of a romance novel but it’s a true blue Aussie success story.

Born and Raised in Perth, WA. As a hobby Graham photographed his family, landscapes and surfers but couldn't have dreamed of a career in photography. To his parents horror, he dropped out of his accounting studies and went travelling.

Meeting his future wife, Patricia Merk, a French model on holiday in Bali, Graham began travelling with Patricia, working as a male model and shooting test shots of model friends.

His first paid assignment was in Tokyo for a Japanese fashion magazine. In the early 80’s Graham and his now wife, Patricia Mark moved to Sydney and quickly rose up the ranks as a photographer. Patricia became fashion editor of Dolly magazine, with Graham her go-to photographer. Under the leadership of a prodigious young editor, Lisa Wilkinson, the magazine was an extraordinary success.

Before long Graham was the most in-demand fashion and portrait photographers in Australia and across the globe. He photographed supermodels (including Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Elle MacPherson), actors (Nicole Kidman, Kristin Scott Thomas, Keanu Reeves, Christopher Lambert, Kim Basinger, etc) and brands such as Qantas, Loreal Paris, Rolex and Moet & Chandon.

Magazines Graham worked for include iconic US publications Vanity Fair, Interview and Vogue, Italian Elle, UK’s Tattler, France’s Madame Figaro.

Graham’s strength lies in his ability to capture natural beauty with effortless, refined and timeless style. Combine that with his infectious enthusiasm and it’s an irresistible combination.

Yours truly got his start in the business when Graham spotted me as a young grommet in 1984 and put me front and centre in Dolly magazine for a few years.

This a candid conversation in which we discuss everything from Graham’s approach to his craft, working with ’The Body’ at the height of her career, to dropping his daks mid-shoot with The Duchess of Kent.

Website: GrahamShearer.Com

 

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Music by Rodrigo Enrique Bustos.

 

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Episode 27 of The Blank Canvas Podcast with Kate Dennis.

With today being International Women’s Day, it’s a most appropriate day to release my conversation with the uber talented screen director, Kate Dennis.

Starting out as a camera assistant, then focus puller and script supervisor for many years, Kate’s credits include the massive hits films Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Cliffhanger and Babe.

In 1996 Kate was offered to direct an episode of the TV series Twisted Tales for producer Bryan Brown,  she hasn’t looked back and is now one of the most sought after international screen directors.

Kate has set-up seven TV dramas in the US, UK and Australia including HBO’s Run (working with Phoebe Waller-Bridge), Tommy (with Edie Falco), New Amsterdam (which is going strong after 5 seasons); Secrets & Lies (which starred Juliette Lewis & Ryan Phillippe in it’s USA remake) and Australian TV phenomena Offspring, which ran for seven seasons.

Kate’s episodic work in the US traverses broad genres from comedy to drama and includes: GLOW, The Tick, Heathers, Strange Angel, Krypton, Damnation, The Mindy Project, Preacher, Turn: Washington’s Spies, Fear of The Walking Dead, Sleepy Hollow and Suits.

Her Australian directing work includes: Rake, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, Rush, The Time of Our Lives, The Secret Life of Us and Love My Way. 

In 2017, Kate’s episode ‘The Bridge’ from The Handmaid’s Tale, was nominated for an Emmy award for Outstanding Director for a Drama Series.

Kate remains a down-to-earth Aussie and makes it her job sound rather simple, however it’s taken decades of hard work in the high pressure hot-seat of directing big-budget series to earn her place at the top.

 

Kate Dennis / IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0219491/

Kate Dennis / Agent: https://www.rgm.com.au/literary/kate-dennis/

 

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Music by Rodrigo Enrique Bustos.

 

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Episode 26 of The Blank Canvas Podcast with Remo Giuffre.

If you lived in Sydney in the late 80’s and early 90’s you would likely remember the iconic REMO General Store on Oxford St, Darlinghurst. Now an online store, the prestigious brand is still serving a global network of customers with artfully curated products.

Remo graduated with Commerce and Law degrees from the New South Wales University, and then MBA with top honours from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business in New York…but after working with a law firm for a while, he decided to follow his dream of a more creative life.

Entrepreneur. Retail merchant. Brand builder. Creative Strategist. That’s how the CV reads, but really, Remo is one of those creative thinkers that can apply his mind to any endeavour and find the smartest way forward.

In 2009, Remo acquired the Licensee and has been Director for TEDxSydney, an annual flagship TEDx event which has become Australia’s leading ideas platform, and actually setting the gold standard for TEDx events globally.

Remo is a larger than life character, who has blazed many trails and carved out a uniquely creative life.

https://www.remogiuffre.com/

https://remogeneralstore.com/

https://tedxsydney.com/

 

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Produced by Lee Rogers & Rien MacDonald.

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Music by Rodrigo Enrique Bustos.

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Episode 25 of The Blank Canvas Podcast with Mark Fennessy.

Mark is an entrepreneur, television and film producer.

I’ve worked with Mark on a few occasions and he’s become somewhat of a mentor and actually a mate. Had I known the full extent of his achievements, I actually would have been a little intimidated to do this interview, he’s a giant in the world of media, broadcasting and production.

Mark started out in 1981 as an Assistant Cameraman in the news department of network 7 in Melbourne, rose quickly through the ranks to become a highly respected producer with Seven and Nine, with dozens of major credits including 4 Olympic Games broadcasts. 

At 26 Mark Headed up MTV Australia, eventually joining the team at MTV International when it was a global phenomenon. 

Mark returned to Australia to create Crackerjack with his brother Carl. As a little independent production company, they made a big name for themselves as producers of comedy and trail blazed the new world of unscripted television.  

Among the slate were Backberner, Comedy Inc, Chaser Non Stop News Network, Jamie’s Kitchen Australia, and the legendary Enough Rope with Andrew Denton. Crackerjack was sold to Fremantle Media in 2003, with Mark taking the reins as CEO and his brother Carl COO. 

They quickly built a slate of 19 different productions including the very new Australian Idol, Australia’s Got Talent, Newstopia, The Farmer Wants a Wife, The Apprentice, Project Runway, Choir of Hard Knocks, The Biggest Loser and MasterChef.

In 2010 Mark & Carl left Fremantle to head up the local affiliate of the Shine Group launched by Elisabeth Murdoch.

What followed was a blitzkrieg of TV content with an extraordinary slate tv franchises and super brands including Beauty & The Geek, The Bachelor, Shark Tank and The Voice. During this same period they launched highly successful Dramas including INXS: Never Tear Us Apart, Catching Milat and Peter Allen: Not The Boy Next Door . 

Within just 3 years Shine was the No. 1 production company the Southern hemisphere.

Following a global merger, Mark and Carl Fennessy agreed to oversee a new company Endemol Shine Australia. What followed is another incredible output of content and hits including: Lambs of God, Mystify, Australian Survivor, Offspring, The Beautiful Lie, Wake in Fright, Gogglebox, Australian Ninja Warrior, Married At First Sight, Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds, Blue Murder - Killer Cop.

In 2017 Mark was awarded an Order of Australia, recognising him for his significant service to the broadcast industry. He was recently ranked No 1 in the Australian Financial Review’s Cultural List. 

The brothers Fennessy recently departed Shine after almost 11 years and whilst the world waits to see what these industry trailblazers might do next, Mark is overseeing the highly anticipated scripted series Last King of The X.

He also runs a small independent record label in keeping with his passionate and longstanding relationship with the music business.

Mark has a relentlessly creative mind, always ticking over with new ideas and possibilities. Combine that with his fierce work ethic and ability to articulate his vision, well, it’s kind of epic! He is a very private family man and this is a rare opportunity to see what makes a man like this tick.

 

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Music by Rodrigo Enrique Bustos.

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Episode 24 of The Blank Canvas Podcast with Maurice Terzini.

This weeks guest is visionary restauranteur and entrepreneur - Maurice Terzini.
Maurice has drawn on his Italian heritage and combined it with his passions; food, music, art, fashion and design...and in the process has created a contemporary dining aesthetic that has blazed trails throughout the Australian hospitality industry.
A modest man with a punk sensibility, a fierce work ethic and attention to detail bar none. The interior design of his restaurants, the locations, the branding, marketing materials, not to mention the food and service, are the stuff of legend.

At the age of 23 he opened his first venture, Caffe e Cucina on Melbourne’s then undiscovered Chapel Street, with the café radically altering perceptions and conventions around the dining scene at the time, offering high-end quality in a café setting - Voted in the Top 10 cafes in the world in the NY Times for four years.

Numerous successful hospitality ventures followed including Il Bacaro, the legendary Melbourne Wine Room, Caffe Vini Spuntini, OTTO and spin-off NOVE, North Bondi Italian Food, Melbourne’s Giuseppe Arnaldo & Sons, Café Veloce...capped by the jewel in the crown, the iconic Icebergs Dining Room and Bar. 

His more recent restaurants are CicciaBella Bondi Beach & Parramatta and The Dolphin Hotel in Surry Hills.

Maurice seems to thrive on dreaming up impossible visions in the field of hospitality and single-mindedly working day and night until they are manifest - all the while bringing people together for conversation and culture.

Icebergs Dining Room and Bar http://idrb.com/ Insta: https://www.instagram.com/icebergsdiningroomandbar/

Cicca Bella (Bondi & Parramatta) https://cicciabella.com.au/ Insta: https://www.instagram.com/cicciabellabondi/

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Produced by Lee Rogers & Rien MacDonald.

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Music by Rodrigo Enrique Bustos.

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Episode 23 of The Blank Canvas with Kat Stewart.

Making a career in the performing arts is notoriously challenging but in this case the cream has certainly risen to the top.  Kat Stewart's searing performance as Roberta Williams in the iconic first TV series of UNDERBELLY, planted her into our collective consciousness. Kat received both the 2008 AFI Award for Best Lead Actress and the 2009 Logie Award for Most Outstanding Actress.

Whether comedy, drama or anything in between, the incredible performances and accolades have followed ever since, however Kat is probably best known for her AACTA Award winning portrayal of Billie Proudman in the TV phenomenon - Offspring.

Aside from being a lovely human and charming conversationalist, this is an inspiring career change story; Kat completed a degree in marketing and arts and was working as full time publicist for publisher Penguin Books. Unable to shake the acting bug from some university theatre she dabbled in, she studied acting at night after work for 3 years, eventually getting her confidence up to taking the plunge into that arena.

 "There are some people that have just driven by an innate self-belief, I'm driven by a lot of self doubt, but it means that I work really hard because I do think that I can fail at any second. You know, every time I take on a job, I think, oh shit. I don't know if I can pull this off. Every character you starting from ground zero, but in a way that's the greatest thing, the fear and the trepidation is a respect for the task at hand.”

Kat’s latest hit TV series is FIVE BEDROOMS which is produced by Hoodlum. Series Two is returning to Network 10 in 2021.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1830811/

https://www.instagram.com/kat_stewy/

 

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Music by Rodrigo Enrique Bustos.

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