Industry Heartbeat
PRE-OCCUPATIONS (INSIDE FILM) MAY 2011
Breaking into the industry isn’t easy. Amanda Diaz talks to
up-and-coming actress Claire Scott about living the Hollywood
dream and why home is where the heart is.
“I used to be a gymnast and a sprinter, but as soon as I got to high school and I started getting involved
in theatre, I just fell in love. It’s one of those things – you do it once, then you’re kind of addicted. As soon as I started studying with Denise Roberts at Screenwise, that’s when it became real. And I thought ‘this is something I can actually do’. Denise actually started everything for me. She flew to LA and told my
managers about me. They signed me back in Australia before they’d even met me.
I’ve always been the ‘but’ girl, where it’s: ‘She’s great – but we need to go for a name’ , or: ‘she’s fabulous
and the producers love her – but the network didn’t’. Packed to the Rafters was my very first job. It was a fun character too. She was very much a caricature of those very typical football girlfriends. Originally, I went up for Jess McNamee’s role [Sammy Rafter] and got quite close and the director said that he really liked me but they made the offer to Jess. 33 Postcards was my first ever feature film. It was just this amazing
thing to walk into a room with Guy Pearce, Claudia Karvan and Rhys Muldoon.
I thought I’d be really daunted being on set with all these brilliant Australian actors, but we became like a little family. I can’t wait until it comes out. It’s been so busy with castings here in LA, it’s amazing. The amount I’ve had in one week is the amount I’ve had in an entire year in Australia. People have told me that being the ‘but’ girl isn’t that bad because it means you’re doing good work, but it’s got to be the right role at theright time. And that’s starting to come true.
I did my first red carpet, which was just absolutely surreal. I was convinced I was going to stack it and just
face-plant it. The Hollywood dream’s come true on the outside but what no one hears about on the inside is a whole bunch of bloody hard work. I’m such a fan of Australian writing
and Australian stories. So, no matter where my home is at the time, I will fly back in a heartbeat for a great
Australian project.”
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