# Casting Guild of Australia

The Casting Guild of Australia (CGA) is a professional society, founded in 2013 in Victoria, Australia. It consists over 90% of all Australian casting directors for film, television, and theatre.

## Formation

According to Nick Hamon, casting director and Vice President of CGA that the idea of setting up a casting guild was in minds of Australian casting directors committee quite sometime. But it was not actualised until in 2013, committee member Mel Mackintosh wrote an email, emphasising on the need of the guild.

## Casting Guild of Australia Awards

In 2015, the CGA launched an annual awards ceremony to recognise excellence in Australian casting across film, television, advertising, theatre and online productions.

### 2015

The first ceremony was held on 23 November 2015 in Sydney and was co-hosted by Ewen Leslie and Sarah Snook. Filmmaker George Miller presented the Sirius Award for New Talent of the Future.
| Category | Nominees | Work |
| Best Film Casting | Kirsty McGregor | Last Cab to Darwin |
| Best Film Casting | Nikki Barrett | Holding the Man |
| Best Film Casting | Nikki Barrett and Ronna Kress | Mad Max: Fury Road |
| Best Television Casting (Up to 6 Hours) | Anousha Zarkesh | Redfern Now |
| Best Television Casting (Up to 6 Hours) | Christine King | The Code |
| Best Television Casting (Up to 6 Hours) | Alison Telford | Glitch |
| Best Television Casting (Up to 6 Hours) | Christine King and Anousha Zarkesh | Peter Allen: Not the Boy Next Door |
| Best Television Casting (More Than 6 Hours) | Alison Telford | Please Like Me |
| Best Television Casting (More Than 6 Hours) | Anousha Zarkesh | Rake |
| Best Television Casting (More Than 6 Hours) | Christine King | Hiding |
| Best TVC Casting | Natalie Jane Harvie | UWS – "Deng Adut" |
| Best TVC Casting | Stevie Ray and Kirsty McGregor | Qantas – "Feels Like Home" |
| Best TVC Casting | Nick Hamon | RACGP |
| Best TVC Casting | Antonia Murphy | Play Sport Australia |

### 2016

The nominations were announced on 9 October 2016 and saw the introduction of the Best Casting in a Short Film category. The ceremony was held at the Holding Redlich offices in Sydney on 18 November. It was hosted by Danielle Cormack and Dave Eastgate.
| Category | Nominees | Work |
| Best Casting in a Feature Film | Stevie Ray and Kirsty McGregor | Down Under |
| Best Casting in a Feature Film | Nikki Barrett | The Daughter |
| Best Casting in a Feature Film | Christine King | The Dressmaker |
| Best Casting in a Feature Film | Anousha Zarkesh | Alex & Eve |
| Best Casting in a TV Drama | Anousha Zarkesh | Cleverman |
| Best Casting in a TV Drama | Anousha Zarkesh | Ready for This |
| Best Casting in a TV Drama | Nikki Barrett | Jack Irish |
| Best Casting in a TV Drama | Kirsty McGregor | Doctor Doctor |
| Best Casting in a TV Comedy | Tom McSweeney and David Newman | The Family Law |
| Best Casting in a TV Comedy | Anousha Zarkesh | Rake |
| Best Casting in a TV Comedy | Anousha Zarkesh | Black Comedy |
| Best Casting in a TV Comedy | Kirsty McGregor | The Letdown |
| Best Casting in a TV Miniseries or Telemovie | Anousha Zarkesh | The Principal |
| Best Casting in a TV Miniseries or Telemovie | Kirsty McGregor | The Kettering Incident |
| Best Casting in a TV Miniseries or Telemovie | Nick Hamon | Divorce |
| Best Casting in a TV Miniseries or Telemovie | Kirsty McGregor | Secret City |
| Best Casting in a Short Film | Danny Long | Dream Baby |
| Best Casting in a Short Film | Nick Hamon | St Kilda Film Festival Trailer |
| Best Casting in a Short Film | Stevie Ray and Kirsty McGregor | Problem Play |
| Best Casting in a Short Film | Anousha Zarkesh | The Mother Situation |

### 2017

The nominations were announced on 20 October 2017. The ceremony was held at the Holding Redlich offices in Sydney on 17 November.
| Category | Nominees | Work |
| Best Casting in a Feature Film | Kirsty McGregor | Lion |
| Best Casting in a Feature Film | Ben Parkinson | Don't Tell |
| Best Casting in a Feature Film | Nikki Barrett | Hacksaw Ridge |
| Best Casting in a Feature Film | Anousha Zarkesh | Hounds of Love |
| Best Casting for TV Drama, Miniseries or Telemovie | Alison Telford | Seven Types of Ambiguity |
| Best Casting for TV Drama, Miniseries or Telemovie | Alison Telford | Glitch |
| Best Casting for TV Drama, Miniseries or Telemovie | Amanda Mitchell | Pulse |
| Best Casting for TV Drama, Miniseries or Telemovie | Kirsty McGregor | Top of the Lake: China Girl |
| Best Casting for TV Comedy | Tom McSweeney and David Newman | The Family Law |
| Best Casting for TV Comedy | Stevie Ray | Here Come the Habibs |
| Best Casting for TV Comedy | Kirsty McGregor | The Other Guy |
| Best Casting for TV Comedy | Kate Leonard (original casting by Jane Kennedy) | Utopia |
| Best Casting for a Short Film | David Newman | Banana Boy |
| Best Casting for a Short Film | Daisy Hicks | Dreamweaver |
| Best Casting for a Short Film | Danny Long | Fysh |
| Best Casting for a Short Film | Antonia Murphy | SOOP |
| Achievement in Casting | Janine Snape | Jasper Jones |
| Achievement in Casting | Fountainhead Casting | Event Zero |
| Achievement in Casting | Stevie Ray | High Life |
| Achievement in Casting | Janine Snape | Macbeth |
| Achievement in Casting | Emma Fleming | Testament |
| Best Casting for a TVC | Antonia Murphy | MLA – "Australia Day" |
| Best Casting for a TVC | Nick Hamon | Hungry Jacks – "Keeping it real" |
| Best Casting for a TVC | Natalie Jane Harvie | Air BnB – "Until We All Belong" |
| Best Casting for a TVC | Natalie Jane Harvie | Foxtel – Foxtel Now |
| Best Casting for a TVC | Daisy Hicks | "The Next Steps" – Recognise TVC |
| Best Casting for a TVC | Danny Long | Airtasker – "Like a Boss" |
| Best Casting for a TVC | Danny Long | KFC |
| Best Casting for a TVC | Antonia Murphy | Commbank – Multicultural Australians |
| Best Casting for a TVC | Antonia Murphy | KFC "Shut Up and Take My Money" Series |
| Best Casting for a TVC | Stevie Ray | Audible |
| Best Casting for a TVC | Joseph Wijangco | Carefree – "You Know" |
| Best Casting for a TVC | Joseph Wijangco | "The Big Deal" – Marriage Equality |

## Sirius Award

The Sirius Award was created to recognise the top ten emerging actors from Australia. It was modelled on the Berlin Film Festival's Shooting Stars initiative. In 2015 Mark Coles Smith and Odessa Young won the award. In 2016 the Sirius Award was given to Katherine Langford and Jacob Collins Levy.
* 2015 nominees: Thomas Cocquerel, Rahel Romahn, Olivia De-Jonge, Odessa Young, Mark Coles Smith, Benedict Hardie, Andrea Demetriades, Alexander England, Abbey Lee, Zahra Newman