Auditions

We need you! Seriously! Auditions for Taking Umbrage will take place at the Hartley Playhouse at the University of South Australia Magill on Thursday the 14th of August between 6:30pm-9:30pm and Friday 15th August between 3pm-7pm. The auditions will be filmed and participants will be informed if they are successful or not within the following week. To audition you must email us at taking-umbrage@live.com with the following information:

• A head shot and brief biography including your age (1 paragraph)
• A list of the character/s you’re auditioning for (we encourage you to audition for more then 1 role if you feel capable).
• The times you are free on specified days. (If you are not free at these times please email us anyway and we’ll try to accommodate an alternate audition time).
• Parental consent (a form will be emailed) if you are under 18 years old.

Applicants must be available to film on at least 2 days between Fri the 3rd Oct and Sunday the 5th of Oct. Once we’ve received your email we’ll endeavour to reply with your audition time, relevant information and/or any answers to questions you may have ASAP.

Remuneration

As this is an independent project no payment can be guaranteed for actors or crew. It is understood between both parties that there will be no remuneration for this project unless the Production Team believes enough profit has been made to compensate both cast and crew. It is also understood that the Production Team cannot guarantee any payment, as this is an Independent Project and strong profit cannot be guaranteed. If any payment is made, it will be a delayed payment. However all transportation costs will be covered (to a reasonable extent) and food will be provided whilst filming. What can we say...we’re broke!

Everyone involved will also receive a certificate of thanks and a copy of the DVD. And crew will receive a Taking Umbrage T-shirt.

Exposure

We want this mini-series to get as much exposure as possible. So it will be entered into numerous film festivals upon completion and thrown at various TV stations. Following this it may be posted online as an Internet mini-series on various websites.

The Characters

Morgan

Politically correct and a soldier against TERRORISM! Morgan is an extremist. When it comes to keeping the world safe and child friendly she is at the forefront. A young woman aged 18-30, skinny – plump build and short – average height.


Joshua – Already cast!

A hopeless romantic, absolutely paranoid and obsessive compulsive. A young man aged 18-30, skinny – average build and average – tall height.



Rufus

Rufus floated in on a whim and continues to live on a new one or two or three every day. With 1-3 absurd new fetishes every episode Rufus is a very diverse character. A young man aged 15-27, skinny – average build and short – tall height.



Charlene

The former magnanimous madame Agnes’ pet, permanent couch fixture and hard-core death metal fan. Charlene never leaves the couch, and always has a firm grasp on the remote control. Come to close and he’ll start grunting uncontrollably. A man aged 20-40, preferably large build (tall/broad/muscley etc) and average – tall height.

Extras

Taking Umbrage will require 4 extras (Morgan’s family)
• “The little sister”, a young girl between the age of 7-13 who’s full to the bursting with energy and will appear in 2 episodes.
• “The Mother” – Just smile and wave – politically correctly of course. Middle aged woman (30-50), appears in 1 episode.
• “The Father” – Just smile and wave – politically correctly of course. Middle aged man (30-50), appears in 1 episode.
• “The brother” – Just smile and wave – politically correctly of course. Child/teenager (7-17), appears in 1 episode.

What is Taking Umbrage?

Taking Umbrage is a story of the politically correct, the suspicious and the bizarre. An extremist hippy, a lonely hypochondriac and a boy with a new fetish daily take umbrage from the world in the recently deceased Magnanimous Madame Agnes’ Fundraising house for fatalities of the Mosh. Sharing accommodation with a death metal fan, who stays fixed to his couch they try to tackle the normalities of life in absurd ways.

Taking Umbrage is a 6-episode mini-series that will total approximately 15 minutes running time. It aims to comment on how absurd our “normal” lives really are through the way the 4 main characters interact. Pushing extremes beyond the norm it presents characters that take life far too seriously. Thus resulting in an absolutely absurd gaggle of seemingly pointless rubbish.

The writer/director

Taking Umbrage is the brainchild of me, film student Sarah Petrusma. What else can I say except that when you’ve led a life as commonplace and normal as mine ordinary things start to look a little quirky.

Taking Umbrage has been in pre-production for about one year now, and its time that it gave birth to season 1. It is being completed as a final individual assignment to conclude my university degree but will hopefully go a lot further then my tutor’s television.

I think of myself as an artist in many ways, I paint, I draw, I animate, I write, I film, I create, I’ve even been known to act. In everything I create I aim to pool all of my talents and techniques to generate unique and interesting things.