Journey to Leading SPACT Roles in Film and TV
Back in 2013 we cast Paul Biddiss as an American soldier on WW2 film Monuments men, directed by Geroge Clooney. Shortly after that, in the same year, Paul had an amazing run, working on ‘Fury’ another WW2 film about the crew of a Sherman Tank, directed by David Ayre and starring Brad Pitt. He was involved from the outset at the initial Bootcamps, training and assessing other Casting Collective SA soldiers, as well as working himself as a military SA over a 4 month period on this amazing production.
Fast forward 10 years and Paul recently was the Military Technical Advisor who worked closely with Eddie Redmayne on the new adaptation of thriller ‘Day of the Jackal’…. hence the ‘starry’ namecheck!
Since those early days in the industry, he has gone on to achieve remarkable things. He is now the ‘go to’ Military Film Technical advisor on all major historical and present day military film and high end TV productions. His journey into the industry is a testament to the power of ambition, resilience, and the courage to explore something new—even after an entirely different career path.
Casting Collective have always championed supporting artistes with military experience, ranging from younger people in the Cadets, through to seasoned veterans with 20+ years of service across all branches of the armed services. Often these supporting artistes, with their variety of unique and specialised skills learnt in the military, qualify to be part of our SPACT ‘Special Action’ group of artistes. These military and SPACT artistes have the opportunity to showcase their unique skills on camera, lending an authenticity and unrivalled experience to large and complicated military scenes… often overseen and trained by Paul!
If you have any previous military experience and register with Casting Collective, make sure you detail your skills and explore our SPACT section when you apply to work, giving us as much info as possible so we can be sure we can get you to the forefront of these dynamic and exciting scenes on camera!
Paul shared a recent article about his journey from military life to screen work with us. We want to share his story with our community, especially for those veterans who might be considering a similar leap into getting into military and SPACT film work….. it might inspire you!
Want to know more?
- Take a look at Paul’s website:
- For those looking to take the first step, check out the full article on Paul’s journey his advice
- And remember, we’re here to help you every step of the way.
