He has been commissioned to write an anthem for an upcoming Australian film.

Now Taree’s Shane McLeay needs your help to push his music into the TV spotlight.

The film clip for Shane’s single ‘Hold On’ is in the running to be included in the inaugural Rage 50 on ABC TV. The program will play 2009’s 50 most popular music videos, as voted by viewers, through the morning of Saturday December 26.

Shane’s ‘Hold On’ film clip has made regular appearances on late-night Rage playlists since April this year.

But how did all this business come about?

“Basically, it started when Grayem Bird (from NBN television) heard our unfinished version of Elvis’ Into Loving Arms,” Shane explains. “He loved it, and insisted I play it to a producer he knew.”

That producer was Brad Diebert, the man behind the highly anticipated Aussie crime drama, Hobby Farm.

“Fortunately for me, Brad is also a huge Elvis fan, and absolutely loved the song,” Shane said.

“He asked me if I had recorded any other songs, because he wanted to hear more and maybe produce a film clip for us.”

At that time, Shane and his band hadn’t recorded much else. So Brad asked him to write a song specifically for the movie. That song was Hold On, a soaring rock ballad that won Brad over instantly.

“From there it was just a matter of organising the film crew to come to Taree,” Shane said. “It felt good to be bringing a little piece of Hollywood to the Manning.”

Brad used the same film crew from Hobby Farm to shoot the Hold On video in April.

Filmed at a secret location in Taree, the crew knocked the video over in four hours of filming.

“I think the band was pretty sick of the song by the end of the day,” Shane laughs.

“I’ve never really done the whole ‘on camera’ side of music before. I felt a bit stupid with all the posing and acting. I was way out of my comfort zone.

“I didn’t feel comfortable miming the song either. I had to literally sing it for four hours.”