Screenworks has made the difficult decision to cancel its Business of Producing event scheduled to be held in Ballina next week.
Earlier this week, Screenworks started to provide updates in relation to the Business of Producing event and COVID-19 (Novel Coronavirus). During the week, it has been monitoring all relevant health authority websites that have been set up specifically to keep event attendees and speakers updated about COVID-19.
Due to multiple factors including concerns for staff and other risks, Screenworks has decided that it is in the best interests to cancel the event and allow for attendees and speakers to cancel any travel plans and make other relevant arrangements.
MEET THE BUYERS | PRODUCERS | INDUSTRY EXECUTIVES | FUNDING BODIES | AACTA PITCH JUDGE PANEL
MEET THE BUYERS
Screenworks proudly presents the following line up of buyers, SVOD executives and commissioning editors as guest speakers for the 2020 Business of Producing, with more to be announced shortly.
Amanda Duthie – Acting Head of Scripted | SBS
Amanda Duthie – Acting Head of Scripted | SBSAmanda Duthie is currently acting Head of Scripted at SBS. Previously she has been Head of Production, Development & Attraction at South Australian Film Corporation working across projects such as Stateless, Fallout, Mortal Kombat, Upright, The Hunting, I Am Woman and various screen initiatives such as Centralised. Prior to the SAFC Amanda was Creative Director/CEO of the Adelaide Film Festival curating five major screen events as well as leading the award-winning Investment Fund slate which included titles such as Sweet Country, The Nightingale, tope End Wedding, Animals, Hotel Mumbai, She Who Must Be Loved, I am Mother, Ali’s Wedding, Girl Asleep, Spear, Fucking Adelaide as well as art and screen projects such as HIVE, installations for galleries and museums and VR/hybrid work such as Collisions and Summation of Force. Prior to this Amanda was Head of Arts & Entertainment at ABC TV delivering primetime and online projects working with Shaun Micallef, Hannah Gadsby, Bondi Hipsters, Annabel Crabb, Jennifer Byrne, Chaser and Sam Simmons.
Cieron Cody – Commissioning Editor | NITV
Cieron Cody – Commissioning Editor | NITVHis experience encompasses a wide range of development and production grant/investment programs as well as initiatives designed to advance concepts, elevate talent and build business within the marketplace.
Cieron has supported a diverse range of award-winning projects delighting audiences from a local to global scale with some of Australia’s and the world’s most recognised market players and talent. As Commissioning Editor for NITV Cieron works closely with Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people alongside the broader screen sector to elevate compelling Indigenous perspectives that inform, educate and entertain.
Susie Jones – Commissioning Editor of Documentaries | SBS
Susie Jones joined SBS as Commissioning Editor of Documentaries within the television and online
content division in 2016.
Susie began her career working in the UK at the BBC, focussing on comedy before returning to Australia where she spent over fifteen years as a freelance director and producer for a range of content across SBS, ABC, Network Ten, Nine Network, Seven Network and the Discovery Channel, including the 2010 AFI-nominated documentary feature Rudely Interrupted (ABC), Undercover Boss (Network Ten), Myf Warhurst Nice (ABC) and The Secret Millionaire (Nine Network). Prior to joining SBS, Susie oversaw the development of productions for all networks at Matchbox Pictures, including SBS commission Date My Race. Since joining SBS Susie has commissioned a range of documentaries including Who Do You Think You Are (series 9 ,10, 11), The Ghan, Secrets of Our Cities, Fair Game, Untold Australia and Every Family Has a Secret amongst others.
Stephen Oliver – Manager Documentary | ABC
Stephen Oliver – Manager Documentary | ABCAfter studying anthropology at uni in the UK, Stephen Oliver’s first TV job involved heading deep into the West African jungle to eat monkey with a shamanic witchdoctor and his 58 wives. It’s no wonder that he considers his career to have gone downhill ever since. However, in the intervening couple of decades, he has managed to write and direct many award -winning films and series, developing two distinct strings to his bow – making entertaining comedic docs about popular culture like Skippy: Australia’s First Superstar, Chateau Chunder: A Wine Revolution, The Secret History of Eurovision and Stop Laughing this is Serious, alongside hard-hitting campaign shows including Rockie award-winning What’s the Catch? (SBS) which led to a Senate Inquiry on seafood labelling, How to Save the World (ABC) on climate change which broadcast to over a million viewers on the opening day of Paris COP21 and For the Love of Meat (SBS). Stephen has since launched his commissioning career at the ABC with notable success, looking after some of the national broadcaster’s biggest hits including Logie and AACTA winning War on Waste, Venice TV prize and AACTA winning Employable Me, Love on the Spectrum, Don’t Stop the Music, The Cult of the Family, Can we Save the Reef? and Exposed: The Case of Keli Lane. Stephen introduced impact campaigns to the ABC, with notable success, including on two series of War on Waste, with 68% of the huge audience declaring to have changed behaviour after watching the show. He has two major climate shows in production for 2020, Fight for Planet A: Our Climate Challenge explores how we can all be part of reducing our carbon emissions and Big Weather (and how to survive it) explores how we can survive and thrive in an era of increasing extreme weather events. Stephen’s tireless environmental campaign shows have since persuaded him to give up his habit of eating exotic and endangered animals.
Lana Greenhalgh – Drama Executive | FOXTEL
Lana Greenhalgh – Drama Executive | FOXTELLana began working at Foxtel in 2015 after leaving a career in the talent management industry to pursue her passion for television drama. She began as the Scripted Production Coordinator and
Penny Win’s assistant working across Foxtel’s scripted production and development slate (including Wentworth, A Place To Call Home, Picnic At Hanging Rock, Australia Day, Secret City: Under the Eagle, Lambs of God, The End and Upright). Lana was promoted to a Drama Executive role in 2018 where she oversees elements of each project in Development and Production while actively seeking ideas for Foxtel’s development slate.
Andy Ryan – co-Head of Drama | Nine Network Australia
Andy Ryan – co-Head of Drama | Nine Network AustraliaAs co-Head of Drama for Nine since 2011, Andy oversees the commissioning and production of the network’s drama, comedy and children’s output. Working across Nine’s linear and digital services, Andy commissions around 70 hours of original scripted content each year.
Recent commissions include Informer 3838, Halifax: Retribution, SeaChange, and the fourth season of Australia’s most popular series, Doctor Doctor. Other recent commissions include multiple seasons of Love Child and House Husbands; comedy series Here Come the Habibs; and the mini-series House of Hancock, Gallipoli and Underbelly Files: Chopper.
For the Australian streaming platform STAN, Andy was also Executive Producer of the crime thriller Wolf Creek and comedy series No Activity.
PRODUCERS
Meg O’Connell – Independent Producer
Meg O’Connell – Independent ProducerMeg O’Connell is the AACTA Award-winning producer behind the critically acclaimed online series Robbie Hood from Since1788 Productions and Ludo Studio. She also produced Ludo Studio’s International Emmy Award-winning show Doodles for ABC ME and the vertical-video series Content for ABC iview. O’Connell worked as the development manager on the smash hit children’s animation Bluey, which is the most watched show in ABC iview history. The series won a Logie Award, was nominated for an International Emmy Award, and is now screening worldwide on Disney+. Recently, O’Connell completed a creative mentorship at FremantleMedia in the UK, funded by Screen Queensland, and has since produced a music video for Columbia Records. She is currently developing a slate of projects with a number of next generation Australian creatives. O’Connell is one of the 11 creatives selected to travel to New York in April 2020 as part of Screen Australia’s Talent USA: New York delegation to attend the Australian International Screen Forum and take part in professional development opportunities.
Michele Bennett – Independent Producer
Michele Bennett – Independent ProducerMichele Bennett is an award-winning producer, who boasts an impressive oeuvre across a breadth of fields. Her extensive career has included feature films, television series, shorts, music videos, documentaries and commercials. In 2000, Bennett produced the international cult hit and Australian box office success, Chopper starring Eric Bana and directed by Andrew Dominik. Chopper was nominated for nine AFI Awards, winning three and was nominated at the British Independent Film Awards for Best Foreign Independent Film – English Language. Bennett went on to produce the highly acclaimed cult mockumentary The Magician, along with Nash Edgerton. Written and directed by Scott Ryan, the film was recently made into a TV Series for FX Networks, Mr Inbetween. Premiering at Sundance, Mr Inbetween was greenlit for a second season and picked up six AACTA Award nominations, including Best Television Drama, Best Direction and Best Lead Actor.
Bennett also produced Drift, directed by Ben Nott and Morgan O’Neill and starring Myles Pollard, Sam Worthington and Xavier Samuel; and executive produced the 2014 feature film, The Mule, directed by Tony Mahony and Angus Sampson and starring Hugo Weaving, Ewen Leslie and Noni Hazlehurst.
Bennett was the producer on Judy and Punch, directed by Mirrah Foulkes and starring Mia Wasikowska and Damon Herriman, which had its premiere at Sundance Film Festival in 2019.
Cate McQuillen – Creative Producer | Mememe Productions
Cate McQuillen – Creative Producer | Mememe ProductionsFrom her home base in the Northern Rivers Region of NSW, Cate is one-half of mememe productions, creating ‘out there’ children’s programming for a new generation of content seekers. With a myriad of skills and interests, her greatest assets are her approach and attitude and ability to generate ideas, motivate, inspire and see the ‘big picture’.
For Cate, so much of it has to do with gathering a great team, greater than yourself, and then loving them.
Tim Maddocks – Producer | MADDFILMS
Tim Maddocks – Producer | MADDFILMSTim Maddocks first successes were the 2006 short films Death’s Requiem, and The New Life collecting over a dozen awards from 40+ festival screenings each. His feature film Terminus with Storm Vision Entertainment went to Netflix in January 2016. In 2015 Tim produced the Sci-Fi Blue World Order starring Billy Zane, Jack Thompson, Bruce Spence, Jake Ryan and Stephen Hunter directed by Ché Baker of Full Point Films this film was released in 2018. He has since produced the feature film Out of the Shadows with Oscar winner David White and Emmy nominee, Christopher Gordon. All of these features are available on iTunes and Google Play.
Switching to documentary he worked as a consultant producer with BAFTA winner Jennifer Peedom on Mountain, then Tim was heavily involved in the financing and production of Australia’s Great Wild North and Turtle Odyssey both in the top 20 Australian Box Office returns for 2019, and still screening worldwide. He is currently delivering the IMAX documentary Out of Bounds, a journey from Antarctica to Alaska with Olympic Gold Medalist Torah Bright.
Lois Randall – Producer | Magpie Pictures
Lois Randall is an award-winning Screen Producer with a passion for distinctive narrative drama. She was Producer of the 8 episode series of Seachange, an ITV and Every Cloud co-production which premiered on the Nine Network as the highest rating TV drama for 2019. Through her production company Magpie Pictures she was Producer and EP of the Prix Jeunesse International UNESCO Prize, AACTA and LOGIE nominated 13 episode live-action children’s series Grace Beside Me, that screened on NITV, ABC and Disney Channel 2018/19, and which was awarded Children’s Series Production of the Year at the 2018 SPA Awards. She was also Producer of The Gods of Wheat Street, Miniseries of the Year, 2014 SPA Awards, and a Development EP on the 2018 AACTA Award-winning web series Deadlock, both Every Cloud Productions for ABC TV. Lois has also produced several acclaimed short films, was line-producer on the ABC series East of Everything and John Weiley’s Imax feature Solarmax. Lois’s professional experience includes Executive Director at Australian Screen Directors’ Association (now ADG) and Manager of Metro Screen.
Virginia Whitwell – Head of Production | GoodThing Productions
Virginia Whitwell – Head of Production | GoodThing Productions Over a 25 year career, Virginia has become a highly experienced producer of factual and scripted content. She is the Head of Production for Melbourne based GoodThing Productions after five years in this role at Madman Production Company. She has co-produced and produced many scripted and factual features including That Sugar Film, Save Your Legs!, A Month Of Sundays, Westwind:Djalu’s Legacy, All For One and 2040 directed by Damon Gameau. Hailing from the UK, she has worked on numerous productions all over the world. Her extensive production experience includes projects for Warner Bros, HBO, Lucasfilm, EON, 20th Century Fox and Universal. Virginia recently produced AACTA award-winning The Australian Dream, an Australian-United Kingdom co-production with Passion Pictures directed by BAFTA award-winning Dan Gordon (MIFF Opening night and Audience Award, Telluride, TIFF, LFF 2019) and Below, a scripted feature film directed by Maziar Lahooti starring Anthony La Paglia and Ryan Corr (MIFF 2019).
Deb Cox – Creative Director, Head Writer, Executive Producer, Co-Founder | Every Cloud Productions
Over three decades, Deb Cox has created and produced some of Australia’s most iconic screen content. As Head of Drama for Artist Services, she developed a range of feature film and television projects, including the ABC miniseries Simone de Beauvoir’s Babies, feature film Dead Letter Office and – as part of CoxKnight Productions with Andrew Knight – co-created and wrote three series of SeaChange for the ABC.
Deb joined forces with Fiona Eagger to form Every Cloud Productions in 2009 and went on to co-create, co-produce and head the writing team on three series of international, award-winning, period drama Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. Deb has worked as Executive Producer and Story Producer on Indigenous drama The Gods of Wheat Street. She co-created Newton’s Law, and youth short form series Deadlock, which received the AACTA Award for the Best Online Series in 2018. Deb was Executive Producer and Head Writer on Ms Fisher’s MODern Murder Mysteries for the Seven Network and for the reboot of the much-loved series SeaChange, for the Nine Network. She Executive Produced and wrote the highly anticipated feature film Miss Fisher & the Crypt of Tears.
In 2016, Deb jointly received the Jill Robb Award for Outstanding Leadership, Achievement and Service to the Victorian Screen Industry.
Fiona Eagger – Executive Producer | Every Cloud Productions
Fiona Eagger is an award-winning and highly experienced Producer and Executive Producer. Forming Every Cloud Productions with Deb Cox in 2009, Fiona co-created and produced three series of award-winning drama Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. In 2016 Fiona was a recipient of the Jill Robb Award. In July 2017, as Every Cloud CEO, Fiona Eagger, was the recipient of Film Victoria’s Screen Business Ventures funding; in the same year received the Film Victoria Natalie Miller Fellowship for Women in Leadership. Fiona is an honorary Adjunct Professor in the School of Media and Communications at RMIT, and has taken a leading role promoting women in front and behind the camera throughout her career.
Mike Jones – Head of Content and Development | Every Cloud Productions.
Mike Jones – Head of Content and Development | Every Cloud Productions. Mike Jones is a development producer, story editor, and writer with a depth of experience across scripted narrative genres and platforms. His body of work has received numerous awards including AACTA, Emmy, AWG, SPA, & ADG accolades.
Well known as an expert in speculative genres, yet equally at home in narrative comedy, Mike has long been a highly regarded script developer and innovator. He has previously worked with companies including the ABC, WarnerBros, Jungle, Princess Pictures and, with SweetPotatoFilms, collaborated on major international TV series including mystery drama The Gloaming and celebrated supernatural series The Kettering Incident. For Every Cloud, Mike story-produced the AACTA-winning youth drama series Deadlock, and for the ABC steered script development of much-loved comic-drama series F*cking Adelaide and the Emmy award nominated Wrong Kind of Black.
With a commitment to developing new talent and exploring new platforms Mike has devised or delivered some of Australia’s most successful and innovative scripted content workshops and development programs including SkipAhead with Google/YouTube, PlatformX with the AWG, Gender Matters with ScreenAustralia, and Long Story Short with the ABC.
Aside from television and film production Mike is a published horror novelist and co-creator of ground-breaking interactive projects VRNoir and the psychedelic immersive drama, Awake which featured at Cannes in 2018. His early career included journalism and writing for the theatre where he was twice recipient of national young playwright’s awards. He previously served as a development executive to Screen Australia and lectured in story and writing at the Australian Film TV & Radio School.
Rachel Gardner – Executive Producer | See-Saw
Rachel joined Academy and Bafta Award-winning independent production company See-Saw Films to run the Australian film and television slates after producing John Maclean’s Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize-winning feature film Slow West (2015) alongside See-Saw. Rachel is a talent-focused creative producer, executive producing (television) or producing (film) from conception and development through to production and creative delivery.
See-Saw’s recent Australian productions include Top of the Lake: China Girl, Academy Award-nominated feature film Lion, The New Legends of Monkey and The End, with Jane Campion’s film The Power of the Dog currently shooting. Prior to joining See-Saw Films, Rachel was a partner in Great Southern Television, a dynamic and independent production company based in New Zealand, executive producing or producing over a hundred hours of prime-time programming in the seven years she drove the drama and factual slates.
Gillian Moody | Kalori Productions
Gillian Moody | Kalori ProductionsGillian has worked in both management and production roles during her extensive years in the screen industry. She is well regarded for her advocacy for Indigenous stories and mentoring of emerging filmmakers. Gill began her career over 20 years ago through targeted traineeships, working with MetroScreen prior to moving to SBS where she spent 10 years with the Indigenous Media Unit, working her way up through various roles to Production Manager on ICAM & Living Black and other entertainment programs, one-off documentaries and special event programming. Gill then worked as an Investment and Development Manager in Screen Australia’s Indigenous Department for several years.
In 2016, Gill Series Produced the first series of Family Rules, a 6 x 30 min Documentary TV Series for NITV. She began her own company Kalori Productions in 2017. A 2018 co-production saw a continued collaboration with Director Adrian Russell Wills with the documentary Black Divaz, which premiered at the Sydney Queer Screen Mardi Gras Film Festival and received the Audience Award for Best Documentary, before screening on NITV and SBS1.
Gill also produces drama. She has worked with Bunya Productions through a producing internship in 2017/18 and continues to collaborate with Bunya Productions where she Series Produced the online sketch comedy series Nice Shorts in 2019. Her most recent producer credit for short film was Ties That Bind with writer/director Michael Hudson through a Screen Australia Indigenous/ABC Initiative, the film had its world premiere at the 2019 Sydney Film Festival where it won the Event Cinema Award for Best Australian Short Screenplay. Gill and Michael are continuing their collaboration across a web series. And Gill continues to collaborate with Adrian across both drama and documentary projects currently in development and/or financing.
Roger Monk
Roger MonkRoger is a film & TV creator, screenwriter, script editor and showrunner. Since winning the AFI, IF and Critics Circle best script awards along with the Teddy at Berlin Film Festival for feature film, Walking On Water in 2002 Roger has worked as a writer and development producer in most genres and formats. Roger was the head writer on S1 of Emmy winning kids series, Nowhere Boys. His pilot episode was nominated for an AWGIE Award, as was an episode for Dance Academy. He was development producer for Essential Media (Brisbane) where he nurtured original projects, often working with emerging and diverse writers. Other TV credits include Secret Life Of Us, Doctor Blake Murder Mysteries, East of Everything (co-creator & co-producer) and Itch. Roger script edited Ludo kids animation series, The Strange Chores. Working in Asia, Roger is scripting Netflix Original series Mr Midnight and a sequel for Indonesian animation feature film, Knight Kris. He is currently writing SBS crime comedy The Unusual Suspects and Paradise, a feature film based on the story of two gay men who met and fell in love in an Australian offshore refugee detention facility after fleeing persecution in Iran. Roger is in development of crime comedy TV series, Mortal Coil with the support of Screen NSW.
Dena Curtis
Dena CurtisDena began her career as a Media Officer and an Editor at Papulu Apparr-Kari Language Centre in Tennant Creek, Central Australia. She has broad experience in Production with Editing, Writing, Directing and Producing. Throughout her career, Dena also worked at National Indigenous Television, as a Promo Producer and Senior Editor and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, as a Series Producer of Message Sticks and then Commissioning Editor for Indigenous. Working across a broad range of documentary, factual and drama projects has allowed Dena to foster strong story development and management skills.
Dena’s credits include the Logie nominated Children’s Television Series, Grace Beside Me for NITV, ABC ME and Disney AUS/NZ, Award-winning short films Hush, Jacob and Nan and a Whole Lot of Trouble. ABC’s narrative comedy series 8MMM Aboriginal Radio, NITV’s documentary series, Shadow Trackers, feature documentary, Ella and documentary series’, Colour Theory Underground and Elements.
Most recently Dena produced Short Films, Walters Ghost, written and directed by Caden Pearson, Shed written and directed by Chantelle Murray and directed four episodes of Children’s Television Series, Thalu for Weerianna Street Media, ABC ME, NITV and ACTF.
Stephanie Dower | Dower Productions
Kirk Page
Kirk PageI am a proud Mulandjali man born in QLD with lineage connected to the Torres Strait Islands and with German and Polish heritage. I am passionate about creating change through art-making and developing young voices in their communities.
Kirk spent some time at the Northern Rivers Performing Arts as the Associate Director at NORPA.
His career as an artist exposing him to the arts sector nationally and internationally.
Kirk has developed his instincts as a performer and a teacher working for the Major theatre Companies in Australia as an Actor ( stage and screen ) Dancer, Singer, Physical Theatre performer, Movement Director, Mentor, Teacher and recently as an associate artist and producer working in Community Development in the Northern Rivers Region of Lismore, NSW.
Recently Kirk took up a position at the Koori Mail as a contributing writer and has 2 new works in development.
INDUSTRY EXECUTIVES
Chris Oliver-Taylor – CEO Asia Pacific | Fremantle
Chris started his career at the BBC in London, before emigrating to Australia in 2000. He worked in various senior production roles at ABC TV before becoming Head of Production in 2005 and then Head of Business & Operations in 2008. In 2011, Chris moved to the independent production sector as Managing Director of Matchbox Pictures. During this period, Matchbox produced a highly acclaimed slate of programming, garnering numerous Australian and international awards. Chris’ Executive Producer credits include THE SLAP (NBC/ABC Australia), THE HEIGHTS (ABC Australia), GLITCH (Netflix/ABC Australia) and WANTED (Netflix/Seven Network Australia). Chris was also the Lead Executive in Australia for CAMP (NBC) and HUNTERS (Syfy).
In 2018, Chris was appointed Fremantle’s CEO Asia Pacific. Chris leads Production right across the region with a focus on Australia, New Zealand, India and Indonesia. Chris also holds a position on the Fremantle Global Operating Board. Chris is currently a Board member of Film Victoria, and former Board member and Deputy Chair of Screenrights and President of Screen Producer’s Australia.
Elle Curran – Partner | DWA
Elle re-joined DWA as a partner in 2019 after working as Director of Legal and Business Affairs at Screen Producers Australia. Elle was also Business Affairs Manager at the ABC and has worked for other entertainment businesses such as ITV Global Entertainment, Flame Media and Endemol Shine International. Elle’s areas of expertise include production legal, industrial and employment law and television distribution.
Emma Madison – Head of New Business & Technology | Screenrights
Emma is a screen industry executive with more than 15 years experience in royalty distribution. During her time at Screenrights she has overseen payment of more than $300 million in royalties to companies and screen practitioners in Australia and around the world.
Screenrights is a non-profit membership organisation that provides rights and royalty management services to the screen industry. It facilitates access to screen content through simple licensing solutions for teachers in education, administrators in government, and home viewers with subscription TV – and provide royalty payments to its members for the programs audiences love.
In her current role as Head of New Business & Technology, Emma is developing a range of new solutions for the industry to help navigate recoupment of investment and understand the financial performance of content in an increasingly fragmented market.
Emma has an MBA(x) in Tech and has studied blockchain strategy with the Oxford Saïd Business School. In 2018 she was awarded The Anita Prabhu Women Leaders in Business Award by the AGSM, Australia’s leading business school.
Jeff Harrison – Managing Director/Executive Producer | Umbrella Entertainment
Jeff Harrison – Managing Director/Executive Producer | Umbrella EntertainmentJeff Harrison founded Umbrella Entertainment in 2001. His extensive knowledge, encompassing all aspects of film acquisition, production and distribution, has ensured Umbrella’s position as one of Australia’s leading independent distributors and premium ‘all rights’ management companies, delivering content across multiple platforms throughout Australia and the world.
With theatrical highlights including The Babadook, The Way, Walking The Camino, You Were Never Really Here, The Merger, Cargo, For Sama, Honeyland and upcoming local features such as Relic and The Furnace, Harrison’s passion for cinema has seen Umbrella amass a catalogue of over 1,500 titles, which also incorporates the largest collection of restored classic Australian films & TV shows outside of the National Film & Sound Archive (NFSA). Drawing upon 30+ years’ experience as a business entrepreneur, Harrison has also formed strong personal relationships with leading international players in film and music, and in 2015 was appointed Treasurer of Australian Independent Distributors Association (AIDA).
Ari Harrison – Acquisitions Manager | Umbrella Entertainment
Ari Harrison – Acquisitions Manager | Umbrella EntertainmentAri has been with Umbrella Entertainment for 5 years. As one of Australia’s leading independent film distributors, Umbrella manages rights for film content spanning multiple platforms, including Theatrical, VOD, Home Entertainment, TV and Ancillary. In his role as the company’s Acquisitions Manager, Ari is across all of these areas, with specific emphasis on determining the financial and artistic viability of both local and international productions. He also maintains Umbrella’s strong ties with the Australian film community through the ongoing acquisition and support of domestic titles.
Over the last few years, Ari has been responsible for many of the company’s key acquisitions including features such as Arctic, You Were Never Really Here, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, Under The Silver Lake, Wild Goose Lake, Deerskin, Color Out Of Space, Martha: A Picture Story along with the globally acclaimed documentaries For Sama and Honeyland, both of which received nominations at the 2020 Academy® Awards.
Ari is also in charge of Umbrella’s Festival Liaison division.
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FUNDING BODIES
Grainne Brunsdon – Head of Screen NSW
Grainne Brunsdon – Head of Screen NSWGrainne has more than 20 years’ experience working in the creative industries. At Create NSW, she was previously Director Engagement and Development and Director of Arts Investment, following earlier roles in Screen NSW. She worked in international cultural relations with the British Council, with arts organisations in Sydney and lectured in Design Studies at TAFE and at UNSW.
Kylie Munnich – CEO | Screen Queensland
Kylie Munnich was appointed CEO of Screen Queensland (SQ) in October 2019 and has over 25 years’ experience in film and TV distribution and development.
Prior to joining SQ, Kylie worked as Scripted Sales and Co-Production Executive for Seven Studios in Sydney, Senior Vice President for Distribution Asia Pacific for Sonar Entertainment and Director of Drama & Comedy for Sky Vision in London.
Kylie worked at Sony Pictures Television from 2005 – 2014, where she started as Vice President of Distribution for Australia and New Zealand and moved to London in 2011 to take up the role of Senior Vice President UK, Ireland and Africa.
Previous companies Kylie has worked for include MGM International Television and the Warner Bros. company Filmbank Distributors Ltd, based in London.
Lee Naimo – Online Investment Manager | Screen Australia
Lee Naimo – Online Investment Manager | Screen AustraliaLee Naimo is a professional writer, actor and comedian. As one-third of the musical comedy troupe The Axis of Awesome he has toured the world and written songs and sketches that have achieved hundreds of millions of views online. Over their ten year history, the Axis of Awesome built an army of fans worldwide, in part due to their hugely popular Four Chords song, which itself has over 120 million hits on YouTube.
Lee is an accomplished solo performer and writer, having recently been the head writer on WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY? AUSTRALIA, as well as writing several solo sketch shows that have toured Australia. He is also the co-creator and Creative Producer of Insert Coin, an online sketch comedy series about video games with over 2 million views. Since 2018 he has worked for Screen Australia as an Online Investment Manager, where he has supported hugely successful online content such as Sarah’s Channel, Content, Superwog, Over and Out, Glennridge Secondary College, The Other Guy Season 2 and many more. He is also responsible for setting up initiatives such as Pitcher Perfect with VidCon, Digital Originals with SBS and Snapchat + Screen Australia, which is the first-ever Australian partnership with mobile platform Snapchat.
AACTA PITCH JUDGES
Michele Bennett, award-winning producer
Michele Bennett is an award-winning producer, who boasts an impressive oeuvre across a breadth of fields. Her extensive career has included feature films, television series, shorts, music videos, documentaries and commercials. In 2000, Bennett produced the international cult hit and Australian box office success, Chopper starring Eric Bana and directed by Andrew Dominik. Chopper was nominated for nine AFI Awards, winning three and was nominated at the British Independent Film Awards for Best Foreign Independent Film – English Language. Bennett went on to produce the highly acclaimed cult mockumentary The Magician, along with Nash Edgerton. Written and directed by Scott Ryan, the film was recently made into a TV Series for FX Networks, Mr Inbetween. Premiering at Sundance, Mr Inbetween was greenlit for a second season and picked up six AACTA Award nominations, including Best Television Drama, Best Direction and Best Lead Actor.
Bennett also produced Drift, directed by Ben Nott and Morgan O’Neill and starring Myles Pollard, Sam Worthington and Xavier Samuel; and executive produced the 2014 feature film, The Mule, directed by Tony Mahony and Angus Sampson and starring Hugo Weaving, Ewen Leslie and Noni Hazlehurst.
Bennett was the producer on Judy and Punch, directed by Mirrah Foulkes and starring Mia Wasikowska and Damon Herriman, which had its premiere at Sundance Film Festival in 2019.
Deb Cox, Creative Director and Co-Founder Every Cloud Productions
Deb Cox, Creative Director and Co-Founder Every Cloud ProductionsOver three decades, Deb Cox has created and produced some of Australia’s most iconic screen content. As Head of Drama for Artist Services, she developed a range of feature film and television projects, including the ABC miniseries Simone De Beauvoir’s Babies, feature film Dead Letter Office and – as part of CoxKnight Productions with Andrew Knight – co-created and wrote three series of Seachange for the ABC. Deb joined forces with Fiona Eagger to form Every Cloud Productions in 2009 and went on to co-create, co-produce and head the writing team on three series of international, award-winning, period drama Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. Deb has worked as Executive Producer and Story Producer on Indigenous drama The Gods of Wheat Street. She co-created Newton’s Law, and youth short-form series Deadlock, which received the AACTA Award for the Best Online Series in 2018. Deb was Executive Producer and Head Writer on Miss Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries for the Seven Network and for the reboot of the much-loved series Seachange, for the Nine Network. She Executive Produced and wrote the highly anticipated feature film Miss Fisher & The Crypt of Tears. In 2016, Deb has jointly received the Jill Robb Award for Outstanding Leadership, Achievement and Service to the Victorian Screen Industry.
AMANDA DUTHIE – ACTING HEAD OF SCRIPTED | SBS
Amanda Duthie is currently acting Head of Scripted at SBS. Previously she has been Head of Production, Development & Attraction at South Australian Film Corporation working across projects such as Stateless, Fallout, Mortal Kombat, Upright, The Hunting, I Am Woman and various screen initiatives such as Centralised. Prior to the SAFC Amanda was Creative Director/CEO of the Adelaide Film Festival curating five major screen events as well as leading the award-winning Investment Fund slate which included titles such as Sweet Country, The Nightingale, Top End Wedding, Animals, Hotel Mumbai, She Who Must Be Loved, I am Mother, Ali’s Wedding, Girl Asleep, Spear, Fucking Adelaide as well as art and screen projects such as HIVE, installations for galleries and museums and VR/hybrid work such as Collisions and Summation of Force. Prior to this Amanda was Head of Arts & Entertainment at ABC TV delivering primetime and online projects working with Shaun Micallef, Hannah Gadsby, Bondi Hipsters, Annabel Crabb, Jennifer Byrne, Chaser and Sam Simmons.
Jeff Harrison, Managing Director/Executive Producer Umbrella Entertainment
Jeff Harrison founded Umbrella Entertainment in 2001. His extensive knowledge, encompassing all aspects of film acquisition, production and distribution, has ensured Umbrella’s position as one of Australia’s leading independent distributors and premium ‘all rights’ management companies, delivering content across multiple platforms throughout Australia and the world.
With theatrical highlights including The Babadook, The Way, Walking The Camino, You Were Never Really Here, The Merger, Cargo, For Sama, Honeyland and upcoming local features such as Relic and The Furnace, Harrison’s passion for cinema has seen Umbrella amass a catalogue of over 1,500 titles, which also incorporates the largest collection of restored classic Australian films & TV shows outside of the National Film & Sound Archive (NFSA). Drawing upon 30+ years’ experience as a business entrepreneur, Harrison has also formed strong personal relationships with leading international players in film and music, and in 2015 was appointed Treasurer of Australian Independent Distributors Association (AIDA).
