The Opportunity

Regional directors, this is your room!

Take a seat in the director’s chair with two of Australia’s most respected and distinctive filmmakers – Ana Kokkinos (Head On, Blessed, Fires, Here Out West) and Ivan O’Mahoney (Unbreakable: The Jelena Dokic Story, Hitting Home, Go Back to Where You Came From) – for an immersive two-day intensive designed to sharpen your craft, strengthen your voice, and deepen your leadership on set.

Across both drama and documentary, Ana and Ivan will lead bespoke sessions drawn from their extensive work in feature films and high-end television, offering rare insight into how they shape story, performance and tone from script to screen.

Whether you’re an emerging or experienced director, this is a practical, high-level opportunity to interrogate your creative instincts, refine your toolkit, and elevate your directorial practice.

What You’ll Explore

  • Defining Your Directorial Voice: Understand the core responsibilities of a director and clarify your perspective, shaping a cohesive visual and tonal language from development to post.
  • Working with Actors & Real People: Gain valuable insight into building trust, guiding authentic performances, and drawing out truth in drama and documentary alike.
  • Visual Storytelling: Understand how to use camera, composition and framing to express theme, character and tension.
  • Scene Design & Blocking: Staging scenes with intention – utilising space, subtext, and movement to serve the story.
  • Creative Leadership: The director sets the tone – understand how to guide the cast and crew with clarity and confidence, balancing collaboration with decisive leadership.

Who It’s For

This intensive is ideal if you are an emerging, early, or mid-career TV and/or film director (based in regional NSW) who wants to:

  • Gain greater clarity around your directing voice
  • Acquire practical tools for working with actors and documentary subjects
  • Develop strategies to lead a set with authority
  • Strengthen your visual and storytelling framework
  • Receive personalised feedback on your creative decision-making

Key Information

Thursday 7th & Friday 8th May, 2026
Ramada Hotel, Ballina, NSW
9:00am–5:00pm each day
Cost: $295 inc GST (includes catering)

  • Applications open Thursday 12th March, 2026.
  • Applications close 10am Thursday 16th April, 2026. 
  • Successful applicants will be notified by Thursday 23rd April, 2026.
  • 10 places will be selectively allocated. 
  • To be eligible to apply for Screenworks’ 2-day Directing Intensive you must be a screen director living in regional NSW (definitions of regional areas can be found here)  with one of the following:
    • a short fiction or documentary film which has screened at a film festival, or
    • a fiction or documentary film that has screened publicly, or
    • experience directing a documentary or fiction television series that has been broadcast and/or streamed, or
    • directed documentary or fiction content for an online audience
  • The 2-day intensive workshop will take place at the Ramada in Ballina, NSW on Thursday 7th and Friday 8th May. Participants will be required to book and pay for their own travel/accommodation. 
  • The cost to selected applicants is $295 inc GST (includes catering).
  • After the workshop, the assessors will award one participant a ticket to Screenworks’ Regional to Global conference in Lennox Head (date TBC) and guarantee a 1:1 meeting with one relevant guest speaker.  

What Do I Need To Apply?

  • Applicants must be current Screenworks members.
  • Applications are open to directors living in regional NSW. Definitions of regional areas can be found here.
  • Applicants must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident.
  • Required application materials include: completed application form, CV, links to directing works.

This is a rare opportunity for regional practitioners to work intensively with leading Australian directors in an intimate, high-level environment. Secure your spot and take the next step in your filmmaking journey.

Guest Tutors

ANA KOKKINOS – Ana Kokkinos is a director, screenwriter and producer. Her award-winning feature films, which include Only the Brave, Head On, and Blessed are considered to be some of the most groundbreaking and distinctive works in Australian cinema. As a director in TV, her work couldn’t be more diverse. She has directed episodes of The Secret Life of Us and the AACTA winning children’s show Eugenie Sandler PI. She’s directed episodes of some of our most celebrated drama series – Seven Types of Ambiguity, The Hunting and Fires. More recently, she worked on the BBC/STAN co-production Ten Pound Poms, the highest rating new drama for the BBC in 2023. In 2024, Ana returned as co-executive producer and set-up director for three episodes in Series 2.



IVAN O’MAHONEY – Ivan is the founder of In Films, the production company behind projects such as Sentient, Surviving Malka Leifer, Unbreakable – The Jelena Dokic Story, Firestarter – The Story of Bangarra, The Queen & Zak Grieve, Hitting Home, Revelation, The Whiteley Art Scandal and Folau. Originally a lawyer, his TV career kicked off at CNN following a degree from Columbia Journalism School. From the US, he moved to London where he produced and directed documentaries for BBC, Channel 4 and HBO. Notable films include festival favorites Baghdad High and How To Plan a Revolution. Love and marriage brought him to Australia in 2008. His work earned the Robert F Kennedy Journalism Award, the Prix Europa, the Japan Prize, a Nymph d’Or, and several Rose d’Ors, Logies, Walkleys, AACTAs, Australian Screen Producer and Director Guild Awards. Ivan is currently directing a film on Australian artist Ken Done.



Screenworks’ Directing Intensive 2026 is supported by Screen NSW.