Alumni | Australian International Screen Forum

ALUMNI

2025 Talent USA Participants

Colin Cairnes
Ra Chapman
Lucy Gaffy
Sara Khan
Alena Lodkina
Neil Sharma
Tig Terera
Keir Wilkins

2024 Talent USA Participants

Enoch Mailangi

Hannah Barlow and Kane Senes

Hannah Carroll Chapman

Imogen McCluskey

Michelle Brasier and Sam Lingham

Noora Niasari

Paddy Macrae

Tristram Baumber

2022 Talent USA Participants

Julietta Boscolo

Lucy Campbell
Beck Cole
Vonne Patiag
Samuel Nuggin-Paynter
Renée Webster

Rachele Wiggins
Thomas Wilson-White

2021 Women in screen workshop

Leah Patterson

Australian director Leah Patterson works in theatre and film. In 2020 she had her first foray in television. She was selected for Ryan Murphy’s Half Initiative and shadowed Producing-Director David Grossman on 9-1-1 Lone Star. She was named one of 2019’s
Top 10 Women In Film To Watch by Diversity In Cannes. Her work is emotionally resonant, often focusing on real-life and intimate relationship
based stories.

Her film Bridget and Iain was based on the play of the same name by Norelle Scott. At the Short+Sweet Festival the play won Best Play and the People’s Choice Award presented by the City of Los Angeles. Leah was awarded Best Director out of the 60+
play festival. The film’s actor, Damian Sommerlad, was awarded Best Actor at Diversity in Cannes.
She directed Oracles & Miracles a play written by Norelle Scott based on the bestselling novel Oracles and Miracles by Stevan Eldred-Grigg. The production marked the
30 year anniversary of this powerful novel and the North American debut of
the play, which won an Encore Producers Award at the Hollywood Fringe Festival. Leah was the Literary Manager for Los
Angeles based Australian Theatre Company, curating and producing its popular annual Summer Reading Series.

She graduated from the University of New South Wales with a BA in Theatre/
Film & Philosophy. She graduated from William Esper Studio, an acting
conservatory in New York City. She and her sister were the first in their family to attend university. Leah had a previous career in finance on Wall Street.

Jingjing Tian

Jingjing is a Chinese American filmmaker based in NYC. A Sundance Uprise Grantee, she is working on her first feature film, Kid C. Her short films have screened at Nitehawk Cinema with MoMA, Cleveland International Film Festival, Bentonville Film Festival, Seattle Asian American
Film Festival, and Museum of the Chinese in America. Her work has been profiled in Paper Magazine, AM New York, BuzzFeed, High Country News, South China Morning Post + more.

Rebecca Ingram

Rebecca Ingram is a Welsh-Australian Writer and Creative Producer who creates compelling high-end drama series set in particular worlds. Rebecca’s work has been optioned by some of Europe’s and Australia’s prominent production companies, and currently has an international series in development with a leading German production company. She has just been shortlisted for the BBC and World Productions 2021 Scriptwriting Award for her Welsh community drama Grounded, and her crime police drama Undercurrent, was recently shortlisted for the Australian Writers Guild’s 2021 premier Monte Miller Award - now in development with production company Sweetshop & Green.
In 2017 her work scored an Australian Directors Guild Fellowship to attend the U.S Stowe Story Lab, as well as shortlisted for the AWG’s ‘Prime Time’ TV series competition, where she was inducted into the Pathways Program for her gritty, female juvenile justice series ‘Dog Box’.
In 2019, two of Rebecca’s crime series (Dog Box & Secret Threads), received significant development funding from Screen Australia and Screen NSW. Rebecca also received a travel grant in 2019 from Screen NSW to attend Content London with the project Dog Box.
2018 saw Rebecca selected to be part of Screen Producers Australia’s ‘Ones to Watch’ program as a Creative Producer for her slate of work, as well as Dame Changers ‘Mentor to Market’ program, and Bunya Productions ‘Hollywood Showrunner Talent Lab’.
Her TV production credits as a Producer’s Assistant include shows such as the 2019 reboot of Seachange (Channel 9), and the AACTA winning series, Deadlock (ABC TV). Rebecca also works as a Creative Producer for Australian production company Magpie Pictures.

Candy Bowers

Candy Bowers is a radical mischief-maker, writer, creator and musician. Born of South African political refugees, Candy has created an extraordinary cross-disciplinary body of work that shakes and tickles audiences in equal measure. The original producer and co-creator of global phenomenon Hot Brown Honey, Candy and her sister Kim Busty Beatz Bowers ran the international production house Black Honey Company from 2008-2018. Candy worked as a contributor, actor and sketch writer for the Comedy Channel and the ABC including Tonightly with Tom Ballard and Get Krack!n. In 2017 Candy stepped across to development via Screen Australia’s Developing the Developer lab and continued studying in the field under Louise Gough at Arena Media. In 2018/19 she was named as one of four recipients of the Screen Australia/ Australians In Film MentorLA initiative and took part in the Talent USA/LA program. Candy attached to Peter Saji on family sit-com Mixedish (abc/Disney) and signed with Hollywood literary agent WRIT-Large. Over the last 18 months Candy has plied her trade via a number of proposed Aussie comedy and kids series, including: Dirty Thirties (Screen Australia) Fresh! (Freemantle) The Back Room (SBS/ Film Victoria) and Joy (Mischief Media). Candy is currently working on turning her On Air 2020 winning scripted-audio pitch Bottlo2560 into a comedy series for TV and developing her feature film for young adults Elastic Tribe.

Lindsey Ryan

Lindsey is a filmmaker originally from Long
Island and is currently based in Brooklyn, New York. She started her freelance career at the early age of thirteen, where
she interned as a camera PA on the MTV Show One Bad Choice. Her credits have since grown to include Oscar nominated documentaries, several network and streaming
series, major brand commercials and several short form narrative productions.
After graduating from Hofstra University with a BS in Film and Television, she began working for critically acclaimed director
Reed Morano. Lindsey is now directing commercials and developing narrative projects for a New York based production
company, Rebel Motion.
Her most recent credit SEASICK, an LGBTQ short film about a ferry deckhand who sends a love-confessing text message,
was shot entirely on a moving boat on the Great South Bay. The film stars Pauline Chalamet and has gone on to play festivals such as Outfest, Newport Beach, Nantucket and has
won several awards including Best 1st Time Director, Best
Actress, and Best LGBTQ Short.

Sunday Emerson Gullifer

Sunday Emerson Gullifer is an award-winning film director and screenwriter from Sydney, Australia.
With the support of Screen New South Wales, she is currently developing her debut feature, HELMUT,
inspired by her acclaimed short film, TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW (2017).
In 2020, she was a Writer in Residence at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris while she worked on
the project.
TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW premiered internationally at Telluride Film Festival, was Highly Commended in the Dendy Awards for Australian Short Films at Sydney Film Festival, won Best Screenplay at Munich International Festival of Film Schools, Best Performance at Flickerfest, Best Masters Narrative Production at the Victorian College of the Arts, and was nominated for an Australian
Directors’ Guild Award. The film later premiered online as a Vimeo Staff Pick and was featured on Short
of the Week, with Women and Hollywood calling it “a must-watch for anyone who is invested in the
#MeToo and Time’s Up movements”.
Prior to that, she received Metro Screen Breaks funding to make her short film, MEAT (2015). The film
was nominated for an Australian Directors’ Guild Award and won an Australian Cinematographers’
Society Silver Award, screening at festivals across Australia and internationally. In 2018, Sunday was awarded the Lexus Australia Short Film Fellowship. The $50,000 fellowship funded
production of her latest short film, BROKEN LINE NORTH (2019), and saw the film premiere at Sydney
Film Festival.
Sunday holds a Master of Film and Television (Narrative) from the Victorian College of the Arts, a Master
of Media Arts and Production from the University of Technology Sydney, and a Bachelor of Arts
(Performance Studies, American Studies) from the University of Sydney.
Originally hailing from a background in theatre, she is drawn to bold stories told with heart.

Marisa Nathar

Marisa Nathar is a screenwriter and children’s book author with an extensive background in film and television production. Marisa’s screen credits include MUSTANGS FC (Ep 8 series 3) for Matchbox Pictures/ ABC ME/ NITV. Most recently, she wrote multiple episodes for live-action teen series ROCK ISLAND MYSTERIES for Viacom CBS Nickelodeon/ Fremantle Australia.

Previous credits include short film EAGLEHAWK (2016) directed by Shannon Murphy and produced by Dollhouse Pictures. A finalist in the Sydney Film Festival Dendy Short Film Awards 2016, EAGLEHAWK went on to screen at Melbourne International Film Festival, St Kilda Film Festival, Flickerfest, Cinefest Oz, Aesthetica (UK) and FilmForum (Poland) and Provincetown International Film Festival among others.

She has been awarded two Film Victoria Key Talent writers’ placements, including for MUSTANGS FC (series 2) with Matchbox Pictures and has participated in a wide range of television story rooms as well as being a story researcher for numerous TV series.

Marisa is developing several projects for television and film including original drama series Carmenta with co-creator/writer Holly Alexander which received development funding from Film Victoria and was in the final round for the Sundance Episodic 2020 Lab. A Malaysian-Australian creative, Marisa is passionate about authentic storytelling and representation both on-screen and behind the camera.

Monique de Groot

Monique de Groot (BMedia) was recognised as the “Breakthrough Filmmaker” from the State of New South of Wales by
the Screen Producers Association of Australia (SPAA) and the Motion Picture Association of Australia (MPAA). She is the
producer of some award-winning short films, and has worked in production on various feature films in Australia. Monique
has had a long association with, and mentorship from Australian producers Al Clark and Andrena Finlay, producers of some
of Australia’s most successful films. She was one of few creative teams to be selected to participate in SPAA’s international film financing market, and Aurora - an intensive feature film script development program for screenwriters. Through this
initiative, she was mentored for one year by American producer Christine Vachon and Syd Field, leading screenwriting
consultant and author of “Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting”.
Monique has been backed by the Australian Government film funding bodies, where they have supported her film projects
in development as well as her as an individual. She received a competitive Screen Australia talent grant for an industry
placement. Until recently, Monique has been based in Mexico City developing predominately Spanish-language feature
films, and now resides in the United States.

2021 WFH Screenwriting workshop

Sunny Grace

Sunny Grace is an award-winning writer, director and creative producer. She completed a Master of Arts in Performance Writing at the National Institute of Dramatic Arts in 2016.
Growing up with hippy parents and living a life not normal gives her a unique perspective on life that she brings to her stories. Her feature film Never the Bride was a finalist in the 2021 AACTA Regional pitch competition. She was longlisted for the AWG Monte Miller award with her TV pilot, Almost Paradise. In 2020 she won the AACTA mini short film pitching competition for her short film Charging that premiered at Screenfest 2020. She directed, produced, and wrote the short film Trigger Happy, which won an Award for Excellent at Global Shorts and was shortlisted for the AACTA social shorts award. Her screenplay, The Bower Girl, was long listed for AWG Insite award. Her play, The Angelica
Complex, premiered at The Kings Cross Theatre in Sydney in 2016 and has been published by APT. In 2018 she was awarded The Rex Cramphorn Artist in Residency at
Sydney University. Her passion is telling original and compelling stories about our shared
humanity, equality and the environment using irony and empathy.

Shauna O'Meara

Shauna O’Meara is a screenwriter from regional Canberra who utilises science fiction and fantasy tropes to amplify the emotional impact of drama and comedy narratives. With her formative years spent in rural and coastal townships prior to the cultural clash of city university life, Shauna’s work often explores themes of loneliness, class divide, found family, and the changing nature of social connections in the age of interface and social media. She has a passion for complex worldbuilding, competent characters, bittersweet endings, and high concept 90s science fiction blockbusters.
Shauna is an award-winning writer of short-form genre fiction, publishing annually in a range of Australian and international magazines and anthologies. Her science fiction has won three Aurealis Awards, the Writers of the Future Contest, and been a finalist in the Launch Pad Prose Contest, Norma K. Hemming Award and Ditmar Award. She is also an emergency room veterinarian with over ten years in the veterinary industry, a tangential career path that has given her much life experience, exposure to a diverse range of characters, conflicts and workplace relationships, as well as a sound grasp of scientific principles, all of which inform upon and add authenticity to her screencraft.

Megan Williams

Megan Williams is an Australian screenwriter and producer living in rural
Queensland. She has written across genres and platforms for five years. She also recently co produced and wrote a Screen Queensland funded rom- com web series called ‘Perfect Messy Love’, which screened online in Dec 2020. A graduate of Creative Writing from QUT, Megan recently completed the Screen
Canberra TV Pod programme in 2020 and pitched her TV Series ‘Fallen Goddess’ to market representatives. Megan’s first feature script ‘Last Priestess of Avalon’ has placed highly four times in international screenwriting competitions. Megan wrote the psychological thriller ‘Two Hours From’, which placed as a finalist in the AACTA ‘Isolation’ competition in 2020 and received an honorable mention in
the Truant Screenplay competition in 2019. She is currently writing her TV series ‘Watermaker’ as a novel in her spare time.

Eddie Baroo

Actor/Writer Eddie Baroo began his career in 2000 with guest roles on popular Australian TV dramas including BLUE HEELERS, STINGERS and UNDERBELLY. More recently, he appeared in
the acclaimed and award-winning TV dramas - THE CRY (Jenna Coleman), LAMBS of GOD (Ann Dowd), WOLF CREEK, Mr INBETWEEN and MYSTERY ROAD. He appeared in Starz Primetime Emmy Winner BLACK SAILS opposite Ray Stevenson.
His first film break came when cast in Marvel’s GHOSTRIDER (Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes) and
later landed roles in AUSTRALIA (Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman), SON OF A GUN (Ewan
McGregor, Alicia Vikander, Brenton Thwaites), JUDY and PUNCH (Mia Wasikowska), RED
HILL and the unflinching 1% (aka OUTLAWS), among many others.

Amassing over 70 FILM and TV credits, Eddie had four features released in 2021, including THE DRY starring opposite Eric Bana. Others include LONE WOLF (Hugo Weaving), THE FLOOD and SWEET RIVER. In 2022, Eddie will also appear in the highly anticipated release of BLUEBACK (Mia Wasikowska, Eric Bana, Radha Mitchell)

His writing credits include Sci-Fi horror/thriller CRAWLSPACE, which screened at various
international film festivals including the prestigious Festival Internacional De Cinema Fantastic in Sitges, Spain, and Screamfest LA, known as the ‘Sundance of Horror’, where it
picked up two Gold Skull Awards. Crawlspace secured a U.S. theatrical release via IFC
Midnight and Arclight served as foreign sales agent.

In early 2020, EMMY-AWARD WINNING Producer Stephen Corvini optioned the completed
ten-episode season of the Crime Drama titled HUSK, completely written and created by Eddie, with production now cancelled due to the Covid 19 pandemic. As co-writer of SWEET RIVER, the feature screened at Screamfest LA and also collected two
Gold Skull Awards. Following on from this success, NETFLIX announced that it is to be
exclusively streamed as a NETFLIX ORIGINAL for the Australasian market. A North American theatrical and distribution deal was secured through GRAVITAS. REASON8 serves as foreign
sales agent. Coinciding with its April 2021 US cinema release, SWEET RIVER received the Best Director Award at Manchester’s acclaimed GRIMMFEST, which MOVIE MAKER
magazine labels as the world’s best genre film festival.

Eddie was a co-writer on the feature CHARLIE BONNET, as well as the writer/creator of the
sci-fi/action feature SONS OF LIGHT, which is currently optioned for development into a TV
Series.

Kimberley Lorin

Kimberley Lorin (Lipschus) is a writer, director and psychotherapist with a longstanding fascination with storytelling and the human condition. She holds an MA Professional Writing, MA Counselling and a BA Theatre. She wrote and directed her first short film about sexual harassment in the NSW Police Force twenty years ago, which re-aired recently on ARTE, France.

In 2021 she was shortlisted for the Byron Bay Writer’s Festival Restart Residential Retreat and In 2020, was awarded a residency at Byron Bay Writer’s festival. In 2019 was a recipient of Inside the Writer’s Room, Screenworks. Most recently she was completed a series of audio documentaries.

In film and television Kimberley was a co-producer on the flagship ABC television panel show, QANDA and co-development writer and development producer on Well Founded Fear (feature documentary for SBS TV Australia). She co-wrote and directed Pieces of Me (ABC TV). Prior to this she was director and co-writer of Hassan and the Djinn (ABC Radio National’s then Radio Eye Programme) and worked on Star Wars the Phantom Menace as Asset and Logistics co-ordinator.

Kimberley lives in Byron Bay Australia with a husband, two children, five rescue hens and an overly dependent dog.

Carly Lorente

Carly Lorente is a star-aligned storyteller, archetypal astrologer and counsellor, filmmaker, and all round cultural-disruptor. Through a mixed narrative of words and images, both moving and still; she explores themes of culture, ecology, mothering, and sexuality. Her work has taken her off the beaten track to the tristate desert of Central Australia, the transgender communities of the Pacific Islands, homeless shelters in Paris and Byron Bay, and the refugee communities of Western Sydney. Her documentary stories have been published in various Australian and international press.

Carly's film work includes the documentary short Champagne Dreams about a brothel in regional Australia, and narrative short Hiraeth which explores the rewilding of a single mother during lockdown. She is based in the hills of Northern NSW, Australia with her own two wildlings.

Iris Huizinga

Iris Huizinga is a writer and filmmaker based in the Illawarra, New South Wales. She has written several award-winning short films, including one short receiving an honourable mention in the Sir Peter Ustinov Scriptwriting Award from NATAS. A short comedy was nominated for best foreign student Academy Award. Several of her student shorts screened throughout European film festivals and were acquired by European television networks, like ARTE, VPRO and NCRV. She then wrote and directed her debut television feature Zicht op Rupert ( View on Rupert) which premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. She is a graduate of the
Victorian College of the Arts Film school and a dual citizen of Australia and The
Netherlands. She has recently directed a short documentary called The Goat Track, which is in post-production. She is developing various other projects for film and tv and social media.

James Mayson

James is a freelance writer, music and food journalist and feature writer for over 35 years exploring diverse range of topics from taxi drivers to mental health. After completing his Masters in Natural Resource Management, James left Sydney to pursue his passion for community environmental restoration in the hinterland of Byron Bay. James completed an Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) course for screenwriting in 2017 after which his first script, a dystopic sci-fi entitled second sKin, was shortlisted for the John Hinde Award. His next script, Fear Sum won the Byron Bay International Screenwriters Competition in 2019 as well as placing highly in numerous international competitions. James’s work is character-driven, often with a dark comedic element that contrasts existential issues with the absurd challenges of the everyday. He lives with his two daughters in a beach shack where he wrangles his other passions, surfing and dogs.

2021 talent usa participants

Alison James

Alison James is an award-winning director and writer working between Perth, Western Australia and Los Angeles. Most recently she wrote and directed JUDAS COLLAR, a fully scripted, live-action short, which stars a cast of real-life camels.

JUDAS COLLAR premiered at Sydney Film Festival with a Special Jury Mention for Best Director and went on to play at over one hundred festival screenings, winning Best Short at the Austin Film Festival, Best Film and Best Director at the St Kilda Film Festival, Best Short at the Screen Producers of Australia Awards and Best Film at the Cine Gear Expo Film Series at Paramount Studios, which recognizes international excellence in visual storytelling. Alison won the Australian Writer’s Guild Award for Best Short Film and was also nominated for an Australian Directors Guild Award and an AACTA (Australian Academy Award).

Prior to her scripted work, Alison was a director on over fifty hours of internationally broadcast factual television. Highlights include filming with Aboriginal Elders, multi-million dollar entrepreneurs, Nobel Prize winning scientists and young people with intellectual disabilities.

Alison is drawn to adventure and worked extensively in remote and punishing conditions while directing twenty-four episodes of Discovery’s Outback Truckers, filming alongside Australia’s toughest truck drivers.

Alison is an Australian-American dual citizen, currently focused on developing feature and television projects as a writer/director in the elevated genre space.

In the US, Alison is represented by Phil D’Amecourt and Tanya Cohen at WME and Jeff Silver and Adam Klein at Grandview.

Belinda Chayko

Belinda was the showrunner and lead writer for the International Emmy Award winning mini-series SAFE HARBOUR (Hulu/BBC/SBS) which has sold around the world. She was also co-writer/story producer of STATELESS, starring Cate Blanchett and Yvonne Strahovski, which premiered in Berlinale Series before its 2020 broadcast.

A former journalist, Belinda co-created and co-wrote the political thriller SECRET CITY (Series 1 and 2, Netflix), starring Anna Torv, and the mini-series Barracuda. She wrote the pilot and episode 5 of the series NEWTON’S LAW and her other television credits include FIGHTING SEASON, OLD SCHOOL, and the international hit MISS FISHER’S MURDER MYSTERIES.

A recipient of numerous scriptwriting accolades, including Australian Writers Guild awards and an Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Award, she has also directed two feature films — LOU, starring John Hurt (which she also wrote) and CITY LOOP. Both films screened internationally at major festivals, including Toronto and Pusan.

Belinda is currently showrunning the development of THE FIRES (Tony Ayres Productions) — a six-part anthology for television based on Australia's recent catastrophic bushfire season — as well as developing feature films and other series.

In Australia, she is represented by Jennifer Naughton at RGM.

Ben Lawrence

Ben Lawrence is an award winning writer/director working across feature film, feature documentary and factual TV. His latest film is the soon to be released feature film, HEARTS AND BONES starring Hugo Weaving (THE MATRIX, LORD OF THE RINGS), which had its international premiere at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival and will have its theatrical domestic release in April 2020.

His recent credits also include the Australian Academy nominated, winner of the Sydney Film
Festival and Australian Writers Guild for Best Documentary the 2018 documentary, GHOSTHUNTER.

His films have screened in competition at Toronto, Busan, Sao Paulo, Sydney, Philadelphia, Barcelona, Moscow, Sheffield, Hawaii and Palm Springs film festivals.

Ben has also directed documentary series for the ABC, including the acclaimed MANUP series and the 4 Corners true-crime investigative series, EXPOSED — THE CASE OF KELI LANE. In 2019 he co-wrote and narrated a 5 part, 4 hour podcast based on his documentary, GHOSTHUNTER for Audible — which was voted top 5 podcasts by Rolling Stone magazine.

His photography has been recognised at the International Photography Awards in New York, the
Spider Awards for photojournalism in London and the Australian National Photographic Portrait
Prize. Ben’s two decades as a TV commercial director has seen his work being recognised at every major international award festival, including being permanently housed in the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Ben’s work across all these mediums is distinguished by its examination of humanity and empathy.

He is currently in development to write and direct a TV series he created with Bunya Productions (SWEET COUNTRY, MYSTERY ROAD).

Ben is represented by Needeya Islam at Cameron’s Management in Australia.

Claire Tonkin

Claire Tonkin spent a decade as Drama Executive for national free-to-air broadcaster Network Ten, working across the development and production of all scripted projects. These included hit prime-time series OFFSPRING, RUSH, MR & MRS MURDER, PARTY TRICKS and WONDERLAND; literary adaptations THE WRONG GIRL and PUBERTY BLUES; event dramas including BIKIE WARS: BROTHERS IN ARMS, SECRETS & LIES, A MODEL DAUGHTER, BROCK, UNDERGROUND — THE JULIAN ASSANGE STORY, THE INFORMANT, MARY: THE MAKING OF A PRINCESS and HAWKE. She also oversaw the
development of WAKE IN FRIGHT and SISTERS. Claire was also the Network Executive Producer for iconic long-running serial NEIGHBOURS for just under three thousand episodes.

An award-winning writer, Claire’s first short film, FINGERPRINTS, which she also co-produced, was a 2005 Tropfest finalist and was showcased at the Tribeca Film Festival as one of the Top Ten Tropfest films of all time. Her second short, BUTTON was awarded the prestigious Australian Writers’ Guild Award (AWGIE) in 2007. Claire’s feature script ABOVE SPINIFEX
was a 2012 Quarter Finalist in the Academy Nicholl Fellowship, while in 2009, Claire’s pilot script ME & MINE was awarded the Sir Peter Ustinov Scriptwriting Award from the International Emmy Foundation.

Claire joined Australia’s largest independent production company, CJZ, as Head of Drama
Development in 2017 where she developed, produced, wrote and executive produced the ten-part mystery series MY LIFE IS MURDER (Network 10/Acorn TV). Starring Lucy Lawless (XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS), the series premiered in Australia, the US and UK in mid 2019 and can now be seen in five continents and sixty countries. With a background in disability advocacy, Claire executive produced the children’s drama ROCKY & ME for ABCME and Screen Australia’s DisRupted disability initiative. Written, directed and starring artists with cerebral palsy, it premiered on Australia’s national broadcaster on International Day of Disability in 2019.

Claire is currently in advanced development on several new television projects for Australian, US and UK platforms. These include a YA adaptation of a novel from Kerry Greenwood (MISS FISHER’S MURDER MYSTERIES), a UK/Australian adaptation of Australian crime novelist Sara Foster’s best-selling THE HIDDEN HOURS, collaborations with actors Rachael Taylor, Bryan Brown and Rachel Griffiths, a love story/mystery series described as ‘FARGO in Australia’ from the writer/director of Australian film OYSTER FARMER, a noisy domestic noir about teenaged girls (represented in the US by Global Eye Content) and a high concept speculative drama inspired by her experiences on Australia’s most iconic television series.

Erin Good

Erin Good is the creator of the hit Australian fantasy series JADE OF DEATH.

Erin first conceived JADE OF DEATH as a television concept, and then adapted it to short form to prove the concept’s potential and build an audience. In 2016 JADE OF DEATH was one of ten projects worldwide selected for the Berlinale Project Lab, and Erin was selected as a writer/director for the Berlinale Talent Campus.

As described by scifi and fantasy reviewer Rod Faulkner (the 7th Matrix): “JADE OF DEATH introduces to the genre of dark fantasy a new feminist and lesbian heroine in a class all of her own.” The digital series now has over 3.5million views online and sold-out it’s screening at Sydney’s Mardi Gras Film Festival where it was runner up for the Audience Choice Award, second only to 20th Century FOX's breakout hit LOVE SIMON.

The series has been acquired by CBC and has won or been nominated for over 60 awards including; Best Drama Series from the International Academy of Web Television and Best Digital Series at the C21 International Drama Awards, and an Australian Directors Guild Award.

Erin’s TV pilot script for the long form adaptation of JADE OF DEATH received support from Create NSW and was shortlisted for the 2020 Sundance Episodic Lab.

Prior to JADE OF DEATH, off the back of the success of her short films, in 2014 Erin was offered and completed a director’s attachment with both Ralph Strasser - who had her direct a scene on Australia/ German series IN YOUR DREAMS and in 2015 via a Screen Australia Talent Escalator with Kriv Stenders on THE PRINCIPAL. That same year Erin was also one of only three directors selected for the Emerging Filmmakers Fund from Screen NSW for her short film ALONE.

Erin is currently in development on a neo-noir teen vertical series RED; a stylistically heightened
road-trip feature film PLEASE HELP with co-writer Huna Amweero (PUFF); a magic realism feature film A LOVELY AND TERRIBLE THING based on an award-winning Australian story of the same name; and, comedy/drama series SQUATTERS with co-creator Chris Squadrito.

Erin also works as a director for Taste Creative Agency and is the Sydney Ambassador for Film
Fatales. She is represented in Australia by Candice Thom at RGM.

Josephine Mackerras

Josephine is an Australian-born filmmaker, growing up in Queensland and was one of the first Australians to go to school in China. Josephine’s first passion was the theatre and she studied with the National Theatre in London and with Jaques Lecoq in Paris. She worked in the theatre in both cities before receiving her French nationality.

Increasingly frustrated by the limitations of the theatre Josephine went to New York and studied
filmmaking at New York University. Discovering her life’s mission, she left the theatre to devote herself entirely to filmmaking.

Josephine went on to make several shorts shot on location: A SIGN in New York, PRAYER in Prague, and DIVA AND L’ENFANT PERDUE in Paris. Collectively they were accepted in over 110 film festivals worldwide, including Atlanta, Palm Springs, Rome, HOF, Cork, Stockholm, Brussels, San Sebastian, Raindance, Edinburgh and Slamdance.

Josephine’s first feature-script was a finalist in the Final Draft Big Break Competition chosen from over 4000 screenplays. It won ‘Best Unproduced Screenplay’ in a string of festivals and was officially selected at the Atlanta Film Festival. It was optioned to an Oscar winning producer but Josephine fell pregnant during casting and the production was postponed indefinitely.

Frustrated, and at home with a baby, Josephine wrote her film ALICE with the objective of being low budget so production could start quickly. She soon learnt there is no such thing as speeding up the funding for a feature film so out of pure impatience she self-produced ALICE, using her own apartment as the principal location, her own baby as one of the stars and her credit card to fund the production. ALICE went on to win the Grand Jury Award at SXSW as well as a string of other awards and nominations, including winning The Spirit Award at Raindance Film Festival and Best First Feature at SXSW.

ALICE is the first French language film to win Grand Jury at SXSW and Josephine is the first Australian to ever win this award. Alice has been distributed and sold around the globe including theatrical releases in most of Western Europe, UK and much of Asia as well as HBO (Eastern Europe) and is still continuing to sell worldwide and be nominated and win awards on the festival circuit.

Josephine was selected on INDIEWIRE as one of ‘The Top Female Directors to Watch in 2019’. In the US, she is represented by Anna Flickinger at United Talent Agency (UTA) and managed by Luke Rivett at Anonymous Content.

2020 WOMEN IN SCREEN WORKSHOP

Amie Batalibasi

Amie Batalibasi is an Australian-Solomon Islander writer, director based in Melbourne, Australia. Amie’s filmmaking practice aims to bring diverse stories to light by collaborating with people and communities at a grassroots level, to unearth stories that have the possibility to spark empowerment and create change.

Most recently, Amie directed an episode of the International Kids Emmy Nominated ABC Me series, Matchbox Pictures’ MUSTANGS FC, through the ADG’s Shadow Director program. She also directed two episodes of THALU an ABC/ NITV series based in the Pilbara, Western Australia, produced by Weerianna Street Media.

Amie’s previous directing credits include the short films BLACKBIRD, DOCKED and KA PUTA KO AU, the documentary TIDE OF CHANGE and the drama/comedy webseries, FRESH!. Her short narrative and documentary films, exploring issues of social justice, human rights and cultural diversity are award-winning, and have screened at festivals around the globe. Her debut short drama, BLACKBIRD, inspired by the history of Australia’s sugar slaves, screened at the 69th Berlinale International Film Festival, received several script awards from the Victorian College of the Arts, and debuted on NITV (National Indigenous Television) and SBS OnDemand in 2017. BLACKBIRD will be broadcasted throughout the Asia-Pacific via ABC Australia in 2020.

In 2018, Amie was selected to attend the Berlinale Talents Summit 2018 as part of the Berlinale International Film Festival, as well as the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) Filmmaker Lab. She is the 2017 recipient of the Sundance Institute Merata Mita Fellowship in the name of the late Maori filmmaker.

Over the last decade, Amie has produced dozens of short films by first-time filmmakers through collaborative community projects with children and young people; new migrant groups; remote Indigenous communities; and culturally and linguistically diverse communities around Australia and in the Solomon Islands.

Sarah Hatherley

Following a stellar advertising career, Sarah Hatherley established La Vérité Films to develop her screenwriting craft while producing a series of short films to showcase her well-honed directorial skills. An Australian Directors’ Guild nominee for Best Direction in a short film for psychological thriller LOST SOUL (2016) which premiered at Sitges International Fantastic Festival, Spain, Sarah also wrote, directed, produced and edited Tropfest comedy THE BIRTH (2017). Her first short JUST DO IT (2001) won an IF Award for best short film.

She recently completed a Film Victoria supported Director Placement on TV Crime Drama HALIFAX: RETRIBUTION (2019) to prepare her for USE OF FORCE, Sarah’s 6 part crime mini-series which has already attracted marketplace interest. With hundreds of hours of recorded research for the drama, Sarah has crafted a gripping true crime drama podcast which has already found a passionate audience since launching in September 2020. Quickly entering the top 5% of global podcasts by downloads.

Other screenplays include mystery thriller, HUNTED. Historical fantasy, ETERNITY And family film COCKTAIL HARRY.

Lara Köse

Lara Köse is a Turkish-Australian writer, director and editor based in Melbourne, Australia.

In 2015 she graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts with a Masters in Directing Film and Television. Her graduate short film CRUSH (2015) screened in film festivals internationally and was nominated for an Australian Screen Editors award.

Lara has worked for 5 years as a professional video editor, primarily at VICE Media Group, the world’s leading youth media specialists.

In 2017 she was one of the Lexus Australia Short Film fellowship winners, receiving Australia’s largest cash fellowship to produce her short film, KAYA which was filmed in Turkey. It went on to premiere at the 2018 Sydney Film Festival followed by the Melbourne International Film Festival, where it participated in the prestigious Accelerator Lab.

In 2018 Lara was selected as director’s attachment to Tony Tilse on the feature film MISS FISHER AND THE CRYPT OF TEARS, supported by Every Cloud Productions and Screen Australia.

In 2020 Lara was director’s assistant to Natalie Bailey on the ABC TV series RETROGRADE, filmed simultaneously across six l ocations via Zoom during Melbourne’s lockdown.

She currently has a new short film in pre-production and a feature film in development.

Lara is drawn to telling stories about women, identity and culture. She believes films should enter your sense of self and become a part of your emotional wardrobe.

Jessica Liley

Jessica Liley is an Australian producer, writer and actor whose critically acclaimed debut feature film, MORE BEAUTIFUL FOR HAVING BEEN BROKEN, won numerous awards on the film festival circuit, including multiple Best Picture awards. Credited as a co-producer on the film, she also secured Queer Screen Australia funding and support for the project.

Recently she served as Executive Producer on short film AT LAST (2020), starring George Lopez (from the sitcom, GEORGE LOPEZ) and Zack Gottsagen (THE PEANUT BUTTER FALCON), which premiered recently at the 2020 Hollyshorts Film Festival in Los Angeles and won the LGBTIQ+ Voice, Best Female Lead and Trailblazer Awards at the Official Latino Film Festival 2020.

Jessica has optioned the exciting new horror/thriller, THE PARADISE SYNDROME which is in development. Furthershe has written the coming of age short film, FATHER, which she is developing into a television drama alongwith the exciting new crime drama, HATE CRIMES under her JML Productions banner.

Beginning her career in the arts studying as an Opera Singer, she went on to become a lawyer and senior executive in the corporate sector.

Most recently, she returned to her roots and founded the company JML Productions where she uses her extensive business skills to devote her time to bringing impactful content to the screen and support inclusive filmmaking and storytelling.

Caitlin McCarthy

Caitlin McCarthy earned her Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Emerson College, which is ranked by U.S. News & World Report as one of the best graduate programs in the country.

An award-winning screenwriter at international film festivals and labs, Caitlin has written feature screenplays including: WONDER DRUG, now heading into production with Rhino Films and producer Stephen Nemeth and previously a “Featured Script” on The Black List website, Bitch List honoree, and among the Top 50 screenplays and Top 10 highest scoring women in the 2019 Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting competition (out of 7,302 entries); and A NATIVE LAND, Academy Nicholl Top 10% and promoted as a “highly-rated script” by The Black List website.

Caitlin is also writing/creating the TV series FREE SKATE, named “One To Watch” on WeForShe’s WriteHer List; and partnering on writing/creating the TV series Gaels with Lynsey Murdoch (BBC Scottish Voices 2020).

Caitlin’s screenplays have won admittance into prestigious programs including the HamptonsFilm Screenwriters Lab, where Wonder Drug was selected as an Alfred P. Foundation script and chosen for a live staged reading of select scenes starring Steve Guttenberg at the Hamptons International Film Festival; the Women in Screen Workshop, led by the Australian International Screen Forum in New York; the MTV/WIF TV & Media Outreach Program; and the Atlanta Film Festival Screenwriters Lab.

Her essays have been published in anthologies such as Idol Talk (McFarland & Company, 2018) and Soap Opera Confidential (McFarland & Company, April 2017), and on websites including The Conversation with Amanda de Cadenet and Celebrities in Disgrace.

Caitlin has been recognized as an “Intelligent Optimist” by ODE Magazine; a “Woman to Watch” by Imagine Magazine; a “Person to Watch” by The Pulse Magazine; a “Woman To Watch” by Forty Over 40; and a “Red Sox Most Valuable Educator” twice by the Boston Red Sox. She was also featured in the book The Top 50 Indie Writers In The World by Del Weston & Theresa Coscarelli.

Caitlin won an MTA Human and Civil Rights Award from the Massachusetts Teachers Association; and a “Service to Community” Alumni Award from Regis College. She was nominated twice (in 2011 and 2012) for a Presidential Citizens Medal for her work on the DES (diethylstilbestrol) tragedy. Caitlin was also a Fellowship Grant Recipient from the Worcester Arts Council; and a finalist for the Artist Fellowships Program of the Massachusetts Cultural Council, which provided her with a financial award.

In addition to screenwriting, Caitlin serves as an Acting MCAS/Assessment Specialist at a high-poverty urban public high school with universal free breakfast and lunch. Before advancing to this position within her school, she taught English Language Arts for 16 years.

Prior to education, Caitlin worked in public relations, where she fostered relationships with the press and crafted messages for companies that were delivered worldwide.

Caitlin is represented by Barry Krost of Barry Krost Management (BKM).

Nagham Osman

Egyptian writer/director, born and raised in Dubai, Nagham Osman moved to New York to fulfill her dream to study at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts graduate film program. Her work draws on personal and family bonds and the sacrifices they make.

She received her Bachelor’s degree from the American University in Cairo where she studied theatre and mass communications. Two years later, she met the Canadian-Syrian director Ruba Nadda at the Cairo Film Festival who then offered her a job on the feature film Cairo Time. This was her first film set experience. She also worked on other foreign productions like TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN and FAIR GAME in Egypt as a production assistant and translator.

She was invited to take a Masterclass with Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami and the experience inspired her to pursue directing. Before traveling to New York, she worked as a producer and fixer with foreign outlets like BBC.

She co-produced two shorts, A COUPLE NEXT DOOR and A SYRIAN GIRL that have been screened at Palm Springs International Film Festival, HollyShorts Film Festival, Cleveland International Film Festival and the Sharjah Film Platform.

Jen Sall

I am US educated with stints studying in Rio de Janeiro, Brasil and Rome, Italy. In 2015, I attended the Havana Film Festival with the Sundance Institute. This was in conjunction with a feature I developed written by a Cuba-American. In 2018, I was named a 'Producer to Watch' by the Blacklist. In the fall of 2019, I produced a feature starring Danny Ramirez (ASSASSINATION NATION, TOP GUN 2). Immediately prior to the lockdown, I produced a short with an Academy Award winning producer, which premiered at CannesSeries, now streaming on HULU. I have produced short films, digital content, web series, docs, commercials and music videos for notable fortune 100 companies and brands, including but not limited to Calvin Klein, Crate + Barrel, Disney, EOne, Hyundai, Major League Soccer, Oakley and Spotify. I am a founding EVOLVE mentor, an organization founded by Ava DuVernay, Justin Lim and Mayor Eric Garcetti. I love being part of a team that tells dynamic and diverse stories.

Alies Sluiter

Alies’ work has been recognized through individual awards including the American Australia Foundation Dame Joan Sutherland Award and a Fuse Presents SXSW mentorship. She is a Berlinale Talent Campus alumna, a 2020 British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Newcomer and a graduate of the M.F.A. in Screenwriting and Directing at Columbia
University, which she undertook on a full scholarship from the General John Monash Foundation. At Columbia she was also awarded a Film Faculty Scholarship, a Screenwriting Fellowship and taught the screenwriting lab.

Her short film, AYAAN has screened at festivals worldwide and won Best Director from the Australian Directors Guild, was a finalist for the Sydney Film Festival Dendy Awards, won the Audience Award at Adelaide Film Festival, a U.S. National Board of Review Motion Pictures Award and the Grand Jury Prize, Best Drama, Best Screenplay, Best Actor and Best Actress at the South Australian Screen Awards. AYAAN also won the Leone Family Film Production Award, the IFP Audience Award, the 3Pas Best Producing Award, the Adrienne Shelly Best Female Director Award, was a 2018 ScreenCraft Film Fund semi-finalist, received a Special Mention at the Francigena Film Festival, a Best Actor Nomination for Trevor Jamieson from the St Kilda Film Festival and is currently nominated for Best International Short at the Fabrique Du Cinema Awards.

Also an Australian Academy Award nominated composer, Alies has collaborated with many eminent artists including Nitin Sawhney, Sylvie Guillem, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Akram Khan, Meryl Tankard, Netsayi Chigwendere and Ray Chen. Musically directing Laurence Olivier Award and Time Out Critics Award (UK) nominated theatre and dance productions.

Alies is currently developing several features and TV series. Her screenplay BOY ON FIRE was awarded the 2020 Arthur J. Harris Memorial Prize.

She is represented as a writer and director by Independent Talent, UK.

2020 WFH Screenwriting workshop

Matthew Barker

Matthew Barker is an Australian screenwriter living in rural Victoria, Australia who has been writing for several years. While he enjoys writing in many genres, his favourite is horror, and hopes to develop elevated horror features and television with strong, complex characters within dynamic, innovative stories that stick in people’s minds long after viewing. As a trained counsellor in trauma, grief, and addiction, Matthew aspires to create authentic characters that reflect the real human struggle that brings an added reality to the escapism of horror and which ultimately makes the experience more rewarding to the audience. As a gay man, Matthew wants to reflect under-represented people and communities on the screen such as those from the LGBTIQA+ community, where their story isn’t solely about their difference. Where gay or transgender men and women get to save the day too, just as they do in the real world. Matthew won an Australian Writers’ Guild national screenwriting competition for unproduced screenplays and has had work win or place well in national and international competitions and programs, including being shortlisted in the Australians in Film Gateway LA Screenplay Program. He has had screenplays optioned in Australia and been hired by international producers to rewrite existing IP.

Alica Gwinner

Alica Gwinner is a regionally-based film and television writer. After graduating from RMIT Screenwriting, she has written a feature film exploring Germaine Greer’s life in the years preceding ‘The Female Eunuch,’ which received Screen Australia ‘Gender Matters’ funding and was shortlisted for several international Screenwriting awards (including the PAGE International Screenwriting Awards). In 2019, Alica was inducted into AWG Pathways Program. She then worked at Princess Pictures on the second season of Peter Helliar’s ‘How To Stay Married’ with the support of Film Vic. In late 2019, Alica moved up to Sydney for a two-month stint as a Script Assessor for StudioCanal (supported by Scripted Ink), providing detailed feature-film coverage for upcoming market acquisitions and in-house development projects. Alica has a passion for relationship dramas delving into the human condition. She currently has several projects in development, two with Mondo Studio Films, and is also working independently on an original new TV concept called ‘Home Harvest.’

Lisa Hoppe

Lisa is the Writer and Producer of ‘H is for Happiness’ – a family feature film that screened in competition at the 2020 Berlin Film Festival winning the Jury’s ‘Special Mention’ Award. It screened in competition at CinefestOz in September 2019 and won “Best Film”. The screenplay was shortlisted for the 2020 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards. Lisa has a Graduate Diploma in Screen Business and a MA in Producing from AFTRS. She has produced a number of short films that screened around the world including ‘Godel, Incomplete’ (starring Elizabeth Debicki), and the AWGIE Award winning ‘Heck,’ which she also co-wrote. From 2017 to 2018 Lisa worked as a Creative Producer with A Stark Production, producers of children’s film and television content including ‘The Deep,’ the international hit screened in over 130 countries. Lisa’s extensive experience as writer, script editor and script producer has seen her work on Australian TV shows across a range of genres and formats including ‘Heartbreak High,’ ‘All Saints,’ ‘White Collar Blue,’ ‘Hi 5’ and ‘Guess How Much I Love You.’

Rebecca Ingram

Rebecca Ingram is a Writer and Creative Producer who resides in regional New South Wales, Australia. Rebecca has worked in the Australian film and TV industry for over 18 years where her early career was mostly focused on creating commercial music videos and award winning social justice films in urban and remote communities. She then made a shift into creating and developing female led drama series set in unique worlds, and soon had several of her shows optioned by prominent Australian production companies. Rebecca has recently attracted global market interest in her shows. In 2019 two of Rebecca’s drama series received development funding from Screen Australia and Screen NSW. Her work has scored an ADG Fellowship to attend the Stowe Story Lab, and a AWG Finalist, where she was inducted into the AWG Pathways Program for her gritty series ‘Dog Box’. In 2018 Rebecca was selected to be part of SPA’s ‘Ones to Watch’ program, as well as Dame Changers ‘Mentor to Market’ program with her Hmong political supernatural series ‘Secret Threads’. Her recent TV production credits include shows such as Deadlock (ABC TV) and Seachange (Channel 9).

Cate McQuillen

From her home base in the Northern Rivers Region of NSW, Cate McQuillen and her partner Hewey Eustace are mememe productions, creating ‘out there’ content for the instalife generation. These changemakers, dreamed up and produced the visually distinctive animation series ‘dirtgirlworld’ and the nature driven live action series ‘Get Grubby TV’ for the ABC and 128 countries around the globe. Big believers in the power of a story, this hothouse of innovation has scooped up awards, including an Emmy, AFI, green Globe, ADG and SPAA digital producer and the prestigious NSW Service to the Community award in 2017. They have changed how families see the big world outside, creating a generation of kids across the globe who believe getting outside and getting grubby is only natural. They have infiltrated Australian homes with their ‘Handle with Care’ projects, their web series- ‘Compost Rocks’ and a fleet of branded rubbish trucks. In 2019 Cate travelled the top of Australia writing , directing and producing a 6 part documentary series about our Indigenous rangers ‘Country - handle with care.’ This was followed by a digital power packed project including a YouTube and podcast series ‘Mission Biosecurity,’ hosted by Costa Georgiadis. IRL she was commissioned to write and direct, Get Grubby -The Musical for a summer season at the Sydney Opera House and has produced a swag of festival and touring projects over the last 5 years. With millions of people hanging out with her and her BFF uber eco ego, dirtgirl, every week on Facebook and Instagram and an early childhood online subscription film led curriculum – the Get Grubby Program…it’s a wonder that she ever sleeps Right now she’s busy reimaging her creative forces, breaking rules and exploring new ways to tell story in her post bushfire, mid pandemic landscape, as she hatches ‘REgener8’ and explores zoom theatre to reach both remote and urban audiences. Never daunted, for this well practiced disruptor, these are the times in which she thrives. With myriad of skills and interests, Cate’s greatest assets are her bold approach, positive attitude and ability to generate ideas, innovate, motivate, inspire and see the ‘big picture’.

Tracy Richardson

Tracy is an award winning comedy writer and a half and half. She’s spent half her life in England and the other half in Australia, and now calls regional Northern NSW her home. Tracy’s worked in the corporate world for most of her life, as an advertising copywriter , but turned to screenwriting when a client dared her to write a short play.

Tracy’s 10 minute comedy plays, performed in the global Short+Sweet Festival in Sydney, won awards and her animated short was optioned by Kristina Ceyton, Producer of ‘The Babadook.’ ‘The Babadook’ premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival and won three Australian Academy Awards (AACTSs).

Tracy’s first feature screenplay was shortlisted in the AWG/Adelaide Film Festival INSITE Unproduced Screenplay Competition and optioned. This lead to her being inducted into the AWG Pathways Program.

In 2019, she was selected to observe in the EveryCloud Productions writing room on Seachange for Channel 9, and in 2020 was selected to plot a hypothetical episode of a TV show in the ‘Screenworks Inside an Online Writers Room’ workshop.

Shane Walsh-Smith

Shane Walsh-Smith is an award-winning Australian graphic novelist and screenwriter who works across a broad spectrum of genre fiction. His books have been shortlisted for awards a total of seven times, and won once. His scripts are starting to gather accolades, including two contest wins and a number of finalist and semi-finalist placements. Shane has a Bachelor degree in Creative Writing, and might be the only person in the world to get a comic published in a refereed academic journal. He lives in Canberra with his wife and four young children.

Jess C Wheatley

Jess C Wheatley is a Screenwriter Director with a passion for world building and concept development. After growing up in the hinterland behind Byron Bay, Jess completed a Design Degree in Brisbane and a Motion Design Degree in Sydney — where she focused on Production and Pre Production. She has recently completed a Masters of Screenwriting at VCA. With her background in graphic design, illustration, production design, art department, character and set design and a history of creative writing, she finds herself drawn to diverse stories and enjoys every moment of it. Jess freelances as a pitch document designer and storyboardist while continuing to hone her screenwriting projects.

2019 WOMEN IN SCREEN WORKSHOP

Carrie Anderson

Carrie completed a Graduate Diploma in Screenwriting at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School where she won the Kenneth B. Myer Prize for Exceptional Talent from among all graduating students.

She is the creator and wrote the original script for the telemovie ‘RIOT,’ which aired on ABC Australia in 2018 and won the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts for Best Telefeature or Miniseries in 2018. Her feature script ‘Amala’ was a finalist in the Sundance Feature Lab and her feature script ‘Reynold's Cargo’ was in the final of the Warner Bros-Veerhuis-Blacklist Feature Competition in 2018. Her feature screenplay ‘On Water’ has gone through to the quarter final of the Write L.A. script competition.

Stef Dawson

Stef grew up in Canberra, Australia and has worked as an actress in Australia and on an International Scale. Her acting credits include ‘Creedmoria,’ ‘The Hunger Games’ franchise, ‘The Paper Store,’ ‘The Lennon Report,’ ‘Painted Woman,’ ‘Cleverman,’ ‘7 Guardians of the Tomb.’ She is a graduate of Wollongong University and Screenwise and is currently in development for her first feature film screenplay, ‘Two Bridges.’

Danae Grandison

Jamaican-born and raised Danae Grandison is an award-winning independent filmmaker based in Brooklyn. She studied Advertising at the Fashion Institute of Technology. At School of the Visual Arts (SVA), she made her directorial debut with ‘Unconditional Love,’ a silent film shot and directed by her; which went on to win the SVA Audience Award. In 2016, she graduated from SVA with a Masters in Directing and her third short film, ‘[Re]Defined,’ which toured domestically and internationally, premiering in Oscar-qualifying film festivals. Her most recent short film, ‘Unspoken,’ is a literary adaptation, based off ‘The Bed Head’ by Jennifer Grahame, which is currently in the festival circuit premiering internationally and domestically. ‘Unspoken’ has since garnered her a Certificate of Achievement from the New York State Senate, as well as the Best Short Film Award from Katra Film Series. Unspoken has stirred timely conversations, and is under development as her first feature film.

Tonya McCornell

Tonya McCornell is an American director who writes and produces a lot of her own content. Her work showcases strong female characters while exploring social issues as they relate to the human experience. Her recently released short film ‘Too Much Love’ is being used in partnership with AIDS Healthcare Foundation as a PSA about HIV awareness. McCornell’s short film ‘Trayvia’ was named to honor Trayvon Martin and it is being called "a visceral response to police brutality."

Her upcoming short film ‘Tainted’ sheds light on the effects of mothers battling depression and PTSD after facing trauma. McCornell is also developing a dramedy feature film about surviving divorce called ‘Getting Help.’ She started the Moms Network for New York Women in Film & Television and she is an active member of The Black TV & Film Collective.

Zoe Rae

Zoe Rae is an Australian-American filmmaker. She currently resides in NYC, crafting stories of funny women for human people. Before heading to NY she was a member of the Improv Theatre Sydney faculty and ensemble, where she performed improv and sketch regularly. She was co-director & host of the monthly show ‘ITS Big House.’ Zoe is the writer & co-direct of the feature ‘Slaughter House Bride.’ She also wrote and directed ‘Shane and Kate’ which went on to screen at Palm Springs, Flickerfest, Oaxaca, CinefestOZ, and Heart of Gold film festivals.

Jessica Robinson

Jessica is a Sydney/New York hybrid and has been honing her directing, writing and producing skills since high school with many projects under her belt, including three web series, over a dozen short films and several feature film scripts. She has been acquiring skills and experiences to diversify her knowledge through tertiary study and courses (New York Film Academy, University of Technology Sydney & National Institute of Dramatic Arts, Sydney). Highlights of her career include working as a Director’s Assistant to Randall Einhorn on the new FX Television Pilot, ‘Death Pact’ starring Tracy Morgan. As well as working on the Production team for ‘Ratpac’ (Brett Ratner & James Packer) for a casino commercial with Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Leonardo Dicaprio and Brad Pitt. She also acquired her first feature film Assistant Director/Co- Producer credits for, Spanish Director, Dani Zarendieta's film ‘MET in NYC,’ which has been accepted into 8 film festivals worldwide and counting.

Stephanie Stender

Stephanie Stender is an award-winning director, producer, and screenwriter. Her works have been screened at film festivals around the world, from Australia to the UK, at such prestigious independent theaters as the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, and on television – from PBS to the WB. ‘Still Right Here,’ the music video she directed and produced for Melissa Ferrick, premiered on the front page of The Huffington Post and won Fan Favorite and Best Pro Pop/Rock Video at the Right Out TV Music Video Awards. In 2001, she founded Doorstop Productions, an all-women’s film production company, with five fellow female filmmakers. Throughout her career, Stephanie has worked on various Emmy award recognized shows, from ‘WordGirl’ to ‘Antiques Roadshow,’ and was nominated three times as the Co-Executive Producer of ‘America’s Test Kitchen’ and ‘Cook’s Country’ and was Executive Producer of ‘Milk Street TV and Radio’ for two years.

Katherine Tolentino

Katherine Tolentino is a Chinese-Salvadoran filmmaker from the San Francisco Bay Area. Having grown up in several different cultures, she aims to make films that break down reductive stereotypes and shed light on what we all have in common.

Tolentino has worked for major studios including HBO, NBCUniversal, ABC, TNT, and FOX. Previously she was a radio journalist at KQED San Francisco, covering the Latino immigrant population in San Jose, CA. Her short films have screened at festivals nationwide, and her latest film 'Parachute' was nominated for the NBR Student Film Award.

2019 talent usa participants

Niki Aken

Niki Aken is a prolific writer for television, working across both drama and comedy. She researched and wrote two episodes – including the finale – for the true-crime drama ‘Underbelly: Badness.’ Mediaweek praised her debut screenplay ‘Troubleshooting’ as “amongst the best the ‘Underbelly’ franchise has delivered.” ‘Underbelly: Badness’ was awarded the Best Original Miniseries AWGIE (Australian Writers’ Guild Award) in 2013.

More recently, Niki co-wrote ‘The Hunting’ for SBS / Closer Productions – a drama that follows the fallout of a sexting scandal in an Adelaide high school. In 2018, Niki also script produced the highly anticipated comedy-drama series ‘Upright,’ starring Tim Minchin, for Foxtel and Sky UK. She was Story Editor on ‘Why Are You Like This?’ – a millennial comedy for ABC, and was Script Editor for the second series of commuter-comedy ‘Squinters’ for ABC / Jungle.

Kodie Bedford

Kodie graduated from UWA with a Bachelor of Communications and gained her Masters in Creative Writing from University of Technology Sydney. She started as a cadet journalist for SBS before moving to the ABC as a researcher for documentary series ‘Message Stick.’ After leaving the ABC in 2015, Kodie has worked as a freelance writer and co-founded Indigenous arts group Cope ST Collective. Her credits include her short film ‘Last Drinks at Frida’s’ which was selected for the Sydney Film Festival, Flickerfest and ImagineNative in Toronto. Kodie wrote an episode for the AACTA award-winning ABC drama series ‘Mystery Road’ and an episode of the AACTA Award nominated NITV and ABC ME children’s series ‘Grace Beside Me.’ Recently, Kodie won the Balnaves Fellowship with Belvoir Theatre for 2019 to develop her own play. She’s currently working on ABC political drama ‘Black B*tch’ starring Rachel Griffiths and Deb Mailman and the second series of ‘Mystery Road.’ Kodie is represented in Australia by Candice Thom at RGM.

Alison Bell

Alison Bell is the co-creator/co-writer/producer and star of ‘The Letdown,’ an ABC/Netflix Original co-production. The pilot episode won Alison and Sarah Scheller (co-creator/writer) the AACTA Award for Best writing for Television in 2016. Alison received a best performer nomination. In 2018 the series won the AACTA Award for Best Comedy and again, Alison was nominated for Best Comedy Performer. The second series, just completed, marks Alison’s debut as a director.

Alison has also appeared in many Australian television series and starred in the AACTA award winning comedy, ‘Laid.’ For US television she’s had roles in ‘The Leftovers,’ ‘No Activity’ and most recently, the reboot of Spielberg’s, ‘Amazing Stories.’

Joe Brumm

Joe Brumm worked as an animator for 10 years in London on numerous children’s series, including the Bafta winning ‘Charlie and Lola.’ He then worked in Kenya on ‘Tinga-Tinga Tales,’ for BBC/Disney, training local crews.

After returning to Australia he founded Studiojoho which now has an expanding body of quality work behind it. Joho’s clients include CollegeHumor, Viacom, ABC’s Good Game, New Form Digital GOMA, Ludo/Cartoon Network, Gallery of Victoria and Halfbrick. In partnership with HalfBrick his original web-series, ‘Dan The Man’ has been turned into a successful mobile game. Joe is the writer and creator of the breakout hit ‘Bluey,’ released in 2018, a 52x7 min pre-school for the ABC and BBC studios, made with Ludo Studio.

Matthew Cormack

Matthew is an AWGIE winning and AACTA nominated screenwriter. His writing credits include feature film ’52 Tuesdays’ (Crystal Bear at Berlinale Film Festival, AWGIE Award for Original Screenplay), episodic series ‘Fucking Adelaide’ for ABC, the award-winning short film ‘My Last Ten Hours with You.’ Matthew is writer and co-creator of the four-part SBS drama ‘The Hunting,’ due for release in 2019.

For the last 9 years, Matthew has also worked in development, production, and sales with Adelaide-based Closer Productions across such projects as feature documentaries ‘Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure,’ ‘Life in Movement’ and Sam Klemke's ‘Time Machine,’ hybrid doco/drama I ‘Want to Dance Better at Parties,’ co-creator of transmedia project ‘My 52 Tuesdays,’ and was most recently script editor on feature drama ‘Animals’ (Sundance 2019).

Glen Dolman

Glen wrote the feature film, ‘I Met a Girl,’ a romantic dramedy, which recently wrapped production in Australia (produced by Adam Dolman and directed by Luke Eve). Last year, he created, wrote and executive produced the six-part supernatural drama series, ‘Bloom’ (Playmaker Media/Sony International) which premiered on Stan in Australia in early 2019 and stars Jacki Weaver, Bryan Brown, Phoebe Tonkin, Ryan Corr and Daniel Henshall.

In 2017 he wrote the web series dramedy, ‘High Life’ (starring Odessa Young, produced by Adam Dolman and directed by Luke Eve) which screened on Channel Nine in Australia, sold to Fullscreen in the US, was AACTA nominated and won the C21 International Drama Award.

Liz Doran

Liz has written a wide range of TV drama including ‘Please Like Me,’ ‘Doctor Doctor,’ ‘Dance Academy,’ ‘The Miss Fisher Murder Mysteries,’ ‘The Secret Life of Us’ and ‘Sugar Rush.’ In 2015/6 she co-created and was the head writer/script producer on Ready For This (AACTA Awards, Logies, International Emmy Awards). She also wrote the first episode for ‘Molly,’ a two-part, 90 minute mini-series, producer John Molloy, for Channel 7, which had the highest consolidated ratings for an Australian drama series for the year. She is currently developing a drama set in the 70’s about the birth of surf business for ABC Australia.

Ben Gilmour

Ben Gilmour is an author and filmmaker, director of the Australian/Afghanistan drama feature ‘Jirga’ (2018) that won CIneFestOz, Australia's richest film prize, and the 2018 AACTA Award for Best Independent Film. ‘Jirga’ premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and had its U.S. theatrical release in June 2019.

Gilmour's credits also include the feature documentary ‘Paramedico’ (2012) and ‘Son of a Lion’ (2008), his critically-acclaimed feature that was selected for the Berlinale.

He is also the author of several books, including ‘Paramedico – Around the World by Ambulance’ (HarperCollins), a tie-in with his film of the same name, and ‘Warrior Poets’ (Pier 9) about the making of his first film in Pakistan.

Kate McCartney

Kate McCartney is a writer/director, producer, and performer. In 2015, McCartney and writing partner Kate McLennan created, executive produced and starred in their original concept ‘The Katering Show.’ The web series was released on YouTube, clocking up millions of views. In 2016, the Kates returned with a new season of the hit series premiering on ABC iView. To date, it has attracted over 9 million views and 100,000 subscribers. With McLennan, McCartney was the co-recipient of the 2011 Kit Denton Disfellowship for ‘Bleak.’ ‘Bleak’ launched in 2014 on YouTube, before McCartney co-wrote, co-produced and directed its TV pilot for ABC’s Comedy Showroom in 2016.

In 2017, McCartney and McLennan served as executive producers on their new full-length ABC series, ‘Get Krack!n,’ where they set their satirical sights on the world of breakfast television. Series Two of ‘Get Krack!n’ premiered on ABC TV in early 2019.

Kate McLennan

Kate McLennan is an award-winning writer, comedian and actress. She is the co-writer of ‘The Katering Show,’ where she plays an intolerable foodie alongside her food intolerant mate, Kate McCartney. The show launched on YouTube in 2015 and hit over 2 million views in its first week online. In 2016 a fresh new season of the hit series premiered on ABC iView. To date, the series is iView’s most viewed original series, has had over 9 million views on Youtube and the channel has over 100,000 subscribers.

Both Kate McCartney and Kate McLennan won a 2018 AWGIE award for an episode of ‘Get Krackin’ and received an AWGIE for ‘The Katering Show’ in 2015. The second season of ‘The Katering Show’ was nominated for an AACTA award in 2016. ‘The Katering Show’ won Best Short-Form Digital Series and tied for a Best of the Fest award at the New York Television Festival in 2015.

Grant Sputore

Grant Sputore is an award-winning commercial director whose work has been recognized at almost every major international advertising award show, including the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, the D&AD Awards, the London International Advertising Awards, Spikes Asia, and the AWARD Awards.

Sputore’s debut feature, ‘I Am Mother,’ premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and was sold to Netflix. The film stars new comer Clara Rugaard alongside two-time Academy Award Winner Hilary Swank and the voice of Rose Byrne.

Prior to his foray into features, his critically acclaimed short ‘Legacy’ has screened at festivals around the world.

Samantha Strauss

Samantha co-created the hit Australian teen drama series Dance Academy which screens in over 160 countries. Samantha was head writer across the 65 episodes, writing 25 episodes. Samantha has been nominated for six Australian Writer’s Guild Awards and won three times. She’s been nominated for two NSW Premier’s Literary Awards in 2011 and 2014. In 2017 Samantha wrote the feature film ‘Dance Academy: The Comeback,’ directed by Jeffrey Walker and produced by Joanna Werner. Samantha’s television credits include: ‘The Wrong Girl’ (script producer and writer), ‘Mary: The Making of a Princess,’ among others.

She is currently writing and executive producing her latest original series, The End, produced by See-Saw Films for Foxtel and Sky Atlantic, starring Frances O’Connor and Dame Harriet Walter. Samantha wrote all episodes of this 10 x 30 minute series which will air in 2019.

Courtney Wise

Courtney Wise is a freelance writer and producer based in Sydney. She recently created and produced the critically acclaimed four part drama mini-series ‘On The Ropes,’ broadcast on SBS in December 2018. Prior to this she was Development Producer of the slate at Lingo Pictures, including the two-part telemovie ‘Wake In Fright,’ broadcast on Network Ten in 2017.

In 2015, Courtney produced Series 1 and 2 of the award winning online narrative comedy series ‘Fragments of Friday,’ funded by Screen Australia. While working in the Television Fiction Department at the ABC, Courtney was Development Manager on ‘The Secret River,’ a two-part telemovie adaptation of Kate Grenville's award winning novel, and ‘The Beautiful Lie,’ a six part contemporary Australian adaptation of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. Both projects were broadcast on the ABC in 2015.

2018 talent usa participants

Kacie Anning

Kacie Anning is a writer and director best known for ‘Fragments of Friday’ (2016) and ‘The Other Guy’ (2017-2019). She is currently working on the TV series ‘Hardball.’

Natalie Erika James

Natalie Erika James wrote/directed and produced ‘Creswick,’ which has screened at over 45 festivals including New York, Fantastic Fest and Fantasia, and was awarded a 2017 Australian Writers' Guild AWGIE Award for Best Short Form screenplay. Natalie will make her feature directorial debut with ‘Relic,’ which was originally developed through Gender Matters Brilliant Stories and will be produced by Carver Films and co-written by Christian White.

Alice Englert

Alice Englert enjoyed wide success with her first short film THE BOYFRIEND GAME. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, and screened at Berlin, Melbourne and Flickerfest, winning Best Screenplay at the St Kilda Film Festival. Her second short film FAMILY HAPPINESS premiered at Sydney Film Festival, and screened at the BFI London and Melbourne International Film Festivals. Alice is also known for her acting work, including in TOP OF THE LAKE: CHINA GIRL and RATCHED.

Stephen McCallum

Stephen McCallum’s debut feature 1%, is a Shakespearean tale of loyalty, ambition and betrayal set within the primal world of outlaw motorcycle gangs. It premiered at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival to wide acclaim and will be released theatrically in 2018, including by A24 in the U.S. Stephen has worked as second unit director on Netflix’s ‘I Am Mother’ (2019).

Alexei Mizin and Ryan van Dijk

Alexei Mizin and Ryan van Dijk’s first feature screenplay VANISHED won the Monte Miller Award at the Australian Writers' Guild AWGIE Awards and is slated for production. The writing team has been supported by Film Victoria, Screen Queensland and Scripted Ink through a range of initiatives, and has a slate of projects including a new drama series in the works with AMC Studios in the U.S.

Catherine S. Mcmullen

Catherine Smyth-McMullen is an award-winning film and tv screenwriter, with a focus on dark, interesting genre stories.

Catherine’s feature The Other Lamb held its world premiere at TIFF 2019 as a Special Presentation. It went on to screen in competition at BFI London and San Sebastian, and Fantastic Fest. The script was previously on the 2017 Black List as one of the year’s best unproduced scripts, and was also nominated for an Australian Writers Guild Award for ‘Best Feature Adaptation’. Produced by Rumble Films’ Stephanie Wilcox and David Lancaster (Drive, Whiplash, Nightcrawler), IFC Midnight released the film in 2020.

Dylan River

Dylan River is an accomplished filmmaker with shorts NULLA NULLA, BLACK CHOOK and COAT OF ARMS screening at festivals around the world. Furthermore, Dylan was the Second Unit Director/DOP for the critically acclaimed Warwick Thornton western SWEET COUNTRY and his documentary BUCKSIN won the Foxtel Documentary award at the Sydney Film Festival. He is currently working as director on the Australian TV series ROBBIE HOOD.