In January 2010, David Michôd’s debut feature film Animal Kingdom won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. It went on to win 10 Australian Film Institute awards from a record 18 nominations, was named Best First Film by the New York Film Critics Circle and earned Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for supporting actress Jacki Weaver.

David’s second film THE ROVER, featuring Guy Pearce and Robert Pattinson, screened in official selection at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.

His third feature, WAR MACHINE, featuring Brad Pitt, Ben Kingsley, Meg Tilly, Will Poulter and Lakeith Stanfield, premiered for Netflix in May 2017.

David co-wrote (with director Spencer Susser) the feature film HESHER, starring Joseph Gordon Levitt and Natalie Portman, that screened in Sundance 2010’s US competition.

The documentary SOLO (which David co-directed with Jen Peedom), about Andrew McAuley’s ill-fated attempt to kayak from Australia to New Zealand, received best documentary awards from the Australian Film Institute in 2009, and the Film Critics Circle of Australia and Australian Directors Guild in 2010.

David’s short films, including NETHERLAND DWARF and CROSSBOW, have screened at the Venice, Berlin and Sundance film festivals, winning awards around the world.

David is a graduate of the University of Melbourne and the Victorian College of the Arts (School of Film & Television), and was the editor of Australia’s Inside Film magazine between 2003 and 2006.

Listen to David on Script to Screen Podcasts in the following sessions::

Directing with David Michôd – Saturday 30 September, 3.00pm

In Conversation with Luke Davies and David Michôd – Sunday 1 October, 2.40pm

Australian-born, Los Angeles-based Luke Davies is an internationally renowned, award-winning screenwriter, novelist and poet.

Davies’ screenplay LION, directed by Garth Davis (TOP OF THE LAKE), stars Dev Patel, Nicole Kidman and Rooney Mara, and was produced by See Saw Films (Oscar-winning producers of THE KING’S SPEECH). In May 2014, after a bidding war at the Cannes Film Festival, worldwide rights to LION were purchased for $13 million by The Weinstein Company – based on the screenplay alone, and without any cast in place.

For LION, Davies won the BAFTA for Best Adapted Screenplay, and was nominated for a 2017 Academy Award in the Best Adapted Screenplay category.

Davies’ screenplay LIFE, about the friendship between James Dean and Life magazine photographer Dennis Stock, was directed by Anton Corbijn and stars Robert Pattinson, Dane DeHaan, Joel Edgerton and Sir Ben Kingsley. It premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in 2015.

Davies’ adaptation BEAUTIFUL BOY (Plan B / Amazon Studios) is directed and co-written by Oscar-nominated Felix von Groeningen, produced by Oscar-winners Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner and stars Steve Carrell.

Davies has written, and will showrun with director David Michôd, a television mini-series adaptation of the Joseph Heller novel CATCH-22, produced by Anonymous Content and Paramount Television.

NEWS OF THE WORLD, Davies’ next feature project, is an adaptation of Paulette Jiles’ best-selling novel, and is set up at Fox 2000, with Gail Mutrux and Tom Hanks / Playtone attached to produce, with Tom Hanks to star in the lead role.

Davies’ novels are the cult best-seller Candy, Isabelle the Navigator and God of Speed. Candy was shortlisted for Australia’s NSW Premier’s Awards and published in France, Spain, Germany, Israel, Greece, the UK and USA. God Of Speed was published in the US in 2014.

Davies adapted CANDY for the screen with director Neil Armfield. The film starred the late Heath Ledger, Abbie Cornish and Geoffrey Rush, and premiered in competition at the Berlin Film Festival. Davies won both an AWGIE Award and an AACTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for CANDY.

Davies’ short film AIR, his first as writer/director, starring actor Andrew Garfield, premiered at the Marfa Film Festival in Texas in 2010, and also screened at the Venice International Short Film Festival and the Melbourne International Film Festival.

Davies is the long-term film critic for the Australian magazine The Monthly, as well as an occasional book reviewer and essayist for other magazines and newspapers. His memoir/essay The Cisco Kid was nominated for a Southern California Journalism Award with the Los Angeles Press Club. He has featured as a storyteller on the award-winning NPR programs This American Life and Unfictional.

Davies has published five volumes of poetry (the latest, Interferon Psalms, won the inaugural Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Poetry, at $80,000 Australia’s largest and most prestigious literary prize). His poetry collection Totem won the South Australian Premier’s Literary Award for Poetry, the Age Poetry Book of the Year and the overall Age Book of the Year Award, an unusual feat for a book of poetry. In 2004 Davies was also awarded the Philip Hodgins Memorial Medal for Poetry. His volume Absolute Event Horizon was shortlisted for the National Book Council Poetry Prize. Running with Light won the Judith Wright Poetry Prize at the Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards.

In 2010 Davies also won Australia’s top essay prize, the John Curtin Prize for Best Essay, at the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards, for his 15,000 word Monthly essay The Penalty is Death, about the lives inside of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukamaran, two drug runners on Bali’s death row. (They would be executed by firing squad, to great public controversy, in 2015.)

Davies’ children’s book Magpie was published by ABC Books in 2010. His play Stag was produced for the Sydney Theatre Company’s Wharf2Loud stage in 2006.

Listen to Luke on Script to Screen Podcasts in the following sessions:

Adaptation with writer Luke Davies – Saturday 30 September, 11.40am

In Conversation with Luke Davies and David Michôd – Sunday 1 October, 2.40pm

So Yong Kim is an award-winning Korean American filmmaker.  Kim received the Special Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival for her debut feature, IN BETWEEN DAYS. Inspired by her youth, the film was shot in Toronto, mostly improvised by its teenage cast members, whose awkward, raw romance and alienation from their surroundings were expressed through intimate digital photography.  The film was released by Kino Films.

Her critically acclaimed second feature TREELESS MOUNTAIN, filmed in Kim’s home town in South Korea, follows the intimate story of two young girls who are abandoned by their mother and must find their own resilience to continue.  The film was released by Oscilloscope Laboratories, and distributed worldwide.

Kim’s third feature, FOR ELLEN, stars Paul Dano and Jon Heder, and is often cited as Dano’s best work. The film premiered at Sundance and was theatrically released by Tribeca Films in 2012. In 2014 Kim released SPARK AND LIGHT, a short film starring Riley Keough commissioned by fashion house Miu Miu as part of their ongoing series Women’s Tales.

Kim premiered her fourth feature, LOVESONG, at Sundance Film Festival in 2016 starring Riley Keough and Jena Malone. LOVESONG was released in 2017 by Strand Releasing and is currently available on Netflix.

Kim also directed episodes of TRANSPARENT for Amazon, AMERICAN CRIME for ABC, THE GOOD FIGHT for CBS and ROOM 104 for HBO.

So Yong appeared at the 2017 BSS in the following session:

Keynote Addresses: Authenticity & Pretence – Saturday 30 September, 10.10am.

Listen to So Yong on Script to Screen Podcasts in the following session:

Directing with So Yong Kim – Sunday 1 October, 11.10am.

Neil Cross is a British novelist and screenwriter best known as the creator of the multi-award winning international hit BBC crime series LUTHER, starring Idris Elba, and the international hit horror movie MAMA.

Neil was born in Bristol in 1969. He lived in Edinburgh, Brighton, Leeds and London before settling down. He is the author of several novels including Always the Sun, Burial and Captured, and his bestselling memoir Heartland was shortlisted for the PEN/Ackerley Prize in 2006. He was lead scriptwriter for the acclaimed series 6 and series 7 of the BBC spy drama series SPOOKS. He is the creator and sole writer of LUTHER, for which he has twice been nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing and which screens in more than 160 territories worldwide.

He continues to write for the screen in Britain and the United States. Recent projects include a new pre-apocalyptic crime drama, HARD SUN, forthcoming on BBC One in the UK and with Hulu in the US; a new series of LUTHER, and a reboot of the iconic 80s movie ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK for 20th Century Fox. Further projects include two episodes of DOCTOR WHO; CROSSBONES, the action adventure-series for NBC starring John Malkovich, and a number of yet-to-be announced feature projects. Neil was included in Variety magazine’s prestigious list of “10 Screenwriters to Watch” for 2011.

While working in England and Los Angeles, he continues to live in Wellington, New Zealand with his wife and two sons.

See Neil in the following session:

From Concept to Screen with writer Neil Cross – Saturday 30 September, 4.40pm

Midge Sanford began her film career at New American Cinema, an independent film production company, where she headed the development department. She joined forces with Sarah Pillsbury in 1982 to form Sanford/Pillsbury Productions.

Sanford and Pillsbury are a pioneering team of women producers who succeeded against all odds in a male-dominated industry. They mentored emerging female filmmakers and paved the way for the next wave of women producers in Hollywood.

Sanford/Pillsbury’s first project, DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN (Rosanna Arquette, Madonna), was a groundbreaking film produced, written and directed by women. It put their company on the map and enabled them to make their next film. The provocative RIVER’S EDGE (Dennis Hopper and Keanu Reeves) premiered at the Telluride Film Festival and won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Feature Film. They followed up with John Sayles’ EIGHT MEN OUT (John Cusack, Charlie Sheen, and David Strathairn), IMMEDIATE FAMILY (Glenn Close, James Woods) and LOVE FIELD (Michelle Pfeiffer, Dennis Haysbert).

Sanford/Pillsbury produced AND THE BAND PLAYED ON for HBO, which won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie.

The company had overall deals with Twentieth Century Fox and DreamWorks, where they produced HOW TO MAKE AN AMERICAN QUILT (Anne Bancroft, Winona Ryder, Ellen Burstyn, Alfre Woodard), THE LOVE LETTER (Kate Capshaw, Ellen DeGeneres, Tom Selleck), and QUID PRO QUO (Vera Farmiga, Nick Stahl). They also produced three movies for television, including THE COUNTERFEIT CONTESSA (Tea Leoni).

Sanford has also produced OPEN WINDOW (Joel Edgerton, Robin Tunney).

She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and is on the Academy’s Foreign Film Committee. She served on the advisory boards of the Alliance of Women Directors as well as Project Involve, a film mentorship program for minority filmmakers. Midge was a board member of Film Independent and on its Spirit Awards selection committee. She has been a panelist at film festivals around the world, including Sundance, Toronto, Vancouver, Rio de Janeiro, Australia and Puerto Rico.

Midge facilitates women’s support groups at Chrysalis, an organisation that helps homeless and low-income individuals by providing the resources and support needed to find employment. She also runs a group for formerly homeless women who have been diagnosed with a mental illness at the Downtown Women’s Center in Los Angeles. She is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College.

See Midge in the following session:

Producing with Midge Sanford: Doggedly Seeking Story – Saturday 30 September, 3.00pm.

Penny Win started her media career in radio in New Zealand. She went on to work in television in Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong and is experienced in both free-to-air and subscription television.

Penny came to Foxtel in 1996 after working at Star TV in Hong Kong and managed the running of Foxtel’s drama channels from 2007 to 2014.

In 2014 she was appointed as head of drama to focus on the local production slate. Penny has been involved in the commissioning of drama for the past five years, including SPIRITED, WENTWORTH, DEVIL’S PLAYGROUND, DEADLINE GALLIPOLI, THE KETTERING INCIDENT and SECRET CITY.

She is also an executive producer of Showcase’s acclaimed Australian series A PLACE TO CALL HOME, produced by Seven Productions for Foxtel.

Penny commissioned and executive produced Foxtel’s first feature film, AUSTRALIA DAY, which debuted at Sydney International Film Festival and will be released in cinemas in 2017 before having its Australian television premiere on Foxtel Movies.

In 2017 Penny was also the executive producer of Foxtel’s re-imagining of Joan Lindsay’s timeless Australian novel, PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK and FIGHTING SEASON, a powerful exploration of the experiences of Australian soldiers returned from duty.

See Penny in the following session:

Panel: What makes a great TV co-production? – Saturday 30 September, 3.00pm.

Bec Smith – Agent, Motion Picture Literary and Independent Film Group, United Talent Agency

Bec Smith is an agent at United Talent Agency (UTA), headquartered in Los Angeles with offices in New York, Nashville, Miami, London and Malmo in Sweden.

As an agent in the Motion Picture Literary group, she represents screenwriters and directors including Benedict Andrews, Julius Avery, Lake Bell, Luke Davies, Garth Davis, Ariel Kleiman, Mia Hansen-Løve, Julia Leigh, Joshua Oppenheimer, Stacie Passon, James Ponsoldt, David Michôd and Ben Young.

As a member of UTA’S Independent Film Group she formulates film finance and sales solutions for clients of the agency. She has worked on over 100 titles including I FEEL PRETTY, MARY MAGDALENE, THE ROVER, SON OF A GUN, PARTISAN, THE CIRCLE, THE END OF THE TOUR, THE SPECTACULAR NOW, BEGINNERS, IN A WORLD, MARGIN CALL and ADVENTURELAND.

A former producer and film journalist, Bec joined UTA from the Sydney office of Working Title Films where she was Head of Development. Bec executive produced David Michôd’s ANIMAL KINGDOM, winner of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival’s Dramatic World Cinema Jury Prize. Prior to working in development and production she was the Australasian bureau chief of the Hollywood Reporter and the editor of Inside Film Magazine in Australia.

She served on the advisory board of IFP and is a regular attendee of major film festivals and markets including Sundance, Berlin, Cannes, Venice, Toronto and the American Film Market.

Listen to Bec on Script to Screen Podcasts in the following session:

In Conversation with UTA agent Bec Smith – Sunday 1 October, 1.20pm.

Peter Broderick is one of the world’s leading distribution strategists. He spearheads the distribution of exceptional independent films and consults with filmmakers around the globe. He helps design and implement customized plans to maximize revenues, audience, and impact. Peter is President of Paradigm Consulting, which specializes in state-of-the-art distribution techniques—including innovative theatrical service deals, hybrid strategies (mixing retail and direct sales online), and new approaches to global distribution.

Peter was President of Next Wave Films, which supplied finishing funds and other vital support to filmmakers from the US and abroad. He helped launch the careers of such exceptionally talented directors as Christopher Nolan, Joe Carnahan, and Amir Bar-Lev. Peter established Next Wave Films’ Agenda 2000, the world’s first initiative devoted to financing digital features. A key player in the growth of the ultra-low budget feature movement, Peter became one of the most influential advocates of digital moviemaking. Now focused on the revolution in film distribution, he gives keynotes, presentations and master classes at festivals and cities including Cannes, Sundance, Berlin, Toronto, IDFA Nordisk Panorama, Sydney, Capetown, London and Rio de Janeiro.

In 2004 Peter launched Films to See Before You Vote, harnessing the power of film to impact the US presidential election. He served as Program Co-Director of Digimart, the global digital distribution summits held in Montreal. Peter co-created and co-presented Distribution U., a one day crash course on the new rules of marketing and distribution in Los Angeles and New York. Peter has written articles for Scientific American, The New York Times, and The Economist. His seminal article, “Maximizing Distribution,” has been reprinted in publications around the world. His reports, “Welcome to the New World of Distribution” and “Declaration of Independence” are concise guides to the latest distribution strategies.

Over 11,000 filmmakers around the world subscribe to Peter’s Distribution Bulletin which covers the latest in independent film distribution and marketing. You can subscribe, and read his articles and reports at www.peterbroderick.com.

He is a graduate of Brown University, Cambridge University, and Yale Law School. In the past 15 years, Peter has consulted on the distribution of more than 1300 films.

See Peter in the following sessions:

Keynote Addresses: Authenticity & Pretence – Saturday 30 September, 10.10am.

Distribution with Peter Broderick – Sunday 1 October, 11.10am.

Kylie du Fresne is a partner at Goalpost Pictures Australia. She has produced award-winning film and television drama including feature films, STEM, a co-production with Blumhouse Productions directed by Leigh Whannell currently in post-production, HOLDING THE MAN directed by Neil Armfield and based on Timothy Conigrave’s much-loved memoir, and the box office hit THE SAPPHIRES directed by Wayne Blair.

Kylie is producer of FIGHTING SEASON a 6×1 hour drama series for Foxtel Australia & Sky Vision and is executive producer of the successful ABC TV / Sundance Channel television series CLEVERMAN Season 1 and 2.

Other television drama producing credits include the 52 episodes of the Logie winning adaption of Tim Winton’s LOCKIE LEONARD for the Nine Network and BBC, Rachel Ward’s tele-movie AN ACCIDENTAL SOLDIER for the ABC, the prime time ratings winner SCORCHED for the Nine Network and ITV International and Geoffrey Atherden’s STEPFATHER OF THE BRIDE for ABC.

Kylie will talk producing at this year’s Big Screen Symposium.

See Kylie in the following sessions:

Panel: What makes a great TV co-production? – Saturday 30 September, 3.00pm.

Producing with Kylie du Fresne – Sunday 1 October, 9.30am.

Ian Collie is a highly experienced drama television producer and CEO of the new Australian drama company Easy Tiger Productions in partnership with the global media group Fremantle.

He is the series producer of four seasons of RAKE the comedy drama series starring Richard Roxburgh and guest starring Toni Collette, Cate Blanchett, Rachel Griffiths, Hugo Weaving and Sam Neill, amongst others. In addition, Ian was an Executive Producer on the United States version of RAKE for the Fox Network and starring Greg Kinnear. Series 5 went into production late 2017.

Ian completed the SBS mini-series SUNSHINE starring Anthony La Paglia and Melanie Linskey which went to air in Australia on 18 October 2017.

In 2016 Ian also series produced the popular 10-part series DOCTOR DOCTOR. A second series is currently on air on the Nine Network. Ian has produced the six-part series of JACK IRISH, which stars Guy Pearce as well as three telemovies of the JACK IRISH franchise – BAD DEBTS, BLACK TIDE and DEAD POINT.

In 2015 Ian produced the series THE PRINCIPAL, which has sold to Netflix and the Sundance channels internationally, and the telemovie THE BROKEN SHORE starring Don Hany and Claudia Karvan in 2014. His feature film producer credits include the Disney financed SAVING MR BANKS starring Tom Hanks, Emma Thompson, Colin Farrell, Paul Giamatti and others, and directed by John Lee Hancock in December 2013.

In 2011 Ian produced ON TRIAL a five-part documentary series filming criminal trials in both the NSW District and WA Supreme Courts, including the first time cameras have been granted access to film a murder trial, and was executive producer on AUSTRALIA ON TRIAL a co-production with December Films in Melbourne that explores three pivotal criminal trials that shaped the face of colonial Australia.

Prior to television Ian worked as a solicitor for Slater and Gordon and Cashman and Partners, and later as executive director for the Arts Law Centre of Australia and the Australian Directors Guild.

See Ian in the following session:

Panel: What makes a great TV co-production? – Saturday 30 September, 3.00pm

Kerry Barden is an award-winning casting director and a principal of Barden Schnee Casting with offices in New York and LA.

Barden is a native of Atlanta. He majored in theatre at the University of Georgia and has cast over 200 films, including 13 REASONS WHY, GIRL ON A TRAIN, THE HELP, BOYS DON’T CRY, AMERICAN PSYCHO, THE HOUSE OF MIRTH, BAD BOYS 2, PINEAPPLE EXPRESS and four films for director John Waters.

Barden’s other casting credits include Academy Award winning STILL ALICE and SPOTLIGHT, AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY, DALLAS BUYERS CLUB and WINTER’S BONE. For a full list of Barden Schnee’s credits, see their extensive resume.

As a producer, his credits include the award-winning CONVERSATIONS WITH OTHER WOMEN starring Aaron Eckhart and Helena Bonham Carter.

Kerry is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts, and Sciences; and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

See Kerry in the following session:

Casting Matters with Kerry Barden – Saturday 30 September, 11.40am.

Tusi Tamasese was born in Samoa and raised in the villages of Vaimoso and Mulifanua.  At the age of eighteen he moved to New Zealand and attended the University of Waikato, The New Zealand Film and Television School and Victoria University of Wellington where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in Social Studies and a Masters of Arts degree in creative writing.

In 2011, the feature film script Tusi had written for his MA degree, which won the Embassy Trust Award and Dominion Post Award, became his feature film directorial debut O LE TULAFALE/THE ORATOR. THE ORATOR was shot in Samoa, and is entirely in the Samoan language. The film had its world premiere in competition at the 2011 Venice Film Festival in the Orizzonti (New Horizons) section and went on to win numerous awards in Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand (Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay at the 2012 “Moa” New Zealand Film Awards). THE ORATOR was New Zealand’s first-ever entry into the best foreign-language film category for the Academy Awards.

In 2015 Tusi was named a new Generation NZ Arts Laureate.

His second film ONE THOUSAND ROPES was shot in Wellington and premiered at the Panorama Section of the Berlin International Film Festival 2017.

He lives with his wife Melanie and three children in Wellington.

See Tusi in the following session:

Case Study: ONE THOUSAND ROPES – Saturday 30 September, 3.00pm.

An award-winning actor and director, Miranda Harcourt, ONZM, began her career starring in the 80’s TV series GLOSS. She travelled as a Winston Churchill Fellow to London where she studied drama-therapy at the Central School of Speech and Drama. On her return to New Zealand, Miranda devised and wrote the now-classic play Verbatim with William Brandt, touring it around every prison in NZ — as well as to prisons, schools, theatres and festivals all over the world.

Miranda was Head of Acting at Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School for seven years. Her tenure was celebrated for establishing a close connection between the training institution and the wider industry.

Miranda is now established as an acting coach of international acclaim. The many films she has coached on include Gabor Csupo’s BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA (2007), Peter Jackson’s THE LOVELY BONES (2009), Gaylene Preston’s HOME BY CHRISTMAS (2010) and Jane Campion’s BRIGHT STAR (2009) and TOP OF THE LAKE (2013). Most recently, Miranda was coach on Garth Davis’ hugely successful feature film LION which was nominated for six academy awards.

Miranda coaches actors across the spectrum from Nicole Kidman, Anna Sophia Robb, Rose McIver, Dev Patel and other successful practitioners to weekly teenage classes at Rata Studios, Wellington. She lectures and teaches all over the world.

Miranda and husband Stuart McKenzie have been at the forefront of verbatim theatre both in NZ and internationally with the iconic works Verbatim (1992) and Portraits (1995). Subsequently, their ground-breaking biographical pieces Flowers from My Mother’s Garden (1998) and Biography of My Skin (2009) were met with national acclaim.

Together, Harcourt and McKenzie have co-directed the young-adult feature film THE CHANGEOVER, distributed by Vendetta, produced by Firefly Films and starring Timothy Spall, Lucy Lawless, Nicholas Galitzine, Melanie Lynskey, and Erana James.

See Miranda in the following session:

Case Study: THE CHANGEOVER – Sunday 1 October, 1.20pm.

Stuart McKenzie’s debut feature film was low-budget psychological thriller FOR GOOD (2004) based on the stage play Portraits written with his wife Miranda Harcourt. FOR GOOD premiered at the Montreal International Film Festival and was selected for the Critics’ Choice competition of the Paris Film Festival. Catherine le Ferrand wrote in French film journal aVoir—aLire, “one thinks of Egoyan in the way [McKenzie] visualizes silence, creates lingering images and delicately evokes the intrinsic guilt of being alive.”

Through MAP Film Productions, Stuart has produced, written and/or directed several acclaimed short films with Neil Pardington and Miranda Harcourt, including THE MOUTH AND THE TRUTH (Best Short Film, 1991 NZ Film & TV Awards), ENDS MEAT (voted Best Film by the staff of the 1992 London Film Festival), SNAP (Official Selection, 1995 Clermont-Ferrand), CHINESE WHISPERS (finalist, 1996 Asia Pacific Film Festival) and VOICEOVER (Best Short Film, 1997 NZ Film & TV Awards).

In 2005 Stuart conceived and directed 10-part observational documentary series TOUGH ACT (produced through The Gibson Group) for TV2 which followed students auditioning for Toi Whakaari: the NZ Drama School and the first year of training of the successful applicants. TOUGH ACT was a finalist in the 2007 Air New Zealand Screen Awards in the “Best Reality Series” category and due to its ongoing popularity has been screened repeatedly.

Stuart has degrees in Creative Writing (MA — International Institute of Modern Letters) and Contemporary Religion from Victoria University (BA Hons, First Class) and Canterbury University (BA) — and has completed post-graduate research in contemporary theology at Cambridge University with controversial British theologian Don Cupitt. His writings on religion and art have been published in New Zealand and internationally.

Stuart started writing and acting in the Free Theatre, Christchurch. In 2000 he was named the Bruce Mason Sunday Star Times Playwrighting Fellow.

Through their company The Community Theatre Trust Stuart and Miranda produced and toured Miranda’s and William Brandt’s New Zealand classic Verbatim. Stuart and Miranda’s follow-up play Portraits was based on interviews with the rapist and murderer of a teenager, his girlfriend and the parents of the victim.

In 1998 Stuart wrote Flowers from My Mother’s Garden commissioned by the NZ International Festival of the Arts. It explores genealogy, social history and family dynamics through the lens of Miranda’s relationship with her mother Kate Harcourt. Flowers toured nationally and was seen by over 35,000 people, becoming one of New Zealand’s most loved and popular plays. It is published by Penguin Books.

Stuart’s play Biography of My Skin starring Miranda was commissioned by Downstage Theatre in 2009 and returned for another season by popular demand in 2010. A huge popular and critical success, touring the country in late 2010, it was described by reviewer John Smythe in Theatreview as, “A gift. Shocking. Profound. Ruthlessly honest. Funny. Not to be missed.”

Most recently, Stuart wrote the screenplay adaptation and he and Miranda co-directed upcoming young-adult feature film THE CHANGEOVER, distributed by Vendetta, produced by Firefly Films and starring Timothy Spall, Lucy Lawless, Nicholas Galitzine, Melanie Lynskey, and Erana James.

See Stuart in the following session:

Case Study: THE CHANGEOVER – Sunday 1 October, 1.20pm.

Miriama McDowell won the Best Actress award at The Moas this year for her leading role in THE GREAT MAIDEN’S BLUSH. Since graduating from Toi Whakaari NZ Drama School, Miriama has appeared in numerous television series’ including THIS IS NOT MY LIFE, HOPE AND WIRE, TERRY TEO and FIND ME A MAORI BRIDE. Her film credits include films NO.2, DARK HORSE, MAHANA and most recently, WARU. She also works as an actor, writer and director in theatre and has just returned from Melbourne where she directed Much Ado About Nothing at the Pop Up Globe Melbourne.

Hear from Miriama on Script to Screen podcasts in the following session:

Keynote Addresses: Authenticity & Pretence – Sunday 1 October, 9.30am 

Emma Slade has worked in the film and television industry for over 16 years, beginning in the UK and moving back home, passionate to tell stories that resonated internationally but were firmly rooted in New Zealand.

Her credits include, the supernatural thriller THE CHANGEOVER starring Timothy Spall (MR TURNER), Melanie Lynskey (THE INTERVENTION) and Lucy Lawless (XENA), which will have a wide release in New Zealand this year. The NZ/Chinese co-production INTO THE RAINBOW starring Willow Shields (THE HUNGER GAMES). The Brazilian/NZ feature LITTLE SECRET, which was nominated as Brazil’s Oscar entry for Best Foreign Film 2017. The political drama RAGE, based on the events of the 1981 Springbok Tour, was nominated for five NZ TV awards including Best Drama, Director and Actor in 2012. TRACKER, a UK/NZ coproduction starring Ray Winstone (THE DEPARTED) and Temuera Morrison (ONCE WERE WARRIORS), which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 2010. SEPARATION CITY, directed by world-renowned commercials director, Paul Middleditch, starring Joel Edgerton (ANIMAL KINGDOM) and Rhona Mitra (UNDERWORLD). BRIDE FLIGHT, directed by critically acclaimed Dutch director Ben Sombogaart, which received eleven wins and three nominations from various international film festivals in 2008.

Emma is currently developing the Charles Upham feature film with Academy Award winning producer Gaby Tana (PHILOMENA) and writer Jeff Pope (PHILOMENA) and Lionsgate; Emmy Award-winning director Thomas Robins (RESERVOIR HILL); best short film director at the Venice Film Festival, Sima Urale (O TAMAITI); multiple award-winning commercials director Paul Middleditch (SEPARATION CITY) and Gaysorn Thavat & Sophie Henderson (BUNNY).

See Emma in the following session:

Case Study: THE CHANGEOVER – Sunday 1 October, 1.20pm.

Annie Collins has been editing film since 1975. Her focus has always been a commitment to the people at whom the camera is pointed and that has made for a sometimes turbulent career but never a dull one. What she works on is decided by kaupapa, not fees, so the turbulence is not often accompanied by wine. However, it is always accompanied by a large slice of cake quite often salted with a dose of stringent analysis.

Annie has edited many films including PATU!, SCARFIES, OUT OF THE BLUE, SHOPPING, GARDENING WITH SOUL, CONSENT: THE LOUISE NICHOLAS STORY and ONE THOUSAND ROPES. Annie was assembly editor on THE LORD OF THE RINGS, RETURN OF THE KING.

She has remained independent throughout her career.

See Annie in the following session:

Case Study: ONE THOUSAND ROPES – Saturday 30 September, 3.00pm.

Clare Burlinson has been a colourist for over 30 years in New Zealand.

Starting in the television commercial world, she coloured hundreds of TVCs, television dramas and music videos in the late 80s and 90s. She then progressed to become part of the emerging digital intermediate department as a feature film colourist in 2005 with Park Road Post.

Working on a wide range of films and documentaries, Clare favours a strong, story-driven visual style and close collaboration with directors and cinematographers. She has also worked on the restoration of such New Zealand classics as WHALE RIDER, ILLUSTRIOUS ENERGY and UTU REDUX.

Clare received the New Zealand Cinematographers Society Ian Turtill Award in 2015 for outstanding contribution to craft.

Some of her projects include No. 2, BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA, 30 DAYS OF NIGHT, RED CLIFF 2, VINTNERS LUCK, MR PIP, HARRY, THE ORATOR, CONSENT, THE HOBBIT 2&3, THE DARK HORSE, ONE THOUSAND ROPES, MAHANA, PORK PIE and THE CHANGEOVER.

See Clare in the following session:

Case Study: ONE THOUSAND ROPES – Saturday 30 September, 3.00pm.

Todd Christian Cameron Ranginui Karehana was born in Whakatane, New Zealand on June 7, 1987 to Rahi Alma Te Ua (Ngāti Awa, Te Arawa, Ngāti Ruapani) and Turapaki Joseph Gardiner (Ngāti Ranginui, Ngai Te Rangi). He was raised in Kawerau alongside six brothers and three sisters.

In 2014 Karehana graduated from The University of Auckland with a Bachelor of Arts in Writing Studies & Media, Film and Television. In the same year he directed his first film THE KWEENZ OF KELSTON- a short documentary about a group of transgender, fa’afafine and takataapui teenagers that attend an all-boys high school and compete in an inter-school talent quest. The film screened at imagineNATIVE and was noted by Ron Brownson (Senior Curator, New Zealand and Pacifc Art at the Auckland Art Gallery) as “one of the most important documentaries of the decade”.

In 2015 he graduated from The University of Auckland with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) specialising in Screen Production. While there, Karehana wrote, directed and produced THE SPECTACULAR IMAGINATION OF THE PŌHARA BROTHERS, a short film which follows two boys that sell flying lessons to pay their mother’s overdue power bill before the power is disconnected. The film features well-known Māori singer Whirimako Black as “Grumpy Kuia” alongside a cast of non-actors from his hometown, Kawerau. The film won Best Short Film Script at the 2016 Wairoa Māori Film Festival and went on to screen in Ngā Whanaunga Shorts at the New Zealand International Film Festival, where it won three audience choice awards; Best Māori Short Film, Best Actress- Whirimako Black, and Best Actor- Sonny-Beau Ngaheu.

In 2016 Karehana wrote and directed MY BROTHER MITCHELL, a semi-autobiographical short film based on the death of his brother Mitchell Nathan Karehana. The film follows nine-year- old Todd as he steals Mitchell’s dead body from the funeral, leaving their mother in search of answers. The film was his first collaboration with producer Mia Mārama Henry-Teirney and was submitted as his MA Thesis Film at The University of Auckland.

Currently, Karehana works as a writer for Kura Productions on AHIKĀROA, a Maori scripted drama which released early 2018 online and on Maori Television.

Hear from Todd on Script to Screen podcasts in the following session:

Keynote Addresses: Authenticity & Pretence – Sunday 1 October, 9.30am 

Carthew Neal produced Taika Waititi’s HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE through their company Piki, which went on to become New Zealand’s #1 film, reaching a US$23M box office.

Piki recently produced its second film, THE BREAKER UPPERERS with Madeleine Sami, Jackie van Beek, Ainsley Gardiner and Georgina Conder at the helm. Carthew also produced feature documentary, TICKLED which premiered at Sundance 2016 and was released globally by Magnolia and picked up by HBO.

Carthew also works with new media: producing interactive documentaries FAFSWAG with NZ digital agency RESN, co-production I SPY (With My Five Eyes) with Canadian digital company Jam3 and released via TakePart.com, and two seasons of the online cartoon AROHA BRIDGE. He was also associate producer on Disney’s reimagining of PETE’S DRAGON.

He produced New Zealand comedy SUPER CITY starring Madeleine Sami which has been piloted in the United States with the ABC. Carthew conceived and produced two seasons of Wa$ted!, an environmental make-over series, which was remade around the world including to America Wa$ted! on Discovery channel, Planet Green. He was named Independent Producer of the Year in 2016 at the New Zealand SPADA conference, and also named in Variety’s 2016 Producers to Watch.

Michael Bennett (Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāti Whakaue) is an award-winning screenwriter and director, and author. Michael’s short films and feature film MATARIKI have screened at numerous international film festivals including Cannes, Berlin, London and Toronto. Michael’s first screenplay, the short comedy MICHELLE’S THIRD NOVEL, was selected as the short film to accompany the US premiere of PULP FICTION at the opening night of the 1994 New York Film Festival.

Michael has a number of original feature films in development across a range of genres, including a Korea / NZ love story set in the Korean war, a UK-based true crime movie (with Kerry Fox for her directorial debut), a China / NZ rom-com set in Central Otago, a true-life historical biopic about an American drunkard who fought on both sides of the NZ Land Wars (with actor / producer Cliff Curtis).

Michael has been part of the fight for justice for Teina Pora for several years, including writing and directing the award-winning documentary  THE CONFESSIONS OF PRISONER T, and writing the book In Dark Places, which he is about to film as a TVNZ telefeature of the same name.

In 2015 Michael founded The 10,000 Company with designer / writer / producer Jane Holland. The first 10,000 Company production is In Dark Places.

Michael has written and directed many dozen hours of prime-time television comedy, drama, documentary and children’s drama. He has co-created two produced drama series and has been head writer or episode writer on numerous drama series including writing and directing multiple episodes of the iconic comedy drama OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE, MATAKU (the Māori Twilight Zone), KAITANGATA TWITCH and many others. Michael devised and wrote all 20 episodes of the comedy / musical / drama web series THE FACTORY.

Michael works as a script consultant and developer, and is an experienced script doctor, including script doctoring the last series of the iconic US series XENA WARRIOR PRINCESS. Michael teaches screenwriting courses at two Auckland film schools, and runs screenwriting workshops across New Zealand for Script to Screen.

Michael’s first book In Dark Places is finalist in the 2017 Ngaio Marsh Awards. Michael’s second book, Helen and the Go-Go Ninjas (an apocalyptic time-travel graphic novel created with Ant Sang), was published by Penguin Random House in 2018.

Hear from Michael on Script to Screen podcasts in the following session:

Keynote Addresses: Authenticity & Pretence – Sunday 1 October, 9.30am 

Annie Goldson is a documentary filmmaker whose films are known for their craft and insight. They have won over 50 awards at international film festivals and have sold to broadcasters worldwide. Major films include PUNITIVE DAMAGE, GEORGIE GIRL, AN ISLAND CALLING, BROTHER NUMBER ONE and most recently, KIM DOTCOM: CAUGHT IN THE WEB (kimdotcom.film). 

Annie is also a scholar, regularly publishing articles in books and journals. She teaches at the University of Auckland where she completed her PhD. Annie is a Fellow of the Royal Society of NZ and received an ONZM in 2006.

See Annie in the following session:

Keynote Addresses: Authenticity & Pretence – Saturday 30 September, 10.10am.

Dave Gibson is the former CEO of the NZFC and has produced feature films and television programmes that have sold in more than eighty countries worldwide. He has co-produced major television drama series and feature films with partners based in Canada, Britain, Australia, Germany and Sweden.

He has served on the board of the New Zealand Drama School and was the inaugural Chair of the New Zealand Independent Producers and Directors Guild. He was the Chairman of Project Blue Sky (a major New Zealand film and television initiative that won the CER court case in Australia) and in 1997/1998 was the President of SPADA. Dave was awarded the honour of SPADA Industry Champion in 2005.

In 2012 he was appointed an officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) in recognition of his services to the film and television industries.

After graduating from drama school Toi Whakaari in 1987, Robyn Malcolm worked extensively in theatre for the first 5 years, performing in over 30 plays. In 2003 she won an International Actors Fellowship to study Shakespeare in performance with Mark Rylance at the Globe Theatre in London.

Malcolm first came to the attention of television audience in 1995 when she joined the staff of SHORTLAND STREET. As nursing manager and mother Ellen Crozier, she quickly lost a husband, accidentally burnt the house down, and soon found herself caught up in a complicated love-life – not to mention the complications which ensued when an ex-boyfriend got married to her psychotic sister. The writers of the show lovingly called her “the slut in the cardy” Malcolm earned her first screen nomination for Best Actress at the 1998 Television Awards.

In 1999 Malcolm founded the New Zealand Actors’ Company with Tim Balme, Katie Wolfe and future OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE director Simon Bennett. The company produced and toured successful stage productions of Shakepeare adaptations and NZ works throughout the country to huge audiences.

She gained another nomination 3 years later for the film for television CLARE, based on the cervical cancer experiment at National Women’s Hospital. The film’s inspiration was Clare Matheson, whose book Fate Cries Enough chronicles how over 15 years she became an unwitting participant in a medical experiment where carcinoma in situ was often left untreated.

Over this time Malcolm had smaller roles in movies PERFECT STRANGERS, ABSENT WITHOUT LEAVE, THE LAST TATTOO, and LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS.

In 2004, Malcolm travelled to France to front her documentary OUR LOST WAR: PASSCHENDAELE. She followed her Great Uncles footstep’s from the hills of Central Otago, to the UK and France to then Belgium where he eventually was killed in 1917.

She would score her first actual screen award in 2005 for a show which surely drew some inspiration from SHORTLAND STREET: satire SERIAL KILLERS, in which she played a stressed out scriptwriter.

2005 was also the year that she first played Cheryl West, in OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE. The show would go on to become the longest running and most successful drama in New Zealand TV history.

Bringing her substantial experience to the part, Malcolm helped created an iconic character on New Zealand television: feisty, flawed and cleavaged to the hilt, the straight-talking Cheryl tried to keep the West whanau on the straight and narrow, while trying to sort her affections for her criminal husband Wolf (Grant Bowler) and policeman Wayne Judd (Kirk Torrance). By the show’s third season, women were turning up in Kiwi hair salons asking for a “Cheryl West”. Malcolm argued in 2007 that audiences liked the character “because she’s so fallible… no one wants a two dimensional hero. We want messed up struggling people.”

The final episode of OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE aired in November 2010 and rated better than any in the show’s six season run. Over those 5 years Malcolm has stacked up an unprecedented run of awards for her role.

In 2010 Malcolm took another centre stage role with THE HOPES AND DREAMS OF GAZZA SNELL, the first feature from award-winning INSIDERS GUIDE director Brendan Donovan. She was nominated again for best actress for this role. She then went to Australia for feature films DRIFT starring Sam Worthington, and THE BURNING MAN. She also began her association with the much acclaimed and loved Aussie TV series RAKE. Her recurring character the mad and hilarious Kirsty Corella, wife of jailed gangster gained her much praise in Australia.

Malcolm pitched her idea for her “tragi-comedy” AGENT ANNA, which debuted on television in January 2013. She was intrigued by the idea of basing a show around a middle-class mum “with no hint of hero about her,” who is forced to enter the highly competitive world of selling real estate whilst in a state of growing internal collapse.

She features in Jane Campion’s acclaimed mini-series TOP OF THE LAKE as a messed up American chimpanzee owner seeking healing down under and was voted Best Supporting Actress by Indiewire at the Berlin Festival.

Robyn featured in the hugely popular Melbourne comedy UPPER MIDDLE BOGAN and the second series of critically acclaimed political thriller THE CODE.

Through these years of film and television she has kept up regular theatre work. Most notably in recent years as the buried Winnie in Samuel Becket’s in HAPPY DAYS for Silo Theatre, the title role in Auckland Theatre Company’s production of MARY STUART and again for that company the roles of Shen Te and Shui Ta in Brechts THE GOOD SOUL OF SZECHUAN.

Robyn’s most recent work has included her role in the feature film HOSTILES (2017) starring Christian Bale, and as the star of the 2017 short film GOODNESS GROWS HERE. She has been kept busy with her roles in various new television series including Season 1 and 2 of WANTED (2015/2016), WAKE IN FRIGHT (2017) and HARROW (2017).

She is slowly becoming a fixture at the Big Screen Symposium as a regular interviewer of guests because “I love talking to people about this business, it’s a never-ending treasure trove of experience and story.”

See Robyn in the following session:

Case Study: THE CHANGEOVER – Sunday 1 October, 1.20pm.

Shuchi Kothari has written and/or produced award winning films (FIRAAQ, APRON STRINGS, COFFEE & ALLAH, FLEETING BEAUTY) that have screened at over 100 international festivals, including Venice, Toronto, Telluride, and Cannes.  She’s currently writing an anime feature set in the USA and Japan, and most recently made her first foray into directing drama with SHIT ONE CARRIES, a short film about awkward intimacies between parents and children when caregiving roles are reversed. Shuchi teaches Screen Production at the University of Auckland.

See Shuchi in the following session:

Directing with David Michôd– Saturday 30 September, 3.00pm.

Thomas Sainsbury has written and produced theatre throughout New Zealand, Australia, UK, US, France and Greece. He co-wrote the political thriller novel, Something is Rotten, and the Vietnamese Children’s TV show, ALOOH. In 2017 Thomas acted in PORK PIE, SHORTLAND STREET, FILTHY RICH and HAMISH AND ANDY’S TRUE STORIES. He is also known as a political satirist using snapchat to parody New Zealand politicians and an improv comedian, performing in Auckland’s improv troupe, Snort, every Friday night.

See Thomas in the following session:

From Concept to Screen with writer Neil Cross – Saturday 30 September, 4.40pm.

Fiona Copland’s award winning feature films include TOPLESS WOMEN TALK ABOUT THEIR LIVES (MIFF 1997), THE PRICE OF MILK (TIFF 2001), German co-production THE STRENGTH OF WATER (Berlinale 2008), MATARIKI (TIFF 2010) and Pacific island comedy GARY OF THE PACIFIC (HIFF 2017). She is presently producing a stop-motion, claymation series KIRI AND LOU, in co-production with Canada for CBC and TVNZ.

Fiona has also produced documentaries, documentary series and factual series for Television New Zealand and drama series for TV3. In 2015 she joined other leading New Zealand producers, Philippa Campbell and Tim Sanders, to form Field Theory, with a production focus on high-end film and television for the international market.

See Fiona in the following session:

Panel: What makes a great TV co-production? – Saturday September 30, 3pm

Jill Macnab began her career working in theatre management at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, after studying in the UK, Switzerland and Germany. She then worked in home entertainment in the UK and New Zealand, marketing numerous blockbuster and arthouse new releases, collaborating with both studios and independents, and assisting the internal buying teams. From here she moved to distributor Vendetta Films to head up their sales and marketing team, and then helped launch the international acquisitions side of the business.

Attending all key film markets, Jill has acquired multiple award-winning films and revenue winners across varied genres, and now oversees the whole business, which encompasses all-rights distribution across Australia and New Zealand.

Vendetta Productions was set up to create compelling feature films, the first of which was BORN TO DANCE (TIFF, Berlinale) with Jill as a producer. She is also Executive Producer of PECKING ORDER (HotDocs), THE BUTTERFLY TREE (TIFF) and REPEAT ATTENDERS (DocNYC), with further projects in the works.

See Jill at the following session:

In Conversation with UTA agent Bec Smith – Sunday 1 October, 1.20pm.

Brita McVeigh works with actors, directors, writers and producers, as a dramaturg, coach and consultant. In less than a decade, Brita’s working methodology has contributed to the development of more than 123 feature film, short film, television and theatre projects. Brita began working in the film industry at the age of 19 and directed her first film at 28.  She had previously worked in story development, casting, production and post production in both NZ and the United States. Since 2011, over 400 creative professionals have attended Brita’s Acting for Humans workshops. She is an advisory board member of Story Camp Aotearoa, a five-day residential retreat for filmmakers. 

See Brita McVeigh in the following sessions:

Screenwriting Masterclass with Cate Shortland – Sat 24th September, 2:55 pm.

Directing Masterclass with Tony Krawitz – Sun 25th September, 2:15pm.

Since training at Auckland’s influential Theatre Corporate, New Zealand actor Jennifer Ward-Lealand has worked extensively in theatre, film and television for over 35 years.

She has excelled in both dramatic and comedic roles, as well as numerous roles in musical theatre and cabaret. As an accomplished singer, she presents her own show, Falling in Love Again, at festivals and venues in New Zealand and Australia and is also in demand as a tutor of musical theatre.

Jennifer was a founding board member of the Watershed Theatre and a co-founder of The Large Group and The Actors’ Program.

She is currently President of Equity New Zealand, Patron of Q Theatre, and serves as a trust board member of Arts Regional Trust, Silo Theatre, Clarence St. Theatre, and Actors Benevolent Fund.

In the 2007 New Years Honours List, she was named an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit “for services to theatre and the community.

See Jennifer in the following session:

Casting Matters with Kerry Barden – Saturday 30 September, 11.40am.

Rachel Jean is South Pacific Pictures’ Head of Development and oversees the development of new and ongoing drama, comedy, factual and feature film projects.

Rachel has more than 20 years’ experience as a producer, director and production executive and has worked across a range of genres including drama, comedy and documentary, as well as short and feature films. Rachel has taken on the role of Head of Development following almost five years as Head of Drama and Comedy for New Zealand broadcaster TV3.

See Rachel in the following session:

Producing with Midge Sanford – Sunday 1 October, 1.20pm.