Screen Australia Podcast

We all recognise the media landscape has changed dramatically over the past 40 years, and for creatives like today's guest, working as a director is a masterclass in embracing change. Joining us is Australian director Kate Woods to share her insights about the evolution of the television sector behind the camera and the project that brought her back to Australia. She's worked on some of the biggest titles on the small screen in Australia and the US, including Aussie favourites like GP, All Saints, Farscape and City Homicide, and US titles including Without a Trace, the Law and Order franchises, The Umbrella Academy, Agents of Shield, and The Good Lord Bird. You'll also likely recognise her debut feature film – the Aussie teen hit of 2000, Looking for Alibrandi – which this year celebrates 25 years since release. Kate reflects on her experiences working in the industry across film and TV in Australia and abroad, her approach to selecting projects, the influence of music in her work, and why she ignored the screen adage to never work with children or animals in her latest project, Kangaroo. 

Creators and writers of hit film Top End Wedding, Miranda Tapsell and Joshua Tyler, join us this episode to talk about their new Amazon Australia Original Series Top End Bub. Following the global success of their debut feature film of Sundance-favourite Top End Wedding, creators and writers Miranda Tapsell and Joshua Tyler found audiences clamouring for more tales from the top end – and they were happy to oblige. As Tyler says, "If you've got an audience there, you've got a fan base, keep feeding them!"  Tapsell and Tyler share how they leveraged the IP from the big screen to television, the appeal of the comedy half-hour, the joy of collaborating together, and how creators can embrace family, community and love to reflect the breadth and diversity of First Nations experiences on screen. 

This is a big episode. We're talking saving the world big.  The global screen industry generates millions of metric tons of carbon emissions every year. From fossil fuels to food waste, costumes and sets, the average production can generate over 28700 kilograms of waste, and with pressure on production costs and budgeting, embracing sustainable practices on set can seem daunting.  But a growing movement of practitioners are exploring how to build more sustainable productions, regardless of size. 60Forty Films' Karl Liegis and Matchbox Pictures' Helen Panchurst join this episode to discuss the strategies and opportunities for engaging the screen sector in sustainability. They share their insights into what the industry is doing globally to be more environmentally conscious, how consultants and coordinators work with production, and why it's more important than ever for the Australia sector to embrace sustainable practices. Our top takeaways: Collaboration is key - not just within your team or production, but across the industry. Don't try to do everything. Pick three things that your production or team can focus on. It's not always about the successes. Learn from the hurdles and setbacks, and build them into your next project. Resources  Sustainable Screens Australia: https://www.sustainablescreens.au/  BAFTA Albert Toolkit: https://wearealbert.org/  The Pact HETV Drama Production Support Initiative: https://www.pact.co.uk/resource/the-hetv-drama-production-support-initiative.html   For feedback about this episode, please email [email protected].

The Snowtown and Nitram director shares what he learnt from making his first documentary, Ellis Park. Ellis Park is Kurzel's third release over the past year, alongside feature film The Order, starring Jude Law and Nicholas Hoult, and Amazon Prime's Australian war drama series The Narrow Road to the Deep North. He shares the challenges and joys of juggling three feature film projects simultaneously, advice on shaping your project for success on the global market, and how his view of filmmaking has changed from director to producer. 

Digital content strategist and kids IP specialist Nico Lockhart shares what producers can learn about audience development and content production from YouTube. From the importance of a good thumbnail, why a viral video could take years, how the direct-to-audience model is evolving with its audience, and the parallels between so-called traditional media and online media production, get the lowdown on how YouTube is changing the way audiences engage with screen stories. Resources Learn more about developing kids IP for YouTube with Nico Lockhart via the Kids IP Incubator webinar. Find out more about the Kids IP Incubator workshops and the successful online teams  here.  Interested in developing online content? Check out Screen Australia's Online Funding Podcast episode.