Screen Director

Beth Armstrong was Mel Gibson’s Director’s Attachment on his latest film Hacksaw Ridge. In our interview Beth speaks about her experiences on the film and how the Director’s Attachment affords an often rare opportunity for one director to observe another.

For Ivan Sen’s latest film Goldstone in addition to directing, he takes on the roles of cinematographer, composer, editor and writer. In this episode we talk about his compulsion to take on so many roles, and how it helps to focus him as a filmmaker.

Aaron McCann’s latest film, the fictional documentary Top Knot Detective, which he co-directed along with Dominic Pearce faced some unique challenges. In this episode we chat about co-directing, and the challenges of making a fictional documentary in a foreign language.

Stu Willis has just completed his 50 minute feature Restoration which is soon to screen on 9Go and Stan. In this episode we chat about his approach to filmmaking, rehearsal with actors and how there are emerging opportunities for shorter features in the world of streaming content.

In addition to her nomination as Best Director for her feature film Looking for Grace , Director Sue Brooks was awarded a lifetime membership to the Australian Directors Guild at the 2016 Awards. We talk about the film, her career and the changing industry as a whole.

Director Scott Hicks about his latest documentary Highly Strung. We also talk about his career as he continually bounces between features, TVCs and documentaries and how that drives his process.

Director John Hughes was awarded a lifetime membership to the Australian Directors Guild at the 2016 Awards and here speaks about his storied career and the influence of documentary filmmaking on the broader world.

Producer Ron Brown speaks to us about his soon to launch Australian focused streaming service OzFlix and what it means for Australian filmmakers.

Director Jon Favreau chats with us about his latest film The Jungle Book and how directing a largely animated film differs from live action and how he believes this process will influence his future work.

Director Samantha Lang is the newly appointed president of the Australian Directors Guild. In this episode we speak about her vision for the guild and the challenges that face filmmakers working in Australia today.

Director Mat King has just finished directing the Syfy show Hunters. Having worked a lot both in Australia and abroad, Mat speaks about the difference between production schedules, as well as his advice to young directors to get their start on kids TV.

Director Henry Inglis & Producer Lauren Elliott speak about their new show for ABC iView, Dafuq? and talk about how they developed the show, their creative process, how their success online faces certain challenges in the transition towards traditional media.

Director Jeremy Podeswa has worked on some of the biggest shows on television including Game of Thrones, True Detective, The Newsroom and Six Feet Under. In our conversation we talk about his approach to his craft, getting a start and how important it is to work on a variety of shows in order to show a diversity of ability.

Stuntwoman Ingrid Kleinig has worked on some pretty amazing films including Mad Max: Fury Road, The Hobbit Trilogy, The Great Gatsby and the upcoming Suicide Squad amongst many more. We chat about her beginnings as a stunt performer and how she’s been able to create character in her stunt work.

This episode was recorded at the 2015 AACTA Directing nominees panel, with Last Cab to Darwin director, Jeremy Sims, Holding the Man’s Neil Armfield and Peter Allen: Not the Boy Next Door director Shawn Seet.

This episode was recorded at the 2015 AACTA and OzDox Documentary panel, with the filmmakers of the documentaries Women He’s Undressed, The Cambodian Space Project, Sherpa, Gayby Baby and That Sugar Film. Special thanks to AACTA, OzDox and AFTRS for this episode.

Thomas Schlamme has an amazing career, including being pilot director of The West Wing, Sports Night and Manhattan. In our latest podcast he talks about his beginnings as a director, his relationship with writers and the reasons why he’s also become a producer.

Tony Tilse has had of the most storied careers in Australian Television directing, from Farscape, to Serangoon Road, Underbelly to Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. Most recently he’s finished shooting Ash Vs the Evil Dead in New Zealand alongside director Sam Raimi. In our discussion, we talk about how Tony got started in directing, his ability to diversify his body of work and the challenges and opportunities of directing television.

Robert Mond speaks to us about his debut feature film The Subjects, a different take on the superhero genre. He talks about his process of writing, directing and editing the film, as well as their strategies for releasing the film.

Anupam Sharma is an incredibly enterprising director who has found a fantastic response inside the Indian Australian community. In our latest podcast we chat about his career and his latest film Unindian, the first co production of the Australian India Film Fund, and stars cricketer Brett Lee.

Julietta Boscolo was Geoff Bennett's Directors Attachment on Love Child. In this episode we speak about her career, working on short films and commercials and her experience in the process and being given the chance to direct scenes for the show.

Kingston Anderson, CEO of the Australian Directors Guild & Australian Screen Directors Authorship Collection Society, speaks to us about the current state of the guild, it's recent union status, the Directors Attachment Scheme, Copyright law, and the current opportunities and challenges facing directors today.

Neil Armfield speaks with us about his latest film Holding The Man, which has powerfully vulnerable performances from its lead actors Ryan Corr and Craig Stott. We chat about the origins of this project and the adaptation of the film from Tim Conigrave's memoir.

Ariel Martin was the ADG's Directors Attachment to Neil Armfield on his film Holding the Man. In our chat, we stalk about Ariel's beginning, making short films and commercials and what he learned collaborating with Neil on the film.

Nash Edgerton is one of the founders of the Bluetongue Films collective. In our conversation we chat about Bluetongue's origins, his career as a stunt man and director, and the upcoming release of his brother Joel's debut film as writer/ director The Gift

If you've seen a fantastic poster for an Australian film in the past decade, there's a great chance it was designed by Jeremy Saunders. In this episode we talk about his creative process, working with directors and distributors, and we speak in depth about his thoughts on the future of key art. To see more of Jeremy's work, visit his website jeremysaunders.com

Rebecca Barry speaks about the challenges in telling the story of a girl in Afghanistan during the filming of her documentary I Am A Girl. This is the final part of our 4 part Ethics in Documentary series, presented with OzDox.

In part 3 of our Ethics of Documentary series, director Blue Lucine talks about her experiences working on her first feature documentary, Forced Out, which is still in production and tells the story of the communities in Millers Point, being evicted from their homes.

Jennifer Peedom's documentaries Sherpa, Solo, and Living The End deal intimately with life and death. In our second part of this four part series, Jen talks about her experiences approaching such delicate subject matter in an ethical way, for both herself as a filmmaker, but crucially, for her subjects.

Marc Radomsky produced and directed the highly discussed Struggle Street, which set the record for the most watched original documentary program on SBS. In this episode he speaks about the controversy surrounding the shows' release, and questions the ethics of a media landscape wherein a documentary is criticised before it is released.

Kriv Stenders is one of the busiest working directors in Australia today. He's finished directing a four part series, The Principal for SBS, has his feature Kill Me Three Times soon to release and is currently editing Blue Dog, the sequel to his smash hit Red Dog. We chat about his career, how he's continued to work, and how he believes the changing landscape of storytelling can impact on the future of directing.

Writer/ Director Brendan Cowell chats with us about his feature debut Ruben Guthrie and his process of adapting his play to screen. Additionally, his acting career which has afforded him a great opportunity to observe several directors on the job and we chat about this influence on his own directing.

In this episode, we speak with Corrie Chen, an emerging filmmaker in the earlier stages of her career and trying to navigate the film and TV landscape to turn her passion into a career. Recently her short film Bloomers was recently profiled as a Vimeo Staff Pick and we chat about the process of making the film and her plans for the future.

We speak with director Daina Reid about her latest show, Secret River.

We speak with Kim Farrant about her latest film Strangerland

In this episode, we speak with director Lisa Nicol who directed and produced her first feature documentary Wide Open Sky.

In this episode, we speak with director Wayne Hope who also writes and produces a number of comedies including Upper Middle Bogan, The Librarians and Very Small Business. We talk about his career and the challenges and opportunities in Australian comedy.

Anna Potter speaks with us about her new book, Creativity, Culture & Commerce; Producing Australian Children's Television with Public Value and the opportunities and challenges facing Australian Children's programming more broadly.

This weeks’ episode is a conversation with Documentary filmmaker Rebecca Barry and three of the nominees for Best Documentary at the 2015 AACTA Awards; Eddie Martin - All This Mayhem, Gracie Otto - The Last Impressario and Brett Popplewell - Deep Sea Challenge

This episode is a follow up from last weeks, and was also at the AACTA Meet the Makers event where Michael and Peter Spierig talk about writing Predestination with the Australian Writer’s Guild board member Shayne Armstrong. Thanks to AACTA and the AWG for letting us post this.

Recorded at the 2015 AACTA Meet the Makers session, with nominated directors Jennifer Kent and Michael & Peter Spierig, who speak about their films The Babadook and Predestination respectively.

In this interview with director Samantha Lang, who's recent film Carlotta was nominated for 5 AACTA Awards, we speak about how she started her career, the importance of mentoring younger directors and her transition from directing to writing and producing.

Meet the Film Maker event for the 20th Anniversary of the Australian film Muriel's Wedding. Featuring Writer/Director P.J. Hogan, Editor Jill Bilcock ASE ACE, DP Martin McGrath ACS, Producer Lynda House, Production Designer Paddy Reardon and Sound Editor Glenn Newnham. Presented by the Australian Screen Editors, Australian Cinematographers Society, National Film and Sound Archive and Cinema Nova

Join our distinguished panel of documentary feature directors as they talk though the directing of a documentary feature. Moderator: Bob Connolly Panel: Kaye Harrison, Rebecca Barry, John Hughes & Kitty Green

Reality TV refuses to die and many directors who work in this area are finding that the line between reality, documentary and factual television is quite narrow. How does a director fit into this picture? Moderator: Kingston Anderson Panel: Josie Mason-Campbell, John Olb & Kate Douglas-Walker

Recent debates have highlighted the seeming demise of one-off documentaries by independent filmmakers. Current commissioning in the factual entertainment world is geared towards series and not the intimate exploration of the documentary filmmaker. Screen Australia and the major public broadcasters have a stranglehold on who gets financed in the Australian documentary world. What can be done about it? Should anything be done? Is this the end of the one off documentary? This panel will explore a new path to documentary financing in Australia. Moderator: Bob Connolly Panel: Tom Zubrycki, Jennifer Crone, Trevor Graham & Genevieve Bailey

The role of directors has been diminished over the last ten years, particularly in television. Our panellists discuss their views of where directors fit within the screen industry at the moment, and where they will fit in the future. Moderator: Kingston Anderson Panel: Fred Schepisi, Michela Ledwidge, Michael Thornhill & Brian Rosen

How well do you know your rights? The director is usually the creative decision maker in a process of artistic collaboration. Certain rights apply to a director's work, yet many directors are not sure what those rights are. This session examines the state of directors' rights in Australia and what directors should know about how their work is exploited. Moderator: Kingston Anderson Panel: Greg Duffy, Simon Lake & Murray Fahey

In conversation with award winning Australian director Kimble Rendall, internationally acclaimed Australian director Alex Proyas talks career, sci-fi films and working on the world stage.

Today's director has a multitude of avenues available to distribute a film, from traditional to digital and multi-platform. What are the opportunities and burdens presented by these methods? Moderator: Lauren Carroll Harris Panel: Bob Connolly Genevieve Bailey Thomas Mai

Cinematographers should understand and embrace the director’s vision, and use their visual talent and technical knowledge to capture that vision on screen. Our panellists discuss the importance of collaboration to achieve their goals. Moderator: Ray Argall Panel: Martin McGrath, Mark Wareham & Peter Andrikidis