with Abi Tabone and Monthly Guests
Masterclass
5:30pm – 6:30pm
6th May 2025
3rd June 2025
1st July 2025
Register to Attend
In this series of monthly masterclasses, interviewer Abi Tabone will introduce you to leaders from across the creative sector. You’ll hear what they love about their work, what they would do differently if they were starting out again, who they admire in their field (and why), and what big changes they would like to see in their field. Abi will also explore their thinking about current issues, the challenges they see, and the opportunities. Join in and ask your own questions from the floor!
Guests
Lisa Hoppe
Lisa is one of the passionate producers at Midwinter Films – currently working on a live-action family feature and a rom-com. Lisa wrote and produced H is for Happiness which received the 2020 Generation KPlus Jury’s ‘Special Mention’ prize at Berlinale, 10 Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) nominations, an Australian Writer’s Guild AWGIE nomination and which was shortlisted for the 2020 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards. H is for Happiness won Best Film at CinefestOz in 2019, and a host of awards and nominations at international festivals.
Lisa has a Graduate Diploma in Producing and a Masters in Screen Arts from AFTRS where she produced several short films that screened around the world including Godel, Incomplete (starring Elizabeth Debicki), and the AWGIE Award winning Heck. She has extensive experience as writer, script editor and script producer on Australian TV series across a range of genres and formats including the original Heartbreak High, All Saints, White Collar Blue, Hi 5, The Deep and Guess How Much I Love You.
Jude McLaren
Jude McLaren is the former Talent Pathways Manager at Te Tumu Whakaata Taonga the New Zealand Film Commission, bringing 15 years of experience in screen industry development, production, and post-production. With bachelor’s degrees in Theatre, Film, and Television Production, she advanced her skills in story development through extensive training and has studied career development.
Jude has a rich background in organizing and budgeting story labs, mentoring programs, and coaching filmmakers in career progression. An NLP Master Practitioner and coach passionate about human development, Agile methodology, Design Thinking, and Innovation, Jude is also an experienced presenter and facilitator.
Kristen Hodges
Kristen is a Senior Creative Leader, Producer, and Executive Producer. with 15 years of experience across the Australian and US markets. Her expertise spans feature films, drama & factual series – for theatrical, broadcasters, and streamers. She has a proven track record of identifying potential in nascent ideas and talent, and delivering a broad range of commercially successful content that resonates with audiences.
As an experienced producer and executive, Kristen has led teams of all sizes and managed budgets ranging from micro to multi-million-dollar projects; and has worked extensively across different aspects of the sector including studios & buyers, production, and screen agencies- complemented by expertise in marketing, financial reporting, and data intelligence.
Kirsty Stark
Kirsty is an Emmy Award-winning TV Producer, Speaker and Coach who has worked on the Emmy Award-winning series First Day, and ABC iview’s first ever drama commission, Wastelander Panda. Kirsty’s other projects include Matchbox Pictures and Dirty Films Netflix series Stateless, and with Madman Production Company on A Month of Sundays.
Kirsty has combined her producing and camera department background with her business leadership and coaching experience to create CrewHQ. Launched in 2023, CrewHQ is a one stop shop for film and TV freelancers across Australia, connecting them with jobs and support across their careers.
Tania Chambers
Producer and Executive Producer, Tania is currently producing the television series Invisible Boys as a Stan Original series, distributed worldwide by Banijay Rights. Tania most recently produced the feature film How to Please a Woman directed by ReneÌe Webster, which was released worldwide in 2022. Tania also produced the first series of action-adventure children’s series Itch for ABC Australia, the comedy feature A Few Less Men directed by Mark Lamprell and the comedic thriller Kill Me Three Times directed by Kriv Stenders, along with the award-winning documentary Making Waves and short films. Tania founded Feisty Dame Productions in 2012.
Tania is a current Board Member of Screen Australia and was formerly Chief Executive of Screen NSW and Screenwest, and a Member of the Gender Matters Taskforce. Tania received the Medal of the Order of Australia for services to the Arts and to Film and Television in 2016 and an Honorary Doctorate of Performing Arts from ECU in 2022.
Julie Eckersley
Julie’s career in the film and television industry spans 20 years to date. She started her career as an actor and writer, then undertook further tertiary screen studies before moving into producing. As a
writer and performer she co-wrote and developed work for the stage, touring nationally and internationally, with a speciality in Shakespeare.
Having completed her Masters in Communications (Swinburne University) and a Graduate Diploma in Producing (AFTRS) she joined Matchbox Pictures (NBCU) in 2011, producing award winning content that has sold around the world.
In 2021 she joined SBS team as Head of Scripted. She successfully built and implemented a strategy to re-invogorate SBS drama.
Julie has built a career as a specialist in creating world class content and pioneering the next wave of creativity. She is passionate about creative excellence, strategic vision and inspiring leadership that empowers others to flourish.
Tony Briggs
Tony is a Yorta Yorta/Wurundjeri (Woiwurrung) theatre, TV and film practitioner (Actor, Writer, Director and Producer) and the creator & writer of hit feature film The Sapphires which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2012. He received two AWGIE awards and the film won 11 of 12 categories at AACTA 2013. He wrote The Sapphires Play, which had sell-out seasons at the MTC and Belvoir, winning two Helpmann Awards. Tony is co-originator, executive producer and writer of the eight part TV series The Warriors. Tony directed the short film Elders premiering at Berlin Film Festival, imagineNATIVE, Sydney Film Festival, Melbourne International Film Festival and many other film festivals nationally and globally. As an actor of over 20 years he holds many credits to his name including feature roles in Force of Nature: The Dry 2 (2024), Population 11 (2024), The Newsreader (2023), The Twelve (2021), Cleverman (2015), Redfern Now (2012) and The Slap (2010). Tony is the Artistic Director of Birrarangga Film Festival, showcasing Indigenous Films from across the globe to Melbourne Audiences biennially across Narrm.
Movies, Madman and Cinema’s Future with Paul Wiegard
Paul Wiegard is the co-founder and CEO of leading independent distribution and rights management company Madman Entertainment. Films distributed by Madman include over 100 Academy Award nominees and winners and over 20 AACTA nominees.
Paul has executive produced 40+ feature and documentary films and established streaming VOD platform DocPlay, dedicated to documentary. Currently Paul is President of the Australian Independent Distributors Association (AIDA), a Board Member of Screenrights and Australian Centre of The Moving Image (ACMI), and Co-Chair of Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC).
Leadership in TV from A to NZ with Rachel Antony
CEO of Greenstone TV, Rachel Antony has produced hundreds of hours of content in both NZ and Australia. She was one of the group facilitating the creation of NZ’s 2030 Screen Sector Strategy; is an active member of WIFT and SPADA; a member of the NZ Institute of Directors; and on the Board of theatre company Nightsong.
‘Lights…Camera…AI’: The intersection of art and technology in the TV and film industry with Steve Langdon
Steve Langdon is a Media and Entertainment Industry Specialist (Amazon, Comcast, Foxtel) navigating the ongoing collision between Art and Technology.
Come along on Tuesday the 7th of May to ask some questions of your own!
Further guests to be announced.