Package to Pitch

for Series creators and creative teams

who are ready to go

A Masterclass in Packaging and Pitching TV Series

for emerging Producers and Writers.

Are you a screen creative or creative team from a First Nations or Diverse Cultural background with a strong concept for a TV series and a completed pilot script ready to pitch?

Do you want to know how to deliver a pitch that will get traction?

With the generous support of Screenrights, Cinespace will be delivering a program targeted at empowering and connecting budding TV creators from our communities.

Delivered as an online course by a suite of industry experts, the program will build each participant’s capacity to read the market and deliver a killer pitch.

What skills will you learn?

A checklist and explanation of the necessary agreements and pitch materials
What elements packaged together make up the perfect project
How to pitch effectively to producers, production companies, networks and agencies
An insight into how producers and market buyers think when looking at projects

What's the commitment?

Participants will need to be available to attend all webinars live on Zoom. Sessions will be held on consecutive Saturdays from 13th of February to the 27th of March between 10am and 2pm.

Who are you and how to apply?

Applications are open Australia-wide to producers and writers who identify as First Nations or Culturally and Linguistically Diverse who are developing a web or TV series.

With only 14 places available in this program, competition will be tight. You or your team must have one or more project/s on your slate that are "near market-ready" - meaning you have written a pilot episode, thought about the audience, market and have undertaken prior development work (including mapping out the first season of your show).

Whilst places in the program are restricted to Australian Citizens and Residents, we welcome applicants who are collaborating with people overseas.

Cinespace recognises intersectionality and we encourage applications from people in our targeted communities who may also be living with a disability. Participants will be selected by a culturally diverse panel.

APPLICATIONS HAVE NOW CLOSED AND OUR SELECTED CREATIVES HAVE BEEN ANNOUNCED.

Will I get to pitch my project/s?

Project information submitted during the application process is only intended to help our assessment panel determine readiness levels for this program. Please be aware that the focus of this program is about educating and building capacity of participants to bring projects to market,. Actual pitch opportunities will be limited or more exercise-based and at the discretion of the speakers.

Information Session (completed event)

If you have any additional questions, Creatives of Colour and Cinespace Inc are hosting an information session on the 11th of November 2020. Producer and program facilitator John Kassab will speak about the program and follow with a QnA. You can book tickets to attend here.

What if you're not quite ready to pitch to industry yet?

Screenrights Cultural Fund and Cinespace are all about accessibility and we want to make sure everyone can benefit from this rare opportunity.

A free educational online toolkit outlining the key learning from the webinar series (including a template graphical pitch deck) will be produced and distributed to all who register for new Cinespace's mailing list.

* More speakers to be announced shortly. Confirmed speakers subject to change.

P2P

SPEAKERS:

*scroll and click on pictures to find out more

John Harvey

Founder | Brown Cabs

John Harvey is a Torres Strait Islander producer, director and writer in screen and stage.

On screen, he produced SPEAR directed by Stephen Page premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival & Adelaide Film Festival, following his collaboration with Stephen Page on SAND, a chapter of the feature film THE TURNING. John is a producer on THE WARRIORS series for ABC TV. He’s worked with a number of emerging Indigenous filmmakers producing 6 short dramas through Screen Australia’s Indigenous Short Drama Initiative.

He has written and directed two short narrative films: WATER (MIFF, Adelaide Film Festival, FlickerFest, ImagineNative (Toronto) and recently completed OUT OF RANGE. He is the director and a co-producer for new web series KUTHCA’S CARPOOL KOOIROKE. He has directed 2 half hour documentaries for ABC and several short documentaries for NITV.

He was awarded the Malcolm Robertson Foundation Writer’s Residency at Footscray Community Arts Centre and will present the new work MY HEART IS A WASTELAND at Malthouse Theatre in 2017. He directed A LITTLE PIECE OF HEAVEN (Orana Arts) at the 2019 Yirramboi Arts Festival (Melbourne). John co-wrote 2020 Sydney Festival hit BLACK TIES with the work selling out in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Auckland and is currently writing THE RETURN for Malthouse Theatre.

John is a graduate of Producing and Screen Writing from AFTRS and was the recipient of the AFTRS AV Myer Award for Exceptional Indigenous Talent. In 2011 he received a Screen Australia Indigenous Producer Internship.

Donna Chang

Development Executive | SBS

Donna joined the Scripted Development team at SBS this year. She was formally Head of Development at Lingo Pictures, working there since 2018 across a range of projects including The Secrets She Keeps. Prior to that, she was a Development Executive at Screen Australia, and has been a Story Development External Assessor for Screen Australia since 2015. She spent several years working in the UK after being selected as one of three emerging Australian producers to win a six-month international placement with Ridley Scott’s production company, Scott Free, in London, where she continued to work for several more years as a Production Executive before returning to Australia.

Robert Connolly

Founder | Arenafilm

Robert Connolly is the writer and director of the feature films THE BANK (2001), THREE DOLLARS (2005), and most recently BALIBO. He is the producer, together with his business partner John Maynard, of the award-winning films, THE BOYS and ROMULUS, MY FATHER (starring Eric Bana and Franke Potente).

For the last fifteen years, Robert and John have headed up the production company Arenafilm. Dedicated to producing high quality cinema with a political focus and social themes, Arenafilm has introduced to world audiences directors such as Jane Campion, Vincent Ward, Rowan Woods and Richard Roxburgh.

Tony Ayres

Founder | TAP/Matchbox Pictures

Tony Ayres is an award-winning Australian showrunner, writer and director, and is one of the founding members of internationally renowned Australian production company Matchbox Pictures, now owned by NBCUniversal Studios. In 2018 Tony established his own production company Tony Ayres Productions (TAP), developing and producing feature films and television for global audiences and international marketplaces.

Tony was the showrunner on International Emmy and BAFTA nominated series, The Slap and an EP on its US remake. He co-created and was Executive Producer on multi-award winning series Glitch (3 seasons). He was also an executive producer on International Emmy nominated Wanted (3 seasons), and multi-award winning series The Devil’s Playground, Old School, Underground: The Julian Assange Story, and The Straits. He executive produced comedy series The Family Law (3 seasons), Bogan Pride and Maximum Choppage. He produced miniseries Barracuda and the multi-award winning Seven Types of Ambiguity. He directed the multi-award winning TV movie, Saved.

In children’s TV, Tony created and executive produced the International Emmy and BAFTA award winning Nowhere Boys and the telemovie based on the series, Nowhere Boys: The Book of Shadows. The series is internationally acclaimed, winning the AACTA Award for Best Children’s Television Series, two Logies, three Kidscreen Awards, a Rockie, and a Prix Jeunesse Award.

In feature films, Tony directed Cut Snake (2015), The Home Song Stories (2007) winner of 24 international and Australian awards, and Walking on Water (2002), which premiered at the Berlinale. He also EP’d feature films Ali’s Wedding and Lou.

Currently Tony is the showrunner for upcoming US Netflix series Clickbait, and co-created and EP’d the Matchbox/ABC refugee detention centre drama Stateless alongside Cate Blanchett and Elise McCredie. Stateless stars Yvonne Strahovski, Jai Courtney, Dominic West and Cate Blanchett. Netflix acquired the worldwide rights after its world premiere at the sixth edition of the Berlin International Film Festival’s Berlinale Series in 2020.

Rachel Okine

Managing Director | Aquarius Films

Rachel joined the Aquarius team as Managing Director in February 2020. She is a senior creative leader who has worked across content acquisitions, distribution, financing, production and development in a 20 year career spanning Australia, the UK and France.

Okine began her career in the acquisitions department of FilmFour in London in 2001. Returning to Australia in 2002, she joined independent film distribution company, Hopscotch, moving from marketing to production. She later became Paris-based VP of international production and acquisitions for French-owned studio and distributor Studiocanal, where she acquired titles for the French, German and Australia / New Zealand markets.

Michael McMahon

Founder | Matchbox Pictures

Michael McMahon is a Professor of Film and Television. He is a lawyer and screen content producer. He was a founder and first Executive Chairman of Matchbox Pictures Pty Ltd. He has held a wide range of management and legal positions as well as board appointments including Screen Tasmania and Film Victoria.

His documentary production credits include Sadness, Wildness and the Anatomy Series, The Coming Back Out Again Ball. His television credits include Call Me Mum, Saved, The Slap and series 1 of Nowhere Boys. Feature film credits are The Home Song Stories, Lou, Cut Snake and Ali’s Wedding.

Michael was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award by Screen Producers Australia in 2018.

Jenevieve Chang

Development Executive | Screen Australia

Jenevieve Chang was born in Taiwan, and came to Australia at the age of 4. She grew up in Sydney with her grandparents, who instilled in her an appreciation of opera, history, literature and kindness. They were a constant reminder of the human capacity for both sadness and joy, and the uniqueness of each of us as storytellers, capable of sculpting and bending our experiences into the shapes of our desire.

Jenevieve’s formative years were dominated by dance, excelling in choreography. A dance and theatre career in Europe followed, where Jenevieve worked with companies such as the National Theatre, the Young Vic and Yellow Earth before undertaking her MA in Movement Studies at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. In 2008, Jenevieve was Artist-in-Residence in Beijing’s 798 Art District. As the Global Financial Crisis hit the rest of the world, Jenevieve decided to stay in China, the land of her grandparents’ stories. Moving to Shanghai, she continued to create shows, direct plays and appear in films.

Jenevieve moved back to Australia in 2011. Her memoir, The Good Girl of Chinatown was published by Penguin Random House in 2017.
Today, she is a writer, actor and story developer working in the performing arts and screen industries. She is an alumni of Screen Australia’s Developing the Developer program and undertook industry placement with Felix Media and Arclight Films. Jenevieve went on to manage Arclight’s Chinalight program, developing Australian films for Chinese-Australian co-productions. Jenevieve regularly assesses scripts for Screen Australia and has produced for organisations such as NIDA, CAAP and the City of Sydney.

Jenevieve is currently a Development Executive at Screen Australia.

Laura Waters

Founder | Princess Pictures

Laura Waters founded Princess Pictures in 2003 driven by a vision to support creative ideas, pushing audiences to see the world in new ways.

Born in the US, she studied at Boston University and produced current affairs and documentary television in London and LA. She’s produced all five of Chris Lilley’s ABC/HBO/BBC comedy series, We Can Be Heroes, Summer Heights High, Angry Boys, Ja’mie: Private School Girl and Jonah From Tonga, as well as Chris’s most recent series, Lunatics for Netflix.

Laura has overseen the production of a range of groundbreaking comedy and documentary series with recent productions including: ABC ME’s ‘vlogumentary’ series My Year 7 Life and My Year 12 Life; the pilot episode of Bleak from Kate McCartney and Kate McLennan; the award-winning documentary, The Graceland Happiness Project; Foxtel’s sketch comedy show Open Slather; landmark series from John Clarke, Sporting Nation and; Jonn Safran’s look at cross-cultural love, Race Relations; Peter Helliar’s acclaimed comedy anthology It’s a Date; Australia’s first Aboriginal sitcom, 8MMM; and Outland, a comedy series about gay science fiction fans.

Laura has won two TV Logie awards, one AFI award, the NYC Webfest and been nominated for dozens of international television awards for various Princess Pictures productions.

Ian Collie

Founder | Easy Tiger

Ian Collie is one of Australia’s most experienced producers and the founder of Easy Tiger, having previously run the Scripted division of Essential Media.

His credits include the iconic ABC comedy RAKE (five seasons with ABC TV), and Nine’s DOCTOR DOCTOR (aka THE HEART GUY, four seasons). He has produced two series and three telemovies of the crime drama JACK IRISH, and the telemovie THE BROKEN SHORE, all based on the award winning novels of Peter Temple.

Ian is also the producer of SBS dramas SUNSHINE (2017) and THE PRINCIPAL (2016) and ABC TV telefeature HELL HAS HARBOUR VIEWS (2005). He was nominated for a PGA Award for his work producing the Disney feature film SAVING MR BANKS (2013) starring Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks.

Prior to Essential, he produced a raft of acclaimed documentaries for Hilton Cordell; was the executive director for the Arts Law Centre of Australia, and a solicitor for Slater and Gordon and Cashman & Partners.

Katherine Slattery

Head of Fiction Development | Film Victoria

Katherine has worked as an Actor, Script Developer, Development Executive and Producer in the Australian film and television industry.

As an actor, Katherine starred in the AFI and Logie award winning mini-series’ 'The Road From Coorain' and 'Changi'. She has worked as a Development Executive at Screen NSW and Screen Australia, working across a slate of feature, documentary and television projects including developing and identifying new talent.

She was the Head of Development and Planning at Arenamedia/Footprint Films, when the company optioned and developed the highly successful feature films 'The Turning', 'Paper Planes', and the television series 'The Warriors', produced the feature film 'Balibo' and distributed four feature films including the Camera d’Or winning film 'Samson and Delilah'.

Katherine was the in-house as Script Consultant to Academy Award nominated Producer Jan Chapman’s Waking Dream Productions, and developed, amongst other projects, 'The Babadook', 'The Daughter' and 'Babyteeth'. Other projects included the screenplay 'Lonely Girl', which has now been published as a novel for Pan MacMillan.

She Produced the short film 'Family' directed by renowned visual artist Shaun Gladwell, as part of 'The Turning' compendium film (Melbourne International Film Festival) and the two-part doco-drama television series 'Stories I Want To Tell You in Person' for Matchbox Pictures (MIFF, ABC TV, ABC iView).

Katherine was most recently Vice President – Content Development at Screen QLD, where she was the lead VP responsible for various initiatives including the YouTube Entrepreneur Program, STAN + SQ Premium Drama Fund and Talent Development Fund.

She is a graduate from the Victorian College of the Arts (BA, Dramatic Arts) and QUT (Post Graduate Business/Marketing).

John Kassab

Program Facilitator | Cinespace

Package to Pitch grew out of our observation that the industry wants to embrace more diversity in the stories it tells. This is at odds with the complaints we hear from our communities that they are not being heard or seen by the industry. We designed this program to help bringing visibility to those who feel invisible.

I worked diligently to include more influential speakers who are Indigenous or people of colour. However, the reality remains that we are grossly underrepresented at this level in the industry and those who I approached were unavailable. There are slots still open for the right speakers and I will continue to put in the work to find them.

Our Principal Partner is Screenrights Cultural Fund.

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