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BIographies

Fearless

Louise Smith Producer

Louise Smith has been working in the production of television commercials and feature films for almost 20 years. She has gained an international reputation for her collaborations with stellar directing talents, including Nash and Joel Edgerton, Ben Chessell, renowned actor Rachel Griffiths, commercials director Derin Seale and acclaimed writer Samantha Strauss. Her work has screened at festivals such as SXSW, Sydney Film Festival (In Competition), Telluride, Sundance, Aspen and Berlin and has been awarded honours by the Toronto Short Film Festival, Palm Springs and Puchon. In 2002 she co-produced with Marian Macgowan, the feature film The Rage in Placid Lake, starring Ben Lee, Rose Byrne, Garry McDonald and Miranda Richardson. Written and directed by Tony McNamara, the film won the Australia Film Institute Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. In 2008, she produced the feature film The Square, directed by Nash Edgerton and written by Joel Edgerton and Matthew Dabner, which was nominated for seven Australian Film Institute Awards and was released internationally in a number of countries, including France, the USA, Germany, Spain, Italy and Greece.

Joanna Werner Producer

Joanna Werner is a twice Emmy-nominated, AFI and multi Logie award-winning television producer specialising in live action drama television series. Joanna established Werner Film Productions in 2008 which went on to be named the 2012 Australian Children’s Television Producer of the Year at the SPAA Independent Producer Awards and in 2013 was nominated for Children’s Producer of the Year and Production Business of the Year. The company’s first production, the acclaimed teen drama and multi-award winning series Dance Academy, first screened in 2010 in Australia. Dance Academy has gone on to be a global success with three series and over 65 episodes. Dance Academy is currently screening in over 160 countries. Joanna is the Executive Producer, Producer and Co-Creator of the series. Joanna’s new teen drama Ready For This, a co-production with Blackfella Films, recently screened on ABC3, and she has also recently completed production on a six-part political thriller entitled Secret City for Foxtel in association with Matchbox Pictures. Joanna is currently developing a number of television and film properties for children, teen and adult audiences, including the feature film Dance Academy The Comeback, set to shoot this year.

Megan Simpson-Huberman Writer

Megan Simpson Huberman is a senior development, production, and creative executive in the Australian screen industry, and multi-hyphenated creative talent. She has written, directed, and developed TV drama, feature films, and documentary, including Dating The Enemy starring Guy Pearce and Claudia Karvan, which was one of the top 20 rating programs of the year when it made its broadcast debut on the Seven Network. She has worked with hundreds of writers and producers across Australia. Her previous roles include Head of Production and Development at Screen NSW, and Development Executive at Screen Australia. She is currently working in development on drama projects with Essential Media, Jungle, and ABC Fiction; is the co-creator and story producer of a new series in development with SBS; and has written two drama series that have been optioned by Werner Film Productions.

Steven McGregor Writer

Steven is a Darwin based filmmaker who started his career behind the camera as editor/camera in the news department of Imparja Television. Apart from when he was studying for his MA in drama directing from the Australian Film, Television & Radio School, he has lived and worked in the Northern Territory all his life. Pretty Boy Blue, an episode Steven wrote for the drama series Redfern Now, won the AACTA Award for best screenplay in television in 2013 and in the following year another episode, Babe in Arms, was nominated in the same category. He wrote four episodes in all across the two ABC series. Steven also wrote the Redfern Now telemovie, Promise Me. It was nominated for 7 AACTA Awards in 2015 and was nominated in the 2015 AWGIES for Best Original Telemovie. Steven was also a writer on the Blackfella Films, Werner Film Productions children’s television series, Ready for This, which won the 2015 AACTA award for Best Children’s Television Series and the 2016 Logie for Most Outstanding Children’s Program. CAAMA Production’s Cold Turkey, written and directed by Steven, made for SBS TV about two brothers living in Alice Springs, was particularly successful, earning two AFI Award nominations and screening in local and overseas festivals. Another project about two brothers, My Brother Vinnie, which he directed, won major awards at the Melbourne International Film Festival, Flickerfest and the St Kilda Film Festival; was nominated in the IF Awards and for a Logie; and screened at many festivals abroad.

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