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Five creative teams selected for Screen Australia’s Audience Design Initiative

Screen Australia have announced the five successful creative teams who will take part in the 2025 Audience Design Initiative.

Top L-R: Darlene Johnson, Lydia Rui, Lisa Albert
Bottom L-R: Vincent Lamberti, Brooke Silcox, Kate Riedl

Launched in 2024, the Audience Design Initiative has expanded to support mid-career producers and creative teams across both scripted and documentary features. The initiative offers the opportunity to gain an increased understanding of audiences in today's globally competitive industry marketplace.  

Across two weeks, the five teams will work with leading Audience Design Consultant Síle Culley, benefitting from her expertise in project funding, international sales and festival selections. Each workshop will build on specialised audience-based exercises, as well as explore themes, demographics, psychographics and domestic market insights, resulting in an audience plan for each of the teams’ projects.  

The Audience Design Initiative participants are: 

  • Brooke Silcox, Olivia Martin-McGuire and Rebecca Barry (No Thing Productions and Media Stockade): Founded by award-winning drama and documentary producer Brooke Wilcox, No Thing Productions specialises in humanitarian stories and supporting the arts. Its films include internationally acclaimed short film Judas Collar, hybrid hand-drawn animation and film documentary Freedom Swimmer and film-festival favourite RocKabul. Media Stockade, co-founded by Rebecca Barry, is known for China Love, Mozart's Sister and Back to Nature. The initiative will assist Silcox, writer/director Olivia Martin-Mcguire and producer Barry develop audience insights for their upcoming documentary project Estranged. 
  • Kate Riedl and Courtney Botfield (Denim Pictures): Sydney-based production company Denim Pictures is dedicated to making bold and distinctive film and television content. Producer Courtney Botfield and award-winning producer, director and writer Kate Riedl join this year’s Audience Design Initiative to develop audience insights for their upcoming comedy feature Dreamboat.  
  • Lisa Albert and Vincent Lamberti (Fringe Dweller Films): Award-winning Australian production company Fringe Dweller Films is led by acclaimed director Vincent Lamberti and producer Lisa Albert. Driven by stories with a social justice purpose, provocative ideas and bold storytelling, Fringe Dweller Films’ projects include documentaries Revealed: Killjoy, Intervention and Rapping it Up . The Audience Design Initiative will assist Albert and Lamberti with their upcoming feature documentary The Act of Dying.  
  • Lydia Rui and Kate Laurie: Award-winning Australian Chinese writer and director Lydia Rui’s work has screened at film festivals worldwide including Tribeca Film Festival and Melbourne International Film Festival. Rui and AACTA-nominated producer Kate Laurie join this year’s Audience Design Initiative to for their first joint project Counting Cards with My Father.    
  • Darlene Johnson: Dunghutti woman, writer and director Darlene Johnson debuted with Two Bob Mermaid, making history as the first Indigenous Australian film to screen in competition at the Venice Film Festival. Her work has since been nominated for an Emmy Award and AFI Award, among other accolades. She joins the Audience Design Initiative to develop audience insights for her upcoming scripted feature drama Jiling, which features Executive Producer Allanah Zitserman. 

For more information about Screen Australia Audience Design Initiative, see here.