Talent USA: LA 2019 recipients announced

09 08 2019 - Media release Talent USA: LA 2019 recipients announced

Goran Stolevski, Hannah Lehmann, Nina Oyama

Screen Australia have announced the 12 Australian creatives who will travel to Los Angeles for Talent USA: LA, a bespoke week-long program of targeted and curated meetings, workshops and networking opportunities. The successful applicants include writer Kym Goldsworthy (Deep Water), writer/director Madeleine Parry (Nanette) and writer/director Bradley Slabe (Lost & Found).

Talent USA:LA is provided with the assistance of the Australian Writer's Guild (AWG), and participants were selected due to their existing international profile or having already attracted US interest in their work. Film Independent and Australians in Film USA (AIF) will again assist setting up the program. AIF are also providing financial assistance to Mentor LA recipients to attend the Talent USA: LA program.

LA is the epicentre of the English-speaking screen industry, so Talent USA is an opportunity for the Australian creators to understand how the US system works and increase their visibility amongst core decision-makers, said Screen Australia's Head of Development Nerida Moore. The ultimate goal of the program is to empower these creators to do their best work back in Australia, with the confidence that there is potential creative partners, finance and audiences beyond our shores.

AWG CEO Jacqueline Elaine said that building on the success of previous Talent USA: LA delegations was vital to creating strong and lasting connections between US decision-makers and Australian creators.

With global demand for top quality content and unique voices only increasing, there's never been a better time for Australian screenwriters to affirm their presence in LA, building relationships and showcasing all that Australian creators can offer the global industry. We're excited to continue to work hand in hand with Screen Australia to deliver this incredible opportunity.

Talent USA:LA was first run in 2017, and proved so successful in connecting creators with the US industry and finance it was repeated in 2018 and expanded to New York in 2018 and 2019.

THE TALENT USA: LA 2019 CONTINGENT Abridged biographies are listed below. For US industry representatives wishing to access full creator biographies and to get more information on the program email Harry Avramidis at Screen Australia.

Trent Atkinson: Trent Atkinson is a self-taught screenwriter who has worked for networks and streaming services including AMC, Channel 7, Canal and Netflix and has created over 65 episodes of television that have screened all over the world. His Australian screenwriting credits include A Place to Call Home, All Saints, Home & Away, and Between Two Worlds, a thriller currently in production for Channel 7. Atkinson is currently working as executive producer on We're Really Happy for AMC studios and Chernin Entertainment, while creating and writing a new series, Stereoscope for Crypt TV. His first pilot for the US, Burns, is being produced by Ivan Reitman/Montecito Picture Company, with Kari Lizer (Will & Grace) attached as showrunner. Atkinson is also attached to direct his own feature film False Flag, with Michael Roiff (Waitress) producing.

Lucy Coleman: Lucy Coleman is a screenwriter and director. Her debut feature Hot Mess premiered at Seattle International Film Festival in 2018 and was named one of the best films of 2019 by The Curb. Coleman's follow-up project was the highly acclaimed web series, On the Fringe, which made its International Premiere at UK s Pilot Light TV Festival in Manchester and had its North American Premiere at LA Comedy Festival - 365. Off the back of these projects, Coleman now has her first TV series, Exposure, in development. Her second feature film as writer/director, The Witches, is also in development with producers Toby Nalbandian and Greg Schmidt of Truant Pictures, and independent US producer Alex Tompkins, who has worked extensively with genre giants including Jordan Peele, Ari Aster and Denis Villeneuve.

Philip Tarl Denson: Philip Tarl Denson is a screenwriter from the Northern Territory. Denson was recently selected to take part in Imagine Impact, a professional development initiative founded by Ron Howard and Brian Grazer under the auspices of Imagine Entertainment, where he developed an original science fiction television series which has attached producer Michael London at Groundswell Entertainment and which is currently fielding studio offers. Denson also has a science fiction feature film moving towards production with Intrepid Pictures. Denson has been the recipient of several awards and nominations including winning the NT Literary Award for Screenwriting, and being shortlisted for the 2016 John Hinde award for Science Fiction. He was a finalist in the 2016 INSITE award, the BlueCat Screenplay Competition, the Fresh Voices Screenplay Competition, quarter-finalist in the Nicholl Fellowship screenwriting contest, and finalist in the 2017 Gateway LA Aussie List' of the best unproduced scripts by Australian writers.

Justine Flynn: Justine Flynn is an established creator, writer, director and producer who has produced hundreds of hours of content at the helm of series including Me and My Monsters, Five Minutes More and Hot Spell. She was the co-creator of Blue Water High, Islandares and Bindi's Bootcamp and has directed for Nickelodeon, Dirtgirlworld and The Justine Clarke Show. Flynn is the creator, showrunner and director of the ABC/Netflix series The Unlisted produced by Aquarius Films, which will premiere on the ABC in September 2019.

Kym Goldsworthy: A winner of six AWG AWGIE Awards, Kym Goldsworthy is one of Australia's most versatile and highly regarded writers. His four-part series Deep Water for SBS won Silver at the 2017 Seoul Internatio

LINK:	https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/sa/media-centre/news/2019/08-09-tal...
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