Women On the Verge

Screen Producers Australia is delighted to announce Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakthrough, an examination of diversity and gender equality in the national screen industries, featuring CEO of Screen NSW, Courtney Gibson;producer Sue Maslin; Managing Director Content Aggregation and Wholesale at Foxtel, Deanne Weir; and screenwriter Catriona McKenzie. The Breakout Session is a highlight event of SCREEN FOREVER 2016,the premier conference for the screen industry in Australia, and takes place on Thursday 17 November at Crown Conference Centre, Melbourne.

Screen Producers Australia has joined the chorus of many in the industry who know the time is ripe for change. This year, at Screen Forever, we are taking a long hard look at ourselves. Do we really embrace diversity? How inclusive are we? What ways do we identify creative talent regardless of background, or identify commercial opportunities? And, how do we best nurture them? said Matthew Deaner, Executive Director, Screen Producers Australia.

Four leading representatives from the Australian screen industry map the progress of the contemporary screen industries over the last twelve months in achieving equality and increased diversity in terms of gender and cultural, geographic and socio-economic backgrounds - both on and off camera.

Courtney Gibson is the CEO of Screen NSW, the funding body which serves the state that's home to 60% of Australia's screen production companies. On her first day in the CEO role, the agency introduced the 50:50 by 2020 Gender Target across all the agencys funding programs. Enhancing participation in the production sector by practitioners from under-represented groups is a cornerstone of the Screen NSW Strategic Plan 2015-18. A senior Australian media executive with a background in TV commissioning and production, Gibson has served in roles including Executive Head of Content Creation at ABC TV, Head of Arts, Entertainment and Comedy at ABC TV, Programming Production Executive at the Nine Network, Director of Programmes at Endemol Australia and Commissioning Editor in Documentary at SBS TV.

Sue Maslin is one of Australias most successful film, television and digital content practitioners, creating award-winning feature and documentary films (Japanese Story, Hunt Angels). Her most recent is The Dressmaker starring Kate Winslet, which grossed over $20 million at the box office and garnered the highest number of nominations at the 2015 Australian Academy Awards, winning five including the coveted Peoples Choice Award for Favorite Australian Film.

Enjoying more than 25 years of experience in media and communications in executive and board roles, Deanne Weiris Managing Director Content Aggregation and Wholesale at Foxtel. She is also the chair of Hoodlum, a BAFTA- and Emmy Award-winning production company; Ai-Media, a global innovator in speech-to-text services for broadcast and education; the Australian Women Donors Network; and is a member of the boards of the Sydney Film Festival and Playwriting Australia. Weir was a finalist in The Australian Financial Review 100 Women of Influence Awards for 2016.

Catriona McKenzie studied screenwriting at NYU Tisch School of the Arts and has worked as a director of network, cable and premium cable television drama with credits including Redfern Now, Dance Academy, My Place, Satisfaction, The Circuit, RAN: Remote Area Nurse, The Gods of Wheat Street and Camp for NBC. Her first feature film, Satellite Boy, premiered at TIFF 2012 and collected the international and children's juries Special Mention at Berlinale. She is of Australian Aboriginal descent; her tribe is the Kunai Gurnai of South Eastern Australia.

Women On The Verge of a Nervous Breakthrough takes place at 11.30am on Thursday 17 November as part of SCREEN FOREVER 2016.

Women On the Verge of a Nervous Breakthrough is presented by Screen NSW.

SCREEN FOREVER

15-17 November 2016, Crown Conference Centre, Melbourne Australia

Register at www.screenforever.org.au

SCREEN FOREVER Media Enquiries:

Miranda Brown - Miranda Brown Publicity | ph: 03 9419 0931 mob: 0411 568 781 | miranda@mbpublicity.com.au

Madeleine Rice - Miranda Brown Publicity | ph: 03 9419 0931 mob: 0411 806 304 | madeleine@mbpublicity.com.au

Download the release.

LINK:	https://screenproducers.org.au/news/women-on-the-verge/...
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