Erin Good is an exciting new writer/director in the Australian Screen Indstry. She's produced a couple of series for Tik Tok, including her latest, Krystal Klairvoyant, which has been nominated for a Rose D'Or and C21 Internatinoal Media Awards. We had a great chat at Content London 2023 about writing a scripted series for a new social media platof…

This is the first in a series of interviews I recorded at Content London 2023. Grainne is a highly experienced, strategic executive in the creative industries and current Director of Contant at Screen Australia. Before this she was the Head of Screen NSW. In this interview we talk about the benefits of the conference, how Screen Aus are there to he…

Ben Lewin is an Australian writer and director. Despite contracting Polio at the age of 6, he's had a long and distinguished career in both TV and film. His TV credits include Rafferty's Rules and his best known films include Paperback Romance (1994) and The Sessions (2012), which starred John Hawkes and Helen Hunt, receiving an eye-watering number…

Libby Butler (Neighbours and Erinsbrough High) and newcomer lewis Mulholland chat about their web series "Loving Captivity", which they wrote, funded and produced whilst living through the Melbourne lockdowns. We chat about their writing process, how rom-coms influenced them and how they're doing during the second Melbourne lockdown. You can watch …

Caden is an early-career Indigenous screenwriter, director, and producer from Cairns in Far North Queensland, Australia. He proudly got his start writing for The Epoch Times Australia during the Beijing Olympics in 2008. In his current lifetime his family is from the Bagarrmugu and Kuku Yalanji clans from Far North Queensland, with Scottish, French…

Roger Simpson is a giant of Australian drama and shouldn't need an introduction! If you've watched Aussie drama, you've seen one of his shows. In this ep he chats about the resurrection of a very popular series of tele films, that first from 1994 to 2002, Halifax FP. Breaking with tradition though, Halifax is now an 8-part series. Roger goes talks …

As Commissioning Editor for Drama in England and Scotland, Elizabeth Kilgarriff commissioned projects like Bodyguard, Poldark and Luther to name just a few of her hits. But now she's branched out and heads up her own production company, Firebird Pictures. I spoke to her during Content London about why she left the BBC, her process in developing and…

This episode is another story of Aussie writer made good overseas. I first met Micharne whilst working on Celebrity Apprentice a few years ago and now she's on the writing staff of Law & Order: SVU, the longest running US live-action series on television. How cool is that?! We talk about how she made it on to the show, why we shouldn't be too anxio…

By Duncan Richards

By Duncan Richards

Phillippa Collie Cousins is a BAFTA Award winning director of The Deadness of Dad starring Rhys Ifans, she's currently the Drama Commissioner for UKTV, Britain's largest multichannel broadcaster. In the first of a series of interviews recorded recently at C21 Media's Content London Drama Summit, I sat down with Phillippa to discuss UKTV's upcoming …

This episode I talk to Libby Butler, the Script Producer of the new Neighbours spinoff, Erinsborough High. Libby was in-house at Neighbours for many years before going freelance and working on other shows including the new ABC serial, The Heights. But she was enticed back to the Neighbours family to run this new 5-part show. It's got a slightly dar…

Joshua Tyler co-wrote hit Australian film Top End Wedding with the star of the movie Miranda Tapsell. We talk about how the film and his collaboration with Miranda came about, all aspects of the film and we delve into the rest of his career as well. It's a really fun, heart-warming romcom. If you haven't already, I'd highly recommend you buy and/or…

Monica is an emerging writer, having written for Sisters and Tonightly with Tom Ballard. Her latest effort on TV is ep 5 of Network 10's My Life is Murder "Another Bloody Podcast", which you can see tomorrow night (Wed 21 Aug) at 8:40pm. Monica is also finishing off a move she wrote and directed called "Ellie and Abbie", so keep an eye out for that…

Nina Oyama is a stand-up comedian who's also written for Tonightly, The Chaser's Election Desk and sitcom in ABC Iview's Fresh Blood Pilot Season initiative; a show she created with her friend Angus Thompson and also acted in ABC's Utopia. You can check out The Angus Project here: https://iview.abc.net.au/show/fresh-blood-the-angus-project We talk …

Tim Lee is an accomplished screenwriter who has written for Rescue Special Ops, Serangoon Road, Doctor Doctor and Mystery Road. His path into screenwriting took many twists and turns however, resulting in a story of perseverance that has led to Awgie, AACTA and even NSW Premier's Literary Award nominations for his writing.…

Following on from my podcasts with Stephen Vagg in Eps 49 and 50, finally we talk about his own career. It's a great chat, talking about his time as Script Producer of Neighbours, his writing and living in LA.

Emma and Shaun are a husband and wife writing team who met whilst working in the Neighbours writer's room. Individually, they've written Neighbours, Home & Away and Winners & Losers, where they also worked in house as Script Producer and Associate Script Producer. But now they're writing together and they've had a script selected for the BAFTA Rocl…

Felicity Packard is a super experienced writer and producer, having worked on Janet King, Wolf Creek, Anzac Girls, Underbelly and going back to GP. In this episode we talk about her career, Wolf Creek and the recent ABC and Netflix show, Pine Gap; an international political thriller which is set around the Australian and American joint defence inte…

Recorded live at Knox Street Bar in Sydney on Tuesday 9th October. Every series that has found its way onto our screens has only gotten there after a long and sometimes painful development. But what exactly is involved in this process and how can you make the most of that gestation period? Don’t miss this opportunity to gain insight from a broadcas…

Finally the second part to the interview with Aussie writer of Stan. and TV Land's Younger, created by Darren Star (Sex And The City) and starring Sutton Foster and Hilary Duff. If you're new to the podcast, you can listen to part 1 of the interview in episode 52.

Recorded live at Knox St Bar on in Chippendale, Sydney on 11 September, two internationally acclaimed playwrights, Alana Valentine and Noëlle Janaczewska, discuss documentary theatre and the creative process. How do we best transform real experience into drama? How do we place non-fiction on stage?By Duncan Richards

Nick Watson is another Aussie who's made it in Hollywood. After moving to LA and doing whatever work he could, Nick and his writing partner landed a gig writing the second season of Final Space for TBS network (Netflix internationally). It's well worth checking out the original pilot and comparing it to the final product.…

Michael Chamberlin is a stand-up comedian, podcast host (Junktime AFL Podcast ) and currently head writer of Tonightly with Tom Ballard. We run through a typical day in the Tonightly writer's room, how Michael came to write for comedy shows and treading the fine line between comedy and being offensive.…

This episode, I sat down with Ellie Beaumont and Drew Proffitt the showrunners of new SBS crime thriller, Dead Lucky. We talk all things Dead Lucky, what they learned from their first showrunning experience on House Husbands and lots more. If you haven't seen Dead Lucky, check it out here... https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/program/dead-lucky…

Maya The Bee is beloved children's character in Germany and I recently chatted to Fin Edquist, the Australian writer of Maya's latest big screen adventure, The Honey Games. We talk about Fin's career, how he came to write this German character and how writing a movie for a predominantly German audience differs to writing for Australian audiences. M…

This episode is part 1 of 2 with Joe Murphy, writer on the US hit show Younger. In this ep, Joe talks about how he went from a small country town near Albury-Wodonga, Tangambalanga, to Deal Or No Deal and eventually on to Younger. We also talk about the difference between writer's rooms here and in the US, what he had to do as an assistant and how …

Mark O'Toole is one of Australia's premier comedy writers. He started on shows like Full Frontal, Eric and Totally Full Frontal and has written everything from John Safran vs God to Adam Hills Tonight and Spicks and Specks. So naturally, this is the definitive conversation about writing comedy in Australia.…

Stephen Vagg rejoins us to discuss the History of Australian Screenwriting; a topic he knows a lot about having written an article for the AFTRS Lumina publication. It maybe educational, but don't let that stop you listening, as Stephen has some great tidbits, like Australians were nominated for three Academy Awards for screenwriting in the 70's. Y…

This is a special episode. Stephen Vagg - most recently the Script Producer on Neighbours - memorialises his good friend and colleague, James Walker. James passed away, in January of 2018, aged only 41. My condolences go out to his wife and two children. James was a veteran of both Neighbours and Home & Away and also wrote for shows like McLeod's D…

Sam Strauss is the co-creator and screenwriter of Dance Academy, the very popular ABC that has also spawned a feature film. We talk about how Dance Academy came to be, what it was like for her to come is as a Script Producer on the second series of The Wrong Girl and lots more.

As Co Head of Drama at Nine Network with Jo Rooney, Andy has overseen the commissioning, development and production of such shows as Love Child, Fat Tony & Co and House Husbands. We also talk about upcoming Nine shows and what it's like commissioning for a commercial broadcaster.

Catherine McMullen is one of the hottest young genre screenwriters in Australia at the moment. In 2017 she won the John Hinde Award for Excellence in Science-Fiction writing for a pilot called 'Awake' and her feature script 'The Other Lamb' got her onto The Black List, The Hit List and The Blood List in Hollywood. She is now commuting between Austr…

As the Drama Executive at Foxtel, Carly Heaton evaluates drama pitches and scripts, represents the network in writers' rooms and helps develop scripts. We chat about upcoming Foxtel shows, who can pitch to Foxtel and what level your pitch might need to be at. This is a great episode for insights into the Foxtel drama department.…

In trying to get different angles on Screenwriting and the screen industry, I recently attended C21's Content London Drama Summit, which brings together 1500 industry professionals to get insights about upcoming shows, understand the current marketplace and look at trends for the future amongst many more topics of discussion. My interviews include:…

Deb Jourdain is a Co-ordinator at Margot Robbie's Lucky Chap Entertainment in Hollywood. She was Assistant to Producer John Edwards in Sydney for many years and moved over to LA a few years ago. If you're interested in moving to Hollywood or just interested in what happens over there, then Deb's story of working her way up the Hollywood ladder is a…

At the recent AWG Event: Representing Disability Onscreen, Luke Buckmaster, the film critic for The Guardian Australia gave a keynote address talking about how people with disabilities have been represented on Australian TV and film throughout the years.

Tim Pye has had an illustrious career and it's far from over. He's worked on everything from A Country Practice, E Street and Water Rats to Lockie Leonard, Stupid Stupid Man and Love Child. Tim's won numerous awards including Awgies, AFIs and Logies and he now works as Head of Development at Scripted Ink, a screenwriter development company created …

On Thursday 28 Sept, AWG's Write Night presented the event Broadening The Horizons: Representing Disability On Screen at AFTRS in Sydney. Genevieve Clay-Smith of Bus Stop Films chats to filmmakers Daniel Monks, Emily Dash, Johanna Garvin and Creative Director of Robot Army Ryan Chamley. Emily Dash's short-film I Am Not A Work Of Art... https://www.…

Vicki Madden got her break on the Flying Doctors in the early 90's and went on to write shows like Halifax f.p. and Sea Patrol amongst many more in Australia. She has also worked a lot in the UK on shows like The Bill, The Clinic and K9. But we go in depth to her most recent work, the highly acclaimed The Kettering Incident. Vicki talks about where…

The AWG kindly invited me to cover the 50th annual Awgie Awards on Friday 25th August. I interviewed the winners after they came off stage. The interviews were: Richard Lane Award for Outstanding Service and Dedication to the AWG - Kelly Lefever Theatre For Young Audiences - Finegan Kruckemeyer Children's Television 'C' Classification - Thomas Dunc…

This AWG Event was recorded live at 107 Projects in Redfern, Sydney on 1st May 2017. Writing for interactivity can present many challenges to the newcomer, and involves shedding a lot of what we've always been taught about storytelling. Are beginning, middle and end really essential? Moderated by Teresa Crea, Christy Dena, Leena van Deventer, Anna …

Rebecca is currently writing a rom-com feature film. Her career started when she was commissioned to write a sitcom for the ABC and soon transitioned into freelance script consulting and editing. Highlights in her career include being Creative Executive for the Producer of Capote, William Vince, writing script notes for Terry Gilliam's The Imaginat…

AWG NSW Write Night event recorded live from the Harlequinn Inn in Pyrmont. Featuring screenwriters Debra Oswald, Shane Krause, Rebecca Sommi-Fisher and Story Consultant Karel Segers.

Holly Lyons has written for Neighbours, Home & Away and details her experience working on and writing for the soaps in the UK. We also detail the importance of pitching.

Mithila Gupta entered TV land via Neighbours as a Storyliner and worked her way up to Script Editor and then Writer. After going freelance she worked on Winners & Losers and Home & Away. most recently she's worked on ABC's Indigenous sci-fi series Cleverman.By Duncan Richards

Recently, I recorded a speed pitching event at Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS). You'll hear several minutes of pitch by Screenwriting students followed by several minutes of assessment by Producing students. The first Producer was Dominic Hart. Pitchees are: Keaton Stewart Dave Bloustein Stephanie Basile Luke McKenzie Gareth Ric…

A different type of episode this time. Where I briefly interviewed Awgie winners after their win at the AWG Awgie Awards on Friday 14th October. Winners include: 1 - Rachel Spratt 2 - Adam Spellicy 3 - Angus Cerini 4 - Claire Stone 5 - Donna Abela 6 - Gerard McCulloch 7 - Hilary Bell 8 - Jason Herbison 9 - Katie Found 10 - Marcia Gardner 11 - Nick …

Recorded live at the AWG's Write Like A Man event at King's Cross Hotel, Donna Abela interviews award-winning playwright Patricia Cornelius. She is known for her confronting plays that often deal with people living on the margins of society, struggling with poverty and prejudice. Patricia has written over 25 plays, including SHIT, Savages, Slut, Th…

This Ep is Helen Bowden and Jason Stephens who recently left Matchbox Pictures and Fremantlemedia respectively to form Lingo Pictures. Helen has produced shows such as The Slap, Devil's Playground and Underground: The Julian Assange Story, while Jason started as a writer/performer on The D Generation, but more recently has produced The King, Devil'…