Today’s episode features Logie award-winning writer/director Nicholas Verso who talks about his pathway into the industry, creating teen genre stories like Crazy Fun Park and Boys in the Trees, optioning and adapting Invisible Boys for the screen, why it’s important to create stories for Young Adult audiences, how to connect with those audiences, and much more.

In 2023, Nicholas won the Logie for Crazy Fun Park - a horror-comedy for the ABC and his first original series as creator, while his latest series, the adaptation Invisible Boys, premiered at #1 on Stan and was nominated for a Peabody. His other television work includes the BAFTA and Emmy award-winning Nowhere Boys, The Unlisted, Itch, In Our Blood and Swift Street. He also won Australian Director's Guild Award for his work on First Nations series Grace Beside Me as well as Crazy Fun Park. His debut feature Boys In The Trees, made its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival in 2016 and he is currently in development on his next feature.

This episode is brought to you by the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS). To explore the Master of Arts Screen: Business and submit an application for the upcoming intake, visit: https://www.aftrs.edu.au/award-course/master-of-arts-screen-business/

Writer/director Nicholas Verso on adaptations, genre, and creating film & TV for young Australians

Today’s episode features Holly Lyons, who gives her insights into pitching, including what a pitch is, the different types of pitches, why they are important, how to prepare, what to do about nerves, why a strong pitch is a win-win situation regardless of if it’s successful, and much more.

Also see the TED Talk by Amy Cuddy, which Holly refers to in the episode to help overcome nerves: https://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_may_shape_who_you_are

Holly is a screenwriter with extensive experience in Australia and the UK, and more than 500 hours of broadcast credits as a writer or script editor. She is currently associate story producer at Home and Away and the founder of Screenwriting Scriptease, which involves script assessment, script editing and running writers’ rooms. Holly also worked at AFTRS for five years as a screenwriting lecturer and presenting short courses, and it’s where she conducted the research project “Pitching: A Biometric approach” to try and scientifically analyse what techniques make a successful pitch.

This episode is brought to you by the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS). To explore the Master of Arts Screen: Business and submit an application for the upcoming intake, visit: https://www.aftrs.edu.au/award-course/master-of-arts-screen-business/

Pitching tips with screenwriter and story producer Holly Lyons

Today’s episode features Elise McCredie, an award-winning showrunner and screenwriter, whose most recent series is The Airport Chaplain, starring Hugo Weaving, Shabana Azeez and Claudia Karvan. Co-created and executive produced by Elise and Jude Troy, it’s produced by Wooden Horse and all 8 episodes are available to watch on SBS now.

Throughout the podcast Elise talks about writing for film versus writing for television, her approach to putting together and running a writers’ room, how seeing The Kettering Incident be created by a female Australian showrunner made it feel possible to become one herself, if being a good writer makes for a good showrunner, and much more.

Elise’s credits include as a showrunner the first locally commissioned Australian Disney+ series The Clearing and showrunner of Stateless with EPs and co-creators Tony Ayres and Cate Blanchett, which won a record 13 AACTA awards in 2020. She also wrote, created and produced Sunshine for SBS, co-wrote the feature film Ride Like a Girl with Andrew Knight – which was the top grossing Australian film of 2019 – with other writing credits including Nowhere Boys, Jack Irish and Secret City. She also wrote and directed her debut feature film Strange Fits of Passion which was selected to screen at Cannes Film Festival.

This episode is brought to you by the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS). To explore the Master of Arts Screen: Business and submit an application for the upcoming intake, visit: https://www.aftrs.edu.au/award-course/master-of-arts-screen-business/

Showrunner, screenwriter and The Airport Chaplain co-creator Elise McCredie 

Today’s episode features Gemma Crofts, an award-winning screenwriter, a script editor and former development executive, with more than fifteen years’ experience across film and television development.

Throughout the podcast Gemma talks about what a script editor does, takeaways from her time as a development executive, how to understand what the note behind the note is, what she enjoys about working across different genres, and much more.

As a writer, Gemma has worked on shows for Netflix, Fremantle, Werner Film Productions, Orange Entertainment and SBS, most notably Surviving Summer for Netflix. Some of her projects in development include a US rom-com starring Emmy-Award winning actor Justin Hartley for Happy Accidents and as a co-creator of Twisted, a series adaptation of iconic Australian author Paul Jennings’ short stories for Fremantle Media. She has also worked as a development executive for production companies such as Werner Productions and was formally trained in story development at the prestigious European-based Binger Film Lab.

This episode is brought to you by the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS). To explore the Master of Arts Screen: Business and submit an application for the upcoming intake, visit: https://www.aftrs.edu.au/award-course/master-of-arts-screen-business/

Gemma Crofts: screenwriting, script editing and development takeaways

Today’s episode features Sarah Goodes, an Award-winning Australian theatre director who started Jacaranda Productions in 2025 with actor/ producer Diana Glenn after they met at AFTRS. Their goal? To create multi medium stories by finding stories that start in theatre and developing them into TV , film and online productions - and vice versa.

Throughout the podcast Sarah talks about making the decision to expand into a new career path and benefits and challenges of that, the differences and similarities between directing theatre and screen, advice for directors wanting to build sustainable careers, and much more.

This episode is brought to you by the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS). To explore the Master of Arts Screen: Business and submit an application for the upcoming intake, visit: https://www.aftrs.edu.au/award-course/master-of-arts-screen-business/

Director Sarah Goodes: taking career leaps

Today’s episode features Benson Wu, the CEO of Queer Screen. Throughout the podcast, Benson talks about for submitting to film festivals, why they are important to both audiences and filmmakers and why he volunteered at Queer Screen at the beginning of his career. Benson also started the Taiwan Film Festival in Australia and has worked at Sydney Film Festival, SXSW Sydney, Taiwan International Queer Film Festival and Cinema at Sea – Okinawa Pan-Pacific International Film Festival.

Benson also joins us ahead of September’s Queer Screen Film Fest (Sept 2-8) and the launch of their inaugural industry event Queer Screen Studio on September 6th, which will feature panels on pitching, pathways to audience and the making of Leviticus as well as a masterclass with director Goran Stolevski.

For more information, visit: https://queerscreen.org.au/sessions/queer-screen-studio/

Queer Screen CEO Benson Wu: film festival advice and impact

Today’s episode features Liz Doran, a screenwriter, showrunner and one of the executive producers of the new six-part series My Brilliant Career, which is produced by Jungle Entertainment and releases on Netflix on August 13.

A series adaptation of Miles Franklin’s beloved Australian novel, My Brilliant Career is set in 1900 Australia and follows Sybylla, a shockingly modern young woman with one searing ambition - to be a writer, while her family is determined to marry her off. For her, the choice between adventure or marriage seems easy, until she falls in love. Will Sybylla marry, or will she risk it all for a creative life?

Throughout the episode, Liz talks about getting the call about working on My Brilliant Career while producing The Tailings, the five-year development period that followed, their new approach to Miles Franklin’s novel adaptation, pitching to Netflix, favourite 1900s-era slang, and much more.

Liz executive produced My Brilliant Career with set-up director Alyssa McClelland and previous podcast guest Chloe Rickard from Jungle Entertainment. Prior to this, Liz co-created and has written series such as Barons and Ready for This, wrote on Series 1 - 5 of Doctor Doctor, and script produced and wrote on all 4 seasons of Please Like Me. Some other writing credits include episodes of Miss Fisher Murder Mysteries, The Secret Life of Us, McLeod’s Daughters and Dance Academy. And in 2020 Liz also produced (under her own production banner) the short-form online series The Tailings.

My Brilliant Career EP, writer and showrunner Liz Doran

Today’s episode features Renée Broome, an in-house Screenwriter and Script Editor at Home and Away, who's written dozens of episodes of the series and worked on more than 1,000 episodes in her various roles in the script department over the past nine years.

Throughout the episode, Renée talks through the script department and what each role is – from Script Coordinator to Storyliner and Script Editor - as well as her experience working in each. Renée also talks to what a typical week for her looks like on Home and Away, key skills she has learned working there, writing advice, and much more.

Renée Broome: working in the Home and Away script department

Today’s episode features Danielle Redford, a producer and the founder of Contra Stories whose latest project is the six-episode online series Ina, which is written and directed by Rachel Maxine Anderson and available to watch on YouTube now https://www.youtube.com/@ina.series

Throughout the episode, Danielle talks about how working in distribution has influenced her as a producer, her experience of producing Ina at the same time as upcoming feature film Zombucha!, the benefits and takeaways from releasing on a platform like YouTube, and much more.

Danielle Redford: producing online series Ina at the same time as feature film Zombucha! 

Joining the podcast is Ben Jenkins, the creator and one of the writers of the new six-part Stan Original series The Killings at Parrish Station, a cosmic horror drama that releases on the streamer on June 24. Set across two time periods – 1987 and present day – it begins when a gruesome massacre at a remote research station plunges a detective (played in the past by Mia Wasikowska and in the present by Heather Mitchell) into an inexplicable, decades-long mystery.

Throughout the episode Ben talks about his career journey from stand-up comedy to working on The Chaser, and as writer, producer and presenter on The Checkout before his time on The Feed – and how his years in sketch comedy have informed him as a writer. He talks about tackling a drama set across different time periods, how he collaborated with writers Tim Pye, Catherine Smyth-McMullen and Yolanda Ramke to draft episodes, how to maintain the core idea of a story over years of development, and much more.

Watch all episodes of The Killings at Parrish Station from June 24

Ben Jenkins: creating and co-writing The Killings at Parrish Station

Get up-to-date on Australian screen industry news and hear from local writers, producers, directors and more. Created and hosted by journalist and screenwriter Caris Bizzaca.

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