Speakers

Loani Arman joined SBS in January 2022 as SBS Scripted Commissioning Editor, working across development and production of original scripted programming.

Prior to SBS, Loani was a Content Director at Screen Queensland where she led their development programs and initiatives. Earlier in her career, she was the Drama Associate for Showtime Australia, working across original drama commissions including Cloudstreet and Tangle.

As a screen creative, Loani has had an eight-part drama series developed through the Stan/Screen Queensland Premium Drama Fund, and in 2019, was selected for the Screen Queensland & Australians in Film Charlie's Lab in LA to develop her comedy pilot, The Mother Load. Her digital documentary series, My Body Says, launched on ABC iView in 2020, winning the inaugural AIDC Best Short Form Award and in 2019, Loani was the winner of the AACTA Pitch Competition with her short, Our Greatest Escape.

Loani celebrates her Indonesian-Australian heritage and champions representations of diversity.

Rosemary Blight is a founding partner at Goalpost Pictures and one of Australia’s most experienced producers. She produced Black Snow, the internationally acclaimed Stan Original Series, for Sundance Now and All3 Media. She served as Producer for Benjamin Millepied’s debut feature film Carmen, a drama with music and dance, with original songs by Academy-Award nominated Nicholas Britell, co-produced with Chapter 2 and starring Melissa Barrera, Academy-Award nominated Paul Mescal and Rossy de Palma. Rosemary is Executive Producer of Five Blind Dates, the first Local Amazon Original feature film directed by Shawn Seet.

Her credits include I am Woman, the story of Australian international singing superstar Helen Reddy, directed by Unjoo Moon; and as Executive Producer on Universal’s The Invisible Man, written and directed by Leigh Whannell and starring Elisabeth Moss; and Goalpost Television revisionist western New Gold Mountain for SBS and All3 Media.

Rosemary is known for producing distinctive film and television including Top End Wedding, co-written and starring Miranda Tapsell and directed by Wayne Blair; The Sapphires which premiered at Cannes; the internationally acclaimed drama series Cleverman & the feature film Felony, directed by Matthew Saville and starring Joel Edgerton & Tom Wilkinson. She has served as executive producer on; Leigh Whannell's Upgrade, co-produced with US independent production powerhouse Blumhouse; the screen adaptation of Timothy Conigrave’s bestselling novel Holding The Man and The Tree starring Charlotte Gainsbourg which was the closing night film at the Cannes Film Festival 2007.

Mike is Senior Producer with Princess Pictures, one of Australia’s leading TV production companies. He produced primetime animation series Koala Man for Hulu and Disney, with an all-star cast including Hugh Jackman and Sarah Snook, 2 seasons of animated comedy series YOLO: Crystal Fantasy for Adult Swim and HBO Max, and is currently in production on the 2nd season of the hugely popular animated comedy Smiling Friends, also for Adult Swim and HBO Max.

Mike also produces comedy series Superwog which has been a huge hit for the ABC and Netflix. In audio for Audible, Mike has produced (and co-written/created) The Orchard starring Eric Bana, doco series Milky Moore narrated by Jim Jefferies, and romantic comedy Lonely Harts Radio starring Adam Demos.

Mike has a background in industry support, having worked at Australian Film Commission, South Australian Film Corporation, UK Film Council, and most recently at Screen Australia, where he had special responsibility for innovative digital production, and was at the forefront of many new initiatives and programs, including Skip Ahead and Fresh Blood. Mike managed many award-winning projects including film, TV, virtual reality, web series, apps, interactive drama & documentary and video games, and has run initiatives, conferences, and training opportunities. Mike sits on the Expert Advisory Group for Screen Tasmania.

Michelle has produced award-winning screen content across multiple formats and genres for over two decades and is a co-founder of Hardy White Pictures with director Erin White. Her scripted broadcast credits include 7 x 30-minute sketch comedy series Wham Bam Thank You Ma'am for the ABC and Seeso (NBCU); half-hour narrative comedy Timothy for the ABC, 11 x 30-minute comedy entertainment series Back Seat Drivers for ABC2, and the International Emmy® Award-winning multi-platform comedy series #7DaysLater.

Prior to moving into scripted, Michelle worked across numerous lifestyle programs for the Seven Network Australia including The Great Outdoors and Better Homes and Gardens as well as producing short form branded content for agencies, networks, and production companies.

From 2017 to 2020, Michelle was the VP of Scripted at EQ Media Group where she led the development of the scripted slate, including Under The Vines, the Rebecca Gibney led rom-com drama series for AcornTV and TVNZ, created by Erin and produced in association with Hardy White. Michelle is an Associate Producer on Under The Vines and the third series is currently in development.

Michelle also works with Screen Producers Australia as an Industry Consultant and is currently managing the Hardy White Pictures scripted development slate, including two shows that she wrote and created.

Rick is an International Emmy Award nominated screenwriter and producer, who has often been named among The Sydney Morning Herald’s Most Influential People in Australian TV. He is co-founder with writer/producer Natassia Halabi of scripted production company Whoa Bandit, with television drama and comedy projects in active development.

He is currently writing an original feature for UK-based Australian director Jennifer Perrott (Doctor Who starring Jodie Whittaker, Sally Wainwright’s Gentleman Jack, Rain Dogs (HBO / BBC)), and another original for producer Kristian Moliere (The Babadook). Rick recently wrote and co-presented the acclaimed documentary podcast series Laya’s Way Home, released in June 2023 on ABC Listen / Radio National as part of The History Listen program.

From 2013 to 2020, Rick was Head of Comedy at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, overseeing more than 100 scripted titles across TV, iView, online and podcast, which to date have earned some 85 AACTA nominations, multiple Logie Awards and many other honours.

ABC titles commissioned by Rick include current award-winning hits Fisk (starring Kitty Flanagan) and Working Dog’s Utopia, as well as Rosehaven (co-produced with Amazon and AMC / Sundance), BAFTA nominee Frayed from Sharon Horgan’s Merman Television (with Sky UK / HBO Max), The Letdown (with Netflix), International Emmy Award nominee Please Like Me (with Participant Media), Kate McCartney & Kate McLennan’s Get Krack!n’ and The Katering Show, Ronny Chieng: International Student (with Comedy Central USA), Superwog (with YouTube) and Indigenous drama Wrong Kind of Black, for which Rick shared a 2019 International Emmy nomination for Best Digital Scripted Series. Before ABC, Rick was head of scripted at Quail TV (now Perpetual Entertainment) in Sydney / Los Angeles. His own award-winning creator / writer / producer credits include ABC comedies At Home with Julia and Wednesday Night Fever, and head writer of Nine Network Australia’s long-running sketch hit Comedy Inc: The Late Shift.

His first script, AACTA nominated comedy The Honourable Wally Norman, was produced by Best Picture Oscar winner Emile Sherman and opened the 2003 Sydney Film Festival. Rick has also developed comedy pilots for BBC, and for Fox / Imagine Television in the US. Prior to becoming a screenwriter/producer, Rick was a lawyer, including serving as Associate to Justice Mary Gaudron at the High Court of Australia.

Lisa is a multi-award winning producer of quality scripted drama through her company Highview Productions. Her latest production The Tourist premiered on BBC1, Stan & HBO Max in early 2022 to critical acclaim and was produced in conjunction with the Emmy winning UK producers Two Brothers Pictures, garnering three awards including Best Series at the 2022 Golden Nymph Awards. A Sunburnt Christmas, in association with Every Cloud Productions, which premiered on Stan in December 2020, was nominated in the 2021 AACTA Awards and won the 2021 Screen Producers Australia Award for Best TV Mini Series or Telefeature. Other recent productions include The Hunting for Closer Productions, SBS’s most successful Australian drama to date, nominated for Best TV Mini Series or Telefeature in the 2019 AACTA Awards, Pine Gap - a six-part geopolitical thriller for Netflix/ABC, nominated for the 2019 TV Week Silver Logie Award for Outstanding Mini Series, and the second series of Wolf Creek for Stan.

She was also the lead producer of internationally celebrated miniseries ANZAC Girls, nominated for both Best Series at the 2014 Screen Producers Australia Awards and the 2015 TV Week Silver Logie Award for Outstanding Mini Series. Internationally ANZAC Girls was nominated for Best Mini Series at the 2015 Golden Nymph Awards held in Monte Carlo.

Producer of three seasons of the acclaimed Janet King, nominated in the Best Television Drama Series category at the 2015 & 2017 AACTA Awards, also nominated for Outstanding Drama Series in the 2015 TV Week Logie Awards.

Rebecca is founding member of Closer Productions. She is a producer, with feature film credits including 52 Tuesdays, which won the directing award for World Cinema at Sundance and the Crystal Bear at Berlinale, and feature documentary Sam Klemke’s Time Machine which premiered at Sundance and in Official Selection at HotDocs and Rotterdam. Her most recent feature, Animals, was an official Irish/Australian co-production based on the acclaimed novel, and premiered at Sundance 2019. 

For television, Rebecca has made numerous documentaries including Dendy Award-winning I Want to Dance Better at Parties and 3-part arts series Hannah Gadsby’s Oz. Her television drama credits include the 6-part series F*!#ing Adelaide, which premiered at Series Mania and was the most watched ABC iView Original in 2018. She also produced The Hunting, a 4 x 1 hour drama series which premiered on SBS Television in August 2019 becoming SBS’ most successful commissioned drama at that 4me.

Most recently, Rebecca produced Aftertaste, a returnable 6 x 30 comedy drama for the ABC. The first season premiered at Berlinale Series Selects 2021 and was nominated for a Most Popular Comedy Logie in 2022, season 2 screened on ABCTV in July 2022 and has been nominated for four AACTA awards including Best Comedy Program.

Rakel Tansley is the Marketplace Manager at Screen Australia, where she provides analysis and works with producers to make sure they are getting the best commercial terms for their projects, and in turn, the best possible return for themselves and their investors.

Rakel's experience in the film and television industry spans more than 30 years in various roles in production, post-production, marketing and with sales agents at companies including Seven Network, Global Television, TVSN, CTC Productions, Zealot Productions and Arclight Films.