Speakers

Harry Avramidis is an experienced screen executive. His impressive career has seen him work both locally and internationally for many high profile film entertainment businesses including Twentieth Century Fox, Arclight Films International, Becker Films International and Beyond Films International as well as Industry Development positions at Sydney Film Festival and since 2013, Screen Australia. Harry has extensive knowledge of the film production process from story development, acquisitions, and project financing, to post production, delivery, international distribution and marketing strategy.

As Screen Australia’s International Initiatives Manager, he oversees the agency’s presence at key markets and festivals such as Cannes, MIPCOM, TIFF and Content London. Harry also manages funding programs that assist Australian creatives to up skill and that support Australian projects to competitively engage international partnerships and finance. He fosters and maintains strong relationships across a wide cross section of the industry and partners with many key Australian and international organisations to deliver quality programs.

In 2017 he designed and delivered the first ‘Talent LA’, an opportunity for Australian screen creatives to undergo professional development as well as forge connections with key international decision makers. The initiative proved so successful, in 2018 it was rebranded ‘Talent USA’ expanded to include New York, and has now seen seven delegations through the program.

In 2020 Harry designed and launched Screen Australia’s International Finance Fund created to help Australian projects unlock international finance opportunities and ensure Australian screen creatives have the tools they need to make the most of the ever-changing international marketplace.

In 2021, working closely with Australians in Film, he launched 'Talent Gateway' and 'Global Producers Exchange', two joint initiatives for established Australian screen creatives to expand on their skills and connect with key US decision makers, as well as help position Australian projects for success in an increasingly global market.

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.

Rick is a multi-award-winning creator, writer, producer, showrunner and script executive, often named among The Sydney Morning Herald’s ‘Most Influential People in Australian TV’.

From 2013-2020, Rick was ABC Head of Comedy, overseeing more than 100 scripted titles across TV, iView, online and podcast, which to date have earned over 80 AACTA Award nominations.

ABC titles overseen by Rick include Kitty Flanagan’s Fisk, Sarah Kendall’s BAFTA Award nominee Frayed from Merman Television (co-production with Sky Studios/HBO Max), Celia Pacquola and Luke McGregor’s Rosehaven (with Amazon and AMC/Sundance), Working Dog’s Utopia, Rose Matafeo’s Starstruck (with BBC, HBO Max, TVNZ), The Letdown (with Netflix), Josh Thomas’ International Emmy Award nominee Please Like Me (with Participant Media), Kate McCartney and Kate McLennan’s Get Krack!n’ and The Katering Show, Superwog (with YouTube), Ronny Chieng: International Student (with Comedy Central USA) and Indigenous drama Wrong Kind of Black, for which Rick shared a 2019 International Emmy Award nomination.

Rick previously headed scripted content at Quail TV (now EQ Media) in Sydney / Los Angeles. His original creator/writer/producer credits include ABC comedies At Home with Julia and Wednesday Night Fever, and head writer of long-running sketch hit Comedy Inc: The Late Shift.

Rick’s first screenplay, AACTA-award nominated comedy The Honourable Wally Norman, produced by Emile Sherman (Best Picture Oscar-winner for The King’s Speech), opened the 2003 Sydney Film Festival.

Rick has also developed scripted comedy pilots for BBC (UK) and 20^thCentury Fox/Imagine Television in the US.

Since leaving ABC, Rick has recently co-founded new scripted production company Whoa Bandit with creative partner Natassia Halabi, with several drama and comedy projects in international development.

Vicki Madden is a Producer, Writer and Showrunner with over 25 years experience in the television Industry both in Australia and overseas. She has worked as Writer and Show-runner on such shows as Halifax fp (AUS), The Bill, (UK), Trial & Retribution with Lynda La Plante (UK) The Clinic (Ireland), Water Rats, Stingers (AUS) and K9 (UK) to name a few. She was also the writer of the 90-minute true crime telemovie for the 9 Network and Playmaker media Blood Brothers.

Vicki runs her own Production Company, Sweet Potato Films, a small boutique film and TV company in Tasmania, her home state, and has co-created, co- produced and written the critically acclaimed TV series, The Kettering Incident and more recently, created and wrote the highly commended Disney/STARZ/AUS Series, The Gloaming, set against the stunning backdrop of Hobart.

The Kettering Incident is a $15 million high-end drama for Foxtel, set in the dramatic landscape of Tasmania and is the first adult TV drama to be set there. Critics worldwide have described it as ground breaking, bold and confident storytelling that subverts and elevates the crime genre.

TKI has enjoyed stunning award success both in Australia and overseas, winning the Special Jury Prize at the prestigious Series Mania Festival in Paris, with David Chase (Sopranos) as head Juror, four AACTA awards, the SPAA award for most outstanding telemovie or mini-series and two Logie awards for outstanding telemovie or mini-series. Madden was short-listed for an Australian writer award (AWGIE) for excellence in writing and for the prestigious NSW Premier’s Literary Award. TKI has been Foxtel’s highest rating drama ever and been critically acclaimed in Australia and is currently showing in the US and the UK to rave reviews. BBC worldwide has distribution rights.

The Gloaming premiered on STAN in 2020 after a stunning launch at the Sydney Opera House. The Gloaming is an $18 million Gothic Noir series that solidified Madden’s career and reputation world-wide and coined the phrase to describe her work, Tasmanian Noir. Vicki has been nominated for the prestigious NSW Literary Award for television and the series was nominated for a Logie and an AACTA (Australian Academy of Cinema, Television and the Arts). The Gloaming was also nominated for the prestigious SPA (Screen Producer’s Award) in 2022.

An award-winning writer, producer and executive, Claire Tonkin has worked in scripted drama production and development for two decades. As Head of Drama for production company CJZ, she has recently completed an eight-part drama series, Darby and Joan (Acorn TV), starring Bryan Brown and Greta Scacchi, and has just wrapped production on a third ten-part series of drama series My Life is Murder (Acorn TV/TVNZ/DCD/Network 10) starring Lucy Lawless.

Prior to joining CJZ, Claire spent a decade as Drama Executive for broadcaster Network Ten, working across development and production of dramas including Offspring, Rush, Mr & Mrs Murder, Puberty Blues, Wonderland, The Wrong Girl, Bikie Wars: Brothers in Arm, Secrets & Lies, Underground, The Making of a Princess, Brock, Hawke and long running series Neighbours. An Australian Writers Guild Award recipient, in 2009 Claire was also awarded the Sir Peter Ustinov Scriptwriting Award by The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation.

Jason Burrows started Jungle with a small house plant in his apartment. It is now one of Australia’s most dynamic production companies with a solid track record of international success. Jason’s Executive Producer television credits include Wakefield (ABC), No Activity (the original and the US remake), Mr Inbetween (FX), Squinters (ABC) and Sando (ABC) as well as Here Come the Habibs (Nine Network), A Moody Christmas (ABC), its sequel The Moodys (ABC), and The Elegant Gentleman’s Guide to Knife Fighting (ABC). In the factual sector, his credits include Big Deal, Between a Frock and a Hard Place (ABC) and the comedy documentary The Super Dave Odyssey (Network Ten).

Michelle has produced award-winning screen content across multiple formats and genres for over two decades. Her scripted broadcast credits include 7 x 30-minute sketch comedy series Wham Bam Thank You Ma'am for the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) 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, New Idea TV and Better Homes and Gardens as well as producing branded content for agencies, networks, and production companies.

Michelle is also an Associate Producer on Under The Vines, the Rebecca Gibney led rom-com drama series for AcornTV and TVNZ, produced in association with Hardy White. The second series is currently in post-production in New Zealand.