SCREEN - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Industry Development Officer
For general Industry & Audience Development enquiries or to be directed to the right person, please contact: screenindustry@create.nsw.gov.au
For general Production & Investment enquiries or to be directed to the right person, please contact: screeninvestment@create.nsw.gov.au
Job Titles:
- Industry & Audience Development
Job Titles:
- Member of the Communications and Media Law Association Board
With more than 35 years media, communications and screen industry experience, Debra joined Netflix in September 2019 as Director of Studio and Production Affairs for the APAC region.
Her career includes 12 years as CEO of the Australian Subscription Television and Radio Association (ASTRA), 13 years with Australia's broadcasting regulator - then the Australian Broadcasting Authority (& Tribunal) - and most recently almost nine years as CEO of Ausfilm, attracting major production and post-production work to Australia.
She has been involved in most Australian screen content policy and production industry issues during her working life as regulator, stakeholder and advocate covering local content, sports rights, copyright, digital conversion, and disruption.
Debra is a member of the Communications and Media Law Association board; a Director of the International Institute of Communications, Australia; Deputy Chair of the Alcohol Beverage Advertising Code adjudication panel; a Director of Northcott, a professional member of the Australian Film Institute (AFI) and a marriage celebrant.
A filmmaker from Western Sydney, Fadia directed a segment of anthology film Here Out West, which opened the 2021 Sydney Film Festival.
She directed the second episode of Australian Gangster released in 2021 and went on to direct Hardball for ABC Me which won the 2020 Prix Jeunesse International Award for Outstanding Children's Television and the 2020 International Emmy Award for Best Kids: Live-Action series. Her other directing credits include After the Verdict, Barons, Five Bedrooms, Here Come the Habibs, and Les Norton.
Fadia was the co-director of the Arab Film Festival Australia from 2007 to 2017, which was presented annually in her home city of Parramatta.
Respected for her advocacy of Indigenous stories and mentoring of emerging filmmakers, Gillian has worked in both management and production roles in the screen industry over the past three decades. She worked with ADTRS, MetroScreen, and SBS before becoming an Investment and Development Manager at Screen Australia's Indigenous Department from 2007 to 2014.
Gillian produced the first series of documentary Family Rules, six 30min episodes for NITV in 2016, and Nice Shorts, an online sketch comedy series with Bunya Productions in 2019. Her collaboration with Bunya followed a producing internship undertaken with them two years earlier.
Gillian started her own company Kalori Productions in 2018 which saw co-production on the documentary Black Divaz. She also develops and produces drama projects through Kalori, including short film Ties That Bind which had its world premiere at the 2019 Sydney Film Festival and won the award for Best Australian Short Screenplay.
She recently co-directed and co-produced the documentary Kindred with long-time friend and key collaborator Adrian Russell Wills, which screened at the 2023 Sydney Film Festival.
Job Titles:
- Producer of Made Up Stories
Managing Director of Australia, partner and producer of Made Up Stories, Jodi recently produced Wolf Like Me starring Isla Fisher and Josh Gad for Peacock, Stan and Amazon; Roar starring Nicole Kidman and Judy Davis for Apple; Nine Perfect Strangers, starring Nicole Kidman and Melissa McCarthy for Hulu and Amazon; The Dry, starring Eric Bana, as well as the film adaptation of the international best-seller, Penguin Bloom, starring Naomi Watts.
Job Titles:
- Managing Director of Spectrum Films
Josh is Managing Director of Spectrum Films, Australia's leading post-production house based at Fox Studios Australia. Upon completing his Bachelor of Business in 1997, Josh teamed up with his father - Spectrum's founder Hans Pomeranz OAM - cementing the family businesses commitment to supporting the Australian film and television industry.
Under Josh's leadership, Spectrum Films has expanded to include strategic alliances and investments, gaining a strong international presence with productions including Hacksaw Ridge, Wolverine, The Great Gatsby, Simon McQuoid's Mortal Kombat and Marvel's Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
Building on Spectrum Films' rich history, Josh's management has continued to foster the company's stellar reputation as the post-production facility of choice for countless feature films, television productions and documentaries.
Kyas has spent her career working in the screen and creative arts sector, championing and advocating for practitioners to elevate their voices. With a passion for bringing distinctive and genuine stories to the screen, Kyas has collaborated with and supported numerous high-profile screen creatives and productions.
As the Head of Screen NSW, Kyas spearheads the state's film and production strategy and advances NSW's position both in digital games and as one of the leading national and international screen and post-production destinations. Prior to joining Screen NSW, Kyas served as the Head of Commissioning and Programming at NITV.
Her extensive creative expertise spans across feature films, documentaries, television series, and web series, having worked with esteemed organizations such as SBS, the Australian Film Television and Radio School, and Screen Australia. Kyas currently sits on the Board of AusFilm and has held positions as a board member for the Australian International Documentary Conference and as an ambassador for the Natalie Miller Fellowship.
In 2021 Kyas was honoured as an Official Competition Jury Member for the 68th Sydney Film Festival, and in 2023 she was selected as a Featured Speaker at the inaugural SXSW Sydney.
Patrick is an experienced commercial lawyer with recognised expertise in intellectual property, competition law, and privacy law. He advises clients in the telecommunications industry, including mobile operators, and digital and satellite service providers.
He is Principal of Patrick Fair Associates; an Adjunct Professor at the School of Information Technology, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built Environment at Deakin University; Chairman of the Communications Security Reference Panel at the Communications Alliance and a member of auDA's Technical Advisory Standing Committee.
Patrick is a former Chairman of the Internet Industry Association (1999-2002, 2012-2014); a director of the Internet industry Association (1995-1998, 2011); President of the Law Society of NSW (1997) and President of the University of Sydney Union (1983).
Job Titles:
- Senior Investment Manager
In a career spanning over 25 years Troy Lum is a pioneer of the Australian and International film industry.
At the age of 22, Troy was the head of distribution company Dendy Films from 1998-2002 where he acquired and released seminal titles such as Amelie, Buena Vista Social Club and The Blair Witch Project. In May 2002, Troy launched Hopscotch Films, which went on to become Australia's leading independent distributor. With Troy at the helm, releases included the hits Bowling For Columbine, Touching The Void, Fahrenheit 9/11, The Lives Of Others, Pan's Labyrinth, Mongol, The Wrestler, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Mao's Last Dancer, Bright Star, The Kids Are All Right, Incendies, Midnight in Paris, A Separation, The Sapphires, Now You See Me, Blue Jasmine, Philomena, The Girl On The Train and La La Land. In total, Lum's film acquisitions were nominated for over 80 Academy Awards and grossed over 1 Billion at the global Box Office.
In 2011, Hopscotch was acquired by global media group Entertainment One, one of the world's leading independent content and distribution businesses. In 2004, Troy was listed as one of the ‘Top 50 Young Film Executives in The World' by The Hollywood Reporter.
In 2009 Troy founded production shingle - Hopscotch Features, a joint venture with writer John Collee (Master and Commander) and producer Andrew Mason (The Matrix). A ‘one-stop shop' for film finance, development, production and distribution, Hopscotch Features has enabled Troy to deepen his involvement in the International film landscape and to work with emerging and established filmmaking talent from as early as concept stage. The first films to emerge from this partnership were Australian/French co-production Adore starring Naomi Watts and Robin Wright, gothic fantasy I, Frankenstein starring Aaron Eckhart and Bill Nighy, Disney production Saving Mr. Banks with Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson, and Russell Crowe's directorial debut The Water Diviner which quickly became Australia's highest grossing film for 2014.
In 2021, Troy established Brouhaha Entertainment with producing partners Andrew Mason and Gabrielle Tana (The Duchess). Since then he has developed and produced Karim Aïnouz's feature film Firebrand, a revisionist Tudor thriller about Katherine Parr starring Alicia Vikander and Jude Law; a feature biopic Lee, about the iconic photographer Lee Miller, starring Kate Winslet, Marion Cotillard and Alexander Skarsgård; The Convert, a New Zealand-set historical adventure amidst the Maori tribal wars starring Guy Pearce and directed by Lee Tamahori, and Boy Swallows Universe, the eight-part series produced for Netflix, based on Trent Dalton's best-selling novel.