MEDIA RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
EXCLUSIVE ABC TELEVISION “Q&A” RETURNS FOR SCREEN FOREVER 2016
Screen Producers Australia, in association with ABC Television, is delighted to announce an exclusive presentation of ABC’s flagship program, Q&A, on Tuesday 15 November at this year’s SCREEN FOREVER, Australia’s premier screen industry conference, held at Crown Conference Centre in Melbourne.
Following the success of last year’s inaugural Q&A at SCREEN FOREVER, the exclusive edition of Q&A in 2016 once again gathers an eclectic panel of international and national guests to examine the contemporary media landscape and the key issues facing Australian and international producers.
Hosted by ABC journalist Virginia Trioli, the session’s democratic format includes audience questions and interaction, a live Twitter feed, and is specially designed for the SCREEN FOREVER audience of Australia’s top producers, distributors, financiers and media executives, as well as international guests. The program is not for broadcast.
Confirmed panelists for Q&A include: Russel Howcroft, Executive General Manager, Network Ten; Benjamin Law, Writer, The Family Law; Bruna Papandrea, Producer, Make Movies; Tracey Robertson, Chief Executive Officer, Hoodlum; David Taylor, Co-Managing Director and Producer, Playmaker; Jude Troy, EVP Acquisitions and TV Development eOne Films ANZ.
Virginia Trioli is a two-time Walkley Award winning journalist, with a formidable reputation as a television anchor, radio presenter, writer and commentator. Virginia has written for the Age newspaper and the Bulletin magazine, hosted the Drive Program on 774 ABC Melbourne and the Morning Program on 702 ABC Sydney. She has also hosted ABC TV's premiere news and current affairs programs, 7.30 and Lateline, Artscape, Sunday Arts, and Q and A. Virginia currently anchors ABC News Breakfast on ABC 1 and ABC News 24.
Russel Howcroft is Executive General Manager of Network Ten, the Chairman of the newly formed Commercial TV industry body Think TV, board member of Freeview, the ASX-listed Enero and The Wheeler Centre. He is author of the bestselling When It’s Right To Be Wrong and is a long-term member of the Logie Award-winning, and number one show on the ABC, Gruen.
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Benjamin Law is a Sydney-based journalist, columnist and screenwriter, and has completed a PhD in television writing and cultural studies. He is the author of two books Gaysia: Adventures In The Queer East and The Family Law, which he adapted for television, screening on SBS in 2016.
Bruna Papandrea runs Make Movies, a film and TV production banner in the US and Australia. She recently executively produced Big Little Lies starring Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Shailene Woodley and Laura Dern for HBO, set to screen in 2017. Prior to that, Papandrea launched and operated the production banner Pacific Standard with Witherspoon, producing the Oscar-nominated Wild and the box-office smash Gone Girl, which grossed over three hundred million dollars worldwide.
Tracey Robertson is the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Hoodlum, an Emmy®- and BAFTA Award-winning Entertainment Company. Hoodlum was started by Robertson and her business partner, Nathan Mayfield, who have been working together for 19 years. Currently based in LA, Robertson’s recent production credits include Secrets and Lies, The Strange Calls and Fat Cow Motel.
David Taylor commenced his television career at the Seven Network before working with various independent production companies. Prior to launching Playmaker in 2009, he and the other Playmaker principal David Maher headed Fox’s Australian TV production arm, Fox Television Studios Australia. Playmaker has produced over one hundred hours of primetime drama including the Logie Award winning House Husbands and Love Child (NINE Network), the AACTA- and AWGIE Award-winning political thriller The Code (ABC), The Wrong Girl for (TEN), and the Emmy®-nominated Slide (Foxtel).
Jude Troy is the head of Entertainment One Australia’s local TV development and production arm, which launched in 2015 and has projects in development with Netflix, STAN, Foxtel and the ABC. Jude spent the previous decade as Managing Director of eOne and Hopscotch Home Entertainment, handling acquisitions, sales, marketing and distribution. As a former partner in Hopscotch, she has grown the business dramatically using her acquisitions acumen to broaden and strengthen the slate beyond theatrical titles to include top-rating TV, cutting edge documentary and classic and cult film re- issues such as Peaky Blinders, Cleverman, The Slap, and The Walking Dead.
The ABC’s Q&A is well known as a discussion program that gets Australians ‘thinking, talking, and debating’ big issues. The specially selected panel share their views and opinions in response to questions from the audience, made up exclusively of SCREEN FOREVER delegates.
“We are privileged to have one of Australia’s finest discussion programs opening the conference. The ABC’s proven Q&A format will allow us to debate the most important topics affecting our industry. said Matthew Deaner, CEO, Screen Producers Australia.
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Q&A will open the SCREEN FOREVER conference at Crown Conference Centre, Melbourne on Tuesday 15 November at 1.30pm. Delegates registered for SCREEN FOREVER are invited to submit their questions for consideration by the producers of Q&A, care of [email protected], by 5pm AEST on Friday 11 November.
Q&A AT SCREEN FOREVER is presented by ABC Television
SCREEN FOREVER 15 to 17 November 2016. Crown Conference Centre, Melbourne Australia. Register now at www.screenforever.org.au @Screen_Producer / #SCREENFOREVER
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For media enquiries and interviews: Miranda Brown – Miranda Brown Publicity | ph: 03 9419 0931 mob: 0411 568 781 | [email protected] Hannah Andrews – Miranda Brown Publicity | ph: 03 9419 0931 mob: 0425 885 412 | [email protected]
SCREEN FOREVER is one of the largest congregations of screen professionals in the southern hemisphere, providing a forum for discussion and debate on local and global trends, issues and challenges facing the business of screen production. Past keynote speakers include Gale Anne Hurd (The Walking Dead, Aliens, The Terminator); Dana Brunetti (House of Cards); Emile Sherman (The King’s Speech, Top of the Lake); Sydney Pollack (Tootsie); Ted Hope (21 Grams), David Puttnam, Kt, CBE (The Mission), Jon Plowman (The Office), Matthew Weiner (Mad Men) and George Lucas (Star Wars).
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