TV Format
Lab
Sancia has worked on some of Australia’s most successful
television and radio shows, as a casting producer, and also as a performer.
As a television talent producer her work includes ‘Spicks and
Specks’, ‘First Contact II”, “Luke Warm Sex’, ‘Everyone’s a Critic’, “Santo, Sam and
Ed’s Cup Fever’, ‘Adam Hillis in Gordon St’ Thank God You’re Here’ and the
under-rated AD/BC.
She trained at NIDA and has performed lead roles for STC, MTC,
Malthouse, Belvoir along with numerous guest roles on television, including the
upcoming ‘Fires’ for ABC.
Her work has toured work internationally, most notably with
her one-woman show with STC “What is the Matter with Mary Jane?” ‘Five stars out of
five- kill to get a ticket’ The Scotsman.
She is also a published author for Random House and Currency
Press and teaches acting for NIDA, NIDA Open, 16th St & the National Theatre
(Melb).
1:1
Pitches, Roundtables, TV Format Lab
Darren Chau is the Senior Director of Production across
Australia and New Zealand for Discovery Inc, where he is responsible for content
commissioning, development and production across multiple platforms for the region.
His current content slate includes global hits Aussie Gold Hunters and Outback Opal
Hunters, as well as international franchises The Block NZ, Dancing with the Stars NZ
and the Masked Singer NZ. In addition to leading the full portfolio of content,
Darren has been instrumental in driving the growth and globalization of the local
content slate, as well as diversifying Discovery’s ANZ business onto new platforms
across both markets including co-creating and launching free-to-air channel 9Rush as
part of a joint venture with the Nine Network. Darren has a successful and
award-winning background working extensively in creating and developing formats,
channel management, content strategy, production, programming, scheduling and
digital across all genres for both free and subscription platforms. He also serves
as an official judge of the International Emmys, was appointed expert moderator for
the Comedy Nominee Panel Session at the Emmy’s World Television Festival in New York
and is an elected Member of the International Academy of Television Arts &
Sciences.
1:1 PITCHES – WHAT WE ARE LOOKING
FOR
Format: Documentary, Lifestyle Entertainment, Branded Content
For the Discovery Channel the genres we’re interested in are - tough jobs, motoring,
mystery science, off the grid, and precincts.
For our other brands and
platforms across ANZ we’re looking for Reality (including Relationships &
Medical transformation), Lifestyle, Entertainment, Comedy, Drama, Telefeatures,
Factual, Documentary, True Crime and Brand Funded ideally with strong trans-tasman
and/or global appeal.
We are not currently commissioning for Animal Planet, Turbo or Discovery Science.
Speaker, TV Format Lab
Started in Television in 1995. Producer Our House, Burkes Backyard. Executive
Producer Changing Rooms, Random Acts of Kindness. Co-Creator & Executive
Producer Celebrity Overhaul, Celebrity Circus, Reno Rumble, The Chopping Block (USA
and Australia), The Block.
TV Format
Lab
Kirk Docker is one of Australia’s finest storytellers and content creators. He is
co-creator and director of ABC show You Can’t Ask That, now in its 7th season. The
show has been awarded a Rose d’Or, AACTA and Walkley Award and the format sold to 14
territories around the world. Kirk is regarded one of Australia’s best interviewers,
with no subject off topic. His interviewees range from ex-politicians to ice users
to sexual assault survivors. He works with a deep curiosity, compassion and
playfulness to facilitate honesty from his interviewees, many of whom have never
been interviewed before.
Mentor, TV Format Lab
Aaron Smith is a freelance cinematographer, director and producer working across
documentary, drama, comedy and commercial productions. Aaron co-created, produced,
directed and shot the ABC’s ground-breaking series You Can’t Ask That,
winner of the prestigious Rose d’Or, AACTA Award, Walkley Media Diversity Award and
three United Nations Association of Australia Media Awards. The format, now in
production in over a dozen countries worldwide, is the ABC’s most successful format
ever with 47 international sales to date.
Aaron shot Sarah Ferguson’s AACTA and Walkley award-winning documentary
series Hitting Home, the Walkley and AACTA nominated investigative
documentary The Queen and Zak Grieve, the ABC’s
AACTA-winning Employable Me and the primetime arts
documentaries Matilda & Me and Making Muriel. In
2019/20 Aaron shot Sarah Ferguson’s groundbreaking documentary
series Revelation for ABC and Blackfella Film’s long-form observational
documentary series Addicted for SBS.
Aaron was the director of photography on the narrative
comedies Plonk, How Not To Behave and ABC’s Fresh Blood: Be
Your Own Boss. He directed the provocative documentary series Dumb,
Drunk and Racist and Head Firstfor ABC2 and entertainment
series The Checkout, The Hamster Wheel, Myf Warhurts’s
Nice and Hungry Beast for the ABC.
His work has been recognised with a Walkley Award, Australian Cinematographer Society
Awards, United Nations Association of Australia Media Awards and numerous Logie and
AACTA nominations. He was a finalist in the National Portrait Gallery’s National
Photographic Portrait Prize and has had portrait work circulated on an official
Australia Post stamp series.
1:1
Pitches, Roundtables, TV Format Lab
Tarni is executive producer of entertainment for the ABC, based in Melbourne. She has
worked in the industry for many years across most genres and all Australian FTA
networks. Entertainment, News, Current Affairs, Documentary, Comedy, Children’s,
Factual and sport. An advocate for ‘not waiting for the doors to open” but finding
“a window that might be ajar, ” she values creative and innovate approaches.
1:1
Pitches, TV Format
Lab
Nick Hayden is a media and communications executive and people leader with over 10
years experience in media and content production. Currently he is Head of
Entertainment at ABC with heaps of super cool top secret stuff in the works.
Prior to that he created and was founding EP of the Walkley and Logie losing news and
comedy series The Feed for SBS. He did however once win a Canne Gold Lion for his
work on the comedy series The Great Crusade for Qantas. Nick was one from thousands
picked by Andrew Denton and Anita Jacoby to be a writer, producer and presenter on
Hungry Beast, and he’s worked for just about every network in Australia (except
one).
He also has no problem boasting about himself in a biography and loves referring to
himself in the 3rd person.
1:1 PITCHES – WHAT WE ARE LOOKING
FOR
Format: Documentary, Lifestyle/Entertainmen
We are looking for entertainment, studio shows, soft scripted, factual entertainment,
comedy documentaries
We are not looking for scripted.
1:1
Pitches, Mentor, Roundtables, TV Format Lab
General Manager Lauren Hillman leads the team at C44 with over 16 years of industry
experience. Lauren has had an exciting and varied career in the South Australian TV
and media industry working for ABCTV, Channel Nine, and as an independent freelance
producer. In 2014, Lauren wrote, directed and produced ‘The Daters’ for ABC which is
currently still streaming on iView. Lauren also produced two award winning sold out
Adelaide Fringe shows with Annabel Crabb in 2016 and 2019. In 2018 Lauren was named
one of Adelaide’s ‘Top 40 Under 40’ business leaders. In 2021, Lauren and her team
were responsible for lobbying and successfully securing Channel 44’s free to air
licence for three years until 2024. Recently, in collaboration with C31 in
Melbourne, Lauren has also spearheaded the rollout and launch of the new national
Community TV streaming platform, CTV+.
1:1 PITCHES – WHAT WE ARE LOOKING
FOR
Format: Features, Episodic, Web Series, Shorts, Documentary, Games,
Lifestyle/Entertainment, Childrens, Animation
Channel 44 and CTV+ are looking for short and long form series with ideally a minimum
of 6 episodes. We are on the hunt for high quality, locally produced, excellent
story telling series. The content can be niche- that’s what Community TV is for.
Open to all ideas! Excellent opportunity to test a series on local broadcast TV and
online.
Not looking for branded content - Community TV has strict guidelines around
sponsorship. We would still encourage local sponsors but not branded content pieces.
1:1
Pitches, TV Format
Lab
Luke Tunnecliffe has been a driving force behind the creation and implementation of
world class sporting and entertainment content at JAM TV Australia since 2012.
JAM TV is one of Australia’s most prolific independent production companies
delivering in excess of 1000 hours of sport and entertainment content every year for
major broadcasters. As the Head of Content, his current role straddles development,
commercial, logistics and the creative processes.
Tunnecliffe has overseen the recent success of the Making Their Mark docu-series on
Amazon Prime Video as well as both The Recruit and The NRL Rookie reality television
formats. In 2018, he headed up JAM’s worldwide Host broadcast of the Invictus Games
held in Sydney.
Prior to his current position, Tunnecliffe spent four years working within the inner
sanctum of Australia’s largest sporting organisation, the Collingwood Football Cub,
before moving into broadcast television with the Nine Network. In his eight years at
Nine, he produced live sporting broadcasts and studio-based shows covering numerous
sports from Olympic and Commonwealth Games to International Cricket, Australian
Rules Football and World Swimming Championships.
Highlighting his diversity within the sporting media world, he has for the last 18
seasons produced Triple M Football’s Australia-wide radio coverage.
1:1 PITCHES – WHAT WE ARE LOOKING
FOR
Format: Documentary, Lifestyle/Entertainment, Branded Content
Open to hearing anything!
Nothing we are not really looking for.
1:1
Pitches, Mentor, Speaker, TV Format Lab
Julian Cress has worked as a television producer for 30 years starting in 1988 on
Beyond 2000. His background is in investigative journalism and he was a senior
producer at 60 Minutes for a decade before moving into reality television as
co-creator of The Block in 2003. He has worked for all three commercial networks and
been Executive Producer of 17 series of The Block winning 5 Logie awards along the
way. Working alongside business partner David Barbour, he is a co-creator of several
other successful formats both in Australia and the US. Julian is also the founder
and managing editor of online content site themotorists.com.au, e-commerce site
theblockshop.com.au, charity app shout and a founding investor in influencer
marketing app tribe digital.
1:1
Pitches, Mentor, TV Format Lab
Georgia Humphreys is a creative producer with CTPA where she is developing a slate of
film and television projects for local and international audiences. After graduating
high school, Georgia started out in Italy’s tourism industry managing guided tours
and eventually owned Europe’s largest and Rome’s longest running pubcrawl – The
Colosseum Pubcrawl.
On her return to Australia she opened Rockefeller, a beachside café where she met her
producing partner, Marion Pilowsky.
Her first production, the short crime fable Yia Yia was invited to the AFF,
Australian Greek Film Festival and Fort Lauderdale (USA) in 2015. Her next short
film Frida and Diego – The Australian Years starring Tiriel Mora was funded via a
successful Kickstarter campaign and premiered at the Sydney Film Festival in 2016.
Georgia produced Indigenous writer/director Edoardo Crismani’s short film 440,
funded by the South Australian Film Corporation’s 2017 Aboriginal Short Film
Initiative and is the co-producer of The Flip Side, starring Eddie Izzard, for 20th
Century Fox, released in 2018.
In 2020, together with Marion Pilowsky, Georgia co-created, directed and produced the
lifestyle format series for Channel 44, Recipe For Love. With writer/director Peter
Ninos, Georgia was selected as one of three teams in the SAFC’s 2021 Film Lab: New
Voices, where they are developing Greek LGBTQI+ horror, The Mati.
She is looking to work with new and emerging creatives who speak with authentic, bold
and noisy voices.
1:1 PITCHES – WHAT WE ARE LOOKING
FOR
Format: Features, Episodic, Documentary, Lifestyle/Entertainment, Children’s and
Animation
Not looking for anything particular but must-have elements of
diversity.
Female-led stories are especially appealing.
1:1
Pitches, Roundtables, TV Format Lab
Damian is the Head of Comedy and Entertainment at CJZ, and is responsible for JULIA
ZEMIRO’S HOME DELIVERY (ABC), MR BLACK, STREET SMART and SKIT HAPPENS (Ten), LIFE
DRAWING LIVE (SBS) and a large development slate of scripted and unscripted
projects.
A highly experienced producer and director, Damian has created
several long running series and produced shows for all networks. He is a published
author with a Masters of Journalism.
His long list of credits include YOU’RE
SKITTING ME, SLEEK GEEKS and TWO ON THE GREAT DIVIDE (ABC), THE FULL BRAZILIAN
(SBS), RONNIE JOHN’S HALF HOUR and GUERRILLA GARDENERS (TEN). Pre-CJZ they include
MONSTER HOUSE and COMEDY INC. (Nine), 110% TONY SQUIRES (Seven) and several series
of ROY AND H.G.’S CLUB BUGGERY, THE FAT and STUDIO 22 (ABC).
1:1 PITCHES – WHAT WE ARE LOOKING
FOR
Format: Episodic & Lifestyle/Entertainment
Looking for - entertainment & factual entertainment ideas for series.
Entertainment formats
Not looking for Animation or Branded Content
Speaker, TV Format Lab
Mercury CX CEO Karena Slaninka has an extensive background
working in Australia and the UK in television, documentary and
screen industry development, including almost a decade as head
of Screen Tasmania.
As a creative producer, script developer and senior executive,
Karena is known as a creative and transformative force, with
distinctive vision and strong leadership skills. She blends
business and producing skills with strong creative flair, having
produced or worked on hundreds of hours of television. As an
industry executive she has facilitated approximately $300
million worth of production on feature films and TV series.
Nationally, she has extensive experience in revitalising key
industry organisations including the Australian International
Documentary Conference (AIDC) where as Chair of the Board and
Acting CEO, she rebuilt the flagging organisation and reimagined
it as the commercially robust and internationally renowned
organisation it is today.
Her passion for creative development of authentic and diverse
stories has been a common thread through her roles since her
time as a Senior Development and Production Executive at Screen
NSW and as a creator and producer.
In her position as the Head of Screen Tasmania she effectively
kick-started the sector in the state, driving industry
development and facilitating finance for the production of local
shows such as the ABC’s Rosehaven and the multi-award winning
The Kettering Incident, whilst attracting Hollywood productions
including Dreamworks’ Light Between Oceans, and The Hunter
starring Willem Dafoe.
