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SA screen creatives selected for Talent Gateway and Global Producers Exchange
08 February 2024
South Australian creatives Matt Vesely and Lisa Scott have been announced as recipients of the Screen Australia and Australians in Film (AiF) Talent Gateway and the Global Producers Exchange 2024.
SA writer and director Matt Vesely has been selected for Talent Gateway, which provides established Australian writer/directors who have demonstrated a high level of recent international success with the knowledge, access, and relationships necessary to succeed in the global market. Matt works across TV and film as a story producer, writer and development executive with award-winning SA collective Closer Productions (Aftertaste, The Hunting, F*%#Ing Adelaide). His latest short film System Error was selected for the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival and opened the 2021 St Kilda Film Festival. His debut feature film, the science fiction thriller Monolith, starring Lily Sullivan (Evil Dead Rise) and written by Lucy Campbell, was selected to have its international premiere at SXSW in 2023 before screening at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN) (South Korea), Sitges Film Festival (Spain) and Frightfest UK. It was nominated for Best Indie Film at the AACTA Awards and Best Debut at the Australian Director’s Guild Awards.
SA producer Lisa Scott of Adelaide Studios based Highview Productions has been selected for the Global Producers Exchange, which provides Australia’s leading producers with new skills, knowledge, access, and relationships. The program aims to provide Australian cultural stories with the opportunity to be developed with internationally based collaborators who possess a global outlook and a proven track record of success with international audiences. Founder of Highview Productions, Lisa is a multi-award winning producer, whose recent productions include the hybrid feature documentary Speedway, which previewed at Adelaide Film Festival 2023, short film Blame The Rabbit which premiered on opening night at the festival and shared the audience award for Best Short Film and was nominated for Short Film Production of the Year in the Screen Producers Australia Awards, A Sunburnt Christmas for Stan, and the Stan, BBC1 and HBO Max series The Tourist which smashed ratings records on BBC in 2022 and won three awards at the Monte Carlo Television Festival, including Best Series. She has also produced other multi-award nominated productions The Hunting (SBS), Pine Gap (Netflix/ABC), ANZAC Girls (ABC) and three seasons of Janet King (ABC)
Screen Australia CEO Deirdre Brennan said, “Screen Australia congratulates this year’s participants for Talent Gateway and the Global Producers Exchange, supporting them to further develop their craft and foster meaningful business and creative connections internationally. We wish them every success as they embark on this exceptional program, created to assist Australian voices resonate with global audiences.”
Australians in Film Executive Director Peter Ritchie said, “For a variety of reasons, it is always exciting to see the names of the very talented individuals and companies who participate in Talent Gateway and Global Producers Exchange each year. In some cases, it’s just their first toe tip into the LA market, and AiF – with the extraordinary support of Screen Australia – is so thrilled to champion, connect and inspire them as they take their most brilliant stories and businesses to one of the most competitive markets in the world.”
Supporting Partners for these programs include South Australian Film Corporation, Screen NSW, Screen Queensland and VicScreen. Industry Partners are Australian Directors’ Guild, Australian Writers’ Guild, Screen Producers Australia, Screen Canberra, Screen Tasmania, Screen Territory, Screenwest and Screenworks.