The four winners of Endemol Shine and Screen Australia’s early to mid-career writers program have been announced. They are Slade Camilleri, Sally Alrich Smith, Becky Bouchier, and Luke Agius.
A collaboration between Endemol Shine Australia and Screen Australia, supported by the Writers Guild of Australia, the initiative targets early to mid-career Australian writers with the potential for a strong career trajectory in Australia. We provide high-level training in a world-class scriptwriting department. Scripted episodic storytelling.
Based at Endemol Shine Australia’s headquarters in Sydney, four budding screenwriters will be mentored over an eight-week period, immersing themselves in all aspects of script development and rotating through all the roles that make up the screenwriting department.
Endemol Shine Australia is best known for reality and competition shows such as Masterchef and Survivor, but the company’s writing credits include RFDS, NCIS: Sydney, Bali 2002, Spring, Sisters, Peter Allen: Not The Boy Next Door, and INXS: Never Tear Us Apart. .
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Endemol Shine and Screen Australia hosts writers
Endemol Shine Australia’s head of scriptwriting Sarah Richardson said: “The applications we received were outstanding and these four scriptwriters were exemplary.” We are honored to run this program again with the support of Screen Australia. Endemol Shine Australia is excited to mentor, mentor and encourage their learning and professional development. ”
Bobby Lomia, Head of Development at Screen Australia, said: The Early Career Writers Program provides the perfect platform to hone your skills and open the door to new opportunities. These four winners have a strong desire to learn and a passion for creating new stories for the next generation, and we can’t wait to see what they achieve. ”
The young writers selected for this program already have significant accomplishments and experience in feature films, plays, and scripted dramas.
Here are the detailed information for each provided in the announcement:
writers
Luke Agius
With a talent for creating engaging and moving stories, Luke’s unique perspective was shaped by his experiences growing up in Western Sydney with a Maltese father and Indigenous mother. He began his filmmaking career at the age of 12, making numerous films and eventually culminating his skills to study Media Arts Production at the University of Technology Sydney.
Since then, he has produced several award-winning short films, music videos, and corporate content for major brands such as Google, directed his first feature film The Ferryman before he was 23 years old, and is currently working on Amazon Available to watch on Prime. Luke is also the writer and director of Screen Australia’s short web series Go Figure, which has garnered over 100,000 views across social. Passionate about telling meaningful stories that resonate with audiences, Luke’s second feature, The Undesirables, is currently in post-production.
Sally Alrich Smith
After studying Creative Writing at the University of Technology Sydney, Sally trained in musical theater at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in 2016, before returning there to complete her Master of Fine Arts ‘Writing for Performance’ in 2018 I did. Sally is currently a regular writer on Home and Away and previously worked as a senior storyliner. In 2023, Sally’s play Wavelength won the New York City New Play Award at the Australian Theater Festival, and was read in front of a sold-out audience on Theater Row in October of the same year. Her television pilot script, Dirty Road, received critical acclaim and was shortlisted for the 2021 Writers Guild of Australia Monte Miller Award, and is currently in development with CJZ Productions as an eight-part television series.
In 2021, Sally was the Australian Theater for Young People’s Fresh Ink Writers in Residence, where she also worked as a theater maker workshop educator and deviser. Her theatrical productions include The Stargazers Project (Periscope Productions/Melbourne Council of the Arts, 2020) and Homesick (The Old 505, 2019). Most recently, Sally completed a six-week professional screenplay development assignment as a Development and Acquisitions Intern at ScriptedInk and Studio Canal/StudioPlus.
Becky Bouchier
Becky is a Singaporean-Australian writer and director whose work explores the challenges faced by women, with a focus on mental health and gender roles. Becky was nominated for an Australian Writers Guild AWGIE Award and an Australian Directors Guild Award for her short film Snapshot, which had its world premiere at the Austin Film Festival. In 2022, she was a recipient of the SBS Emerging Writer Incubator and worked for 12 months as a staff writer at the production company Sweetshop and Green.
Becky’s dark comedy/drama pilot script Jelly was nominated for the AWG Emerging Writer Award. Her other two television pilot scripts, Blackout and Bad Timing, were invited to AWG’s prestigious Pathways Showcase, and her romantic comedy feature, Modern Day Romance, won the Monte Miller Award and the John Hinde Award. Nominated for both awards. In 2019, Becky made her first foray into theater, writing and directing the play Chasing Yesterday, which had a sold-out season at the Melbourne Fringe. Becky was selected for AWG’s Fast Break program and holds an MA in Film and Television (Narrative) from the Victorian College of the Arts.
Slade Camilleri
Slade Camilleri is a screenwriter and script editor from Melbourne, Australia. Slade, who completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Screenwriting) at Victoria College of the Arts in 2017, went on to work as a production assistant on a number of films, including Darklands and Speedway Murder. In early 2023, Slade was invited to relaunch Neighbors, where he spent a year as senior script coordinator before taking on his current role as apprentice script editor/storyliner and writer of six episodes. I’m here.
For more information, please visit the Screen Australia website.
