Melissa Lee Speyer
Genres: Comedy (especially dramedy and rom-com), Science Fiction, Horror, Mystery, Thriller and stories written about and from within historically underrepresented groups, including intersectional work. Most formats accepted: TV, feature films, direct-to-audience and theatre projects, whether authored, postdramatic or collaboratively devised.
Melissa is a screenwriter, playwright and experienced developer and script editor who has worked as a Development Executive at Screen Australia and for an independent production company. She has a variety of screenwriting credits in children’s television and TV drama and her short films have screened at Flickerfest and Sydney Film Festival, including Jadai: The Broome Brawler which won the 2018 Lexus Fellowship. Plays include TickTickBoom (The Actors Pulse) which won the 2015 Silver Gull Play Award.
Alexa Wyatt
Genres: All genres for feature films, television and plays
Alexa is a script producer, series creator, writer, editor and story consultant totalling over a thousand hours of Australian drama including Janet King, Rescue Special Ops, All Saints, McLeod’s Daughters, Water Rats, Heartbreak High, Police Rescue, etc. She wrote top ten Netflix series Mako Mermaids and The Bureau of Magical Things, also Nina and Olga for RAI TV. She is writing a biopic for Mushroom Studios and is co-writing a psychological horror feature funded by Screen Canberra. She has two series optioned by Beyond Entertainment and is writer/script producer on a dramedy optioned by Easy Tiger. She is script producing a First Nations’ series developed and funded by SAFC and has developed a sci-fi series with Lina Foti of Kreiworks and Dan Curry, VFX designer for Star Trek. She is the recipient of a Distinctly Australian Script Editing Fellowship, has worked as a script editor on numerous feature film projects, and as a script assessor for Screen Tasmania, the South Australian Film Corporation and the Australian Writers’ Guild. She has run numerous seminars on writing for Screenworks and is a tutor for dramatic writing at NIDA. She is also a playwright with productions at the Adelaide Fringe Festival, the Stables Theatre, Sydney, Melbourne Writer’s Festival, Bridewell Theatre, London and Northern Light Theatre Company, Canada in January 2021.
Chelsea Cassio
Genres: Television, feature film, short form series, drama, science-fiction, horror, mystery, and crime.
After graduating from film school, Chelsea sold her first short film, Imaginary Friend, to ABC (Australia), which aired over a three-year period. She has since written for shows such as The Doctor Blake Mysteries (December Media/ABC/BBC), Secret Bridesmaids Business (7 Network/Channel 4) and Miss Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries (7 Network/Acorn TV). In 2019, Chelsea’s crime series Cloak received significant draft development funding from Victoria Screen, where she worked extensively with her future producer Simon Mirren (Versailles, Criminal Minds). Chelsea now has several original television concepts, all in active development with Easy Tiger (Australia), Atlantic Nomad (USA), Mediawan (France) and Federation Entertainment (France). In 2020, she was invited to join the Imagine Impact community – a global content accelerator program launched by Ron Howard and Brian Grazer. In 2022, she was selected to pitch her original drama concept on stage at Series Mania in Lille, France. In other story roles, Chelsea has worked as a lecturer for RMIT’s Advanced Diploma in Screenwriting, as a Development Script Producer at Network Seven, as a script reader for the Script Writer’s Network in Los Angeles, and as an industry assessor and mentor for Victoria Screen, Screen Australia (Gender Matters), Australian Writers’ Guild and Writers Victoria.
Chryssy Tintner
Genres: Drama, western, rom-com, musicals, diversity stories
Chryssy Tintner is a screenwriter, development executive, script editor and script assessor. Following her Master of Film Arts (Motion Picture) at USC, Chryssy worked in LA, Europe and Australia, with William Morris Endeavour, Thompson Street Pictures at 20th Century Fox, Such Much Films, Metropolitan/ World 2000 at Ardmore Studios in Ireland, and as a freelancer for production companies from her services company Entertainment Brewery Pty Ltd. Chryssy is writing two screenplays on commission and completes script assessment work for the Australian Writers’ Guild, Script Central and film funding bodies. She is repped by Mary-Ann Vale at BMEG.
Donna Abela
Genres: All genres for stage and audio works, stories from culturally diverse or marginalised communities
Donna has written award-winning scripts for audiences of all ages. Her works have won four AWGIE Awards for Stage and Radio, the Griffin Playwriting Prize, the Human Rights Award for Drama, and been nominated for the AWGIE Award for Children’s Theatre, the NSW Premiers Literary Awards Multicultural Prize, and the UK’s Newham Lesbian and Gay Writing Out Awards. Her plays for young people include two touring shows written for Kim Carpenter’s Theatre of Image – Monkey: Journey to the West and Tales From The Arabian Nights. Recent work includes Golden Joinery, an essay on trauma-informed creative practice (Sydney Review of Books), and the audio documentary Missing Magdalens (ABC Radio National). Donna also has extensive experience in script development. She has worked as a script assessor, dramaturge and mentor for theatre companies and script development agencies such as the Australian National Playwrights’ Centre, Playworks Women Performance Writers Network, and Playwriting Australia. Since writing her first play for PYT Fairfield (aka Powerhouse Youth Theatre), a company she co-founded in the culturally diverse heartland of Western Sydney, Donna has been committed to the development of culturally diverse writers and stories, and is an advocate for diverse representation, stories, forms, and development models. She studied at UTS, NIDA, UNSW, and at UoW where she completed a doctoral thesis entitled Dialogic Interplay: a Strategy for Representing Difference and Cultural Diversity on Stage. She teaches at Excelsia College and NIDA, and designed and delivers the National Theatre of Parramatta’s year-long Page to Stage playwrighting course.
Emma J. Steele
Genres: All genres for feature films and television.
Emma has over a thousand hours of Australian TV drama credits and experience as creator, consulting producer, script producer, supervising script editor, script editor, story consultant, story editor and writer. Her credits include the 2024 Daytime Emmy nominated Neighbours (Amazon Prime). She was the sole script editor on the multi-award nominated and winning first series Wentworth (Netflix), including writing the first season’s finale. She was the story editor and script editor for the second season of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries (Netflix). Emma has optioned a 1hr horror series to a US producer, developed TV series in the US, Australia and New Zealand for production companies, broadcast networks, cable and streamers and is developing a horror feature for a US studio. Emma has been a guest lecturer for the Advanced Diploma of Screenwriting RMIT, a script assessor for Roadmap Writers (US) and has been nominated twice for an Australian Writers Guild award.
Greg Woodland
Genres: Drama, crime, rom-com, war, sci-fi.
Greg Woodland has been a script editor or script assessor and consultant for all Australian film funding bodies and the AWG since 1998, assessing over 1000 feature scripts. A directing graduate of AFTRS, Greg’s award-winning films and documentaries have screened nationally and internationally at over 60 film festivals and many TV stations. Greg has been a judge for several film festivals including Sydney Film Festival and the AWGIE Awards. His screenplays have won many awards including the Inscription Open Script Award, a Varuna Writers Fellowship and AWGIE Award. He has taught scriptwriting at UTS, NIDA, Metro Screen, and other Sydney film schools. His script editing credits comprise many genre and drama feature scripts including The Bet, Needle, Cold Turkey, and several Project Greenlight and Monte Miller Award finalists.
Holly Alexander
Genres: Relationship dramas and comedies, crime/thriller and children’s/family content across film and television
Holly Alexander is an AWGIE-nominated scriptwriter with more than 15 years’ experience in scripted television. An in-demand writer, story consultant and script editor, she has worked across numerous formats including one-hour drama, half-hour serial, and kids’ TV (factual and scripted). Recently, Holly was script editor, writer and story consultant on Rock Island Mysteries, a half-hour live action kids’ show for Paramount+. Prior to that, Holly was development script producer on a one-hour family drama with Lonestar Production Group. For many years, she wrote for iconic Australian soap Neighbours, on which she also worked as a storyliner, script editor and supervising script editor. Previously, Holly was a Development Executive at the Australian Children’s Television Foundation where she provided guidance and feedback on shows including Crazy Fun Park, Hardball, Little J & Big Cuz, First Day, Are You Tougher Than Your Ancestors and Space Nova from early development through to production. She has worked in the script departments of high-rating dramas including City Homicide, Rush and The Time Of Our Lives and contributed to writers’ rooms for Seven Studios, Fremantle Media and Matchbox. Holly’s own projects have received development funding from VicScreen and she was selected for a writer’s placement with Carver Films through VicScreen’s Key Talent Register. Trained in the fast-paced world of procedurals and soap, Holly knows what makes a good story. Her exciting slate of original work includes family feature films, half-hour and one-hour adult drama series, all of which are driven by Holly’s passion for exploring unconventional characters and narratives with authenticity and heart.
Lachlan Philpott
Genres: New forms and non-linear structures, character driven writing, queer writing, theatre for young audiences [ages 6-26] and plays that bear witness to history (especially if they provide a new or different perspective).
Lachlan has worked extensively as a dramaturg and teacher at theatre companies, schools and festivals. He is a proudly queer writer and dog person. Lachlan is a writer of plays, lyrics, screen and TV. Some of his plays include Bison, Bustown and Cake Daddy plus many more. Lachlan’s plays have been performed across Australia and internationally including at: Sydney Theatre Company, The Lark New York, Sydney’s Mardi Gras Festival, Hothouse Theatre, Australian Theatre for Young People and many others. In 2013 he was awarded an Australia Council Cultural Leadership grant to study new play development models in several countries and an Australia Council Keesing Literature Residency in Paris in 2016-17 and in 2018. Lachlan was the inaugural Australian Professional Playwright Fulbright Scholar and Chair of the Australian Writers’ Guild Playwrights’ Committee between 2012 and 2015.
Mark O’Toole
Genres: Comedy, Narrative Comedy, Comedy Drama/Dramedy, Sketch, Satire, Children’s Live-Action and Animation (C Classification), Feature Film and Entertainment
Known for his versatility across sketch, narrative comedy, entertainment and children’s TV, Mark O’Toole is an AWGIE Award-winning screenwriter who has written, script-produced, or executive-produced over 400 episodes of broadcast television alongside two produced feature films (Take Away and You And Your Stupid Mate). His television career spans from writing on Full Frontal and Spicks and Specks to co-writing the AACTA-winning John Safran vs God (SBS) and co-creating and producing four series of the groundbreaking, AACTA-nominated Black Comedy (ABC). Mark co-created the comedy series Retrograde (ABC) and has lent his expertise to hit series including Squinters (ABC), Preppers (ABC), Sando (ABC), and The Unusual Suspects (SBS). In the children’s space he has served as writer, script producer, and executive producer on landmark series including Thalu (ABC/NITV), Wildlifers! (ABC), and Eddie’s Lil’ Homies (Netflix/NITV), as well as head writer and series producer on the iconic kids sketch comedy show You’re Skitting Me (ABC). Mark offers a rare script-to-screen perspective. Having run dozens of writer’s rooms and developed a wealth of new talent, he specializes in identifying and honing the writer’s unique voice, optimising comedic story engines, finding the comedy in the dramedy space, and providing feedback aimed at getting scripts production-ready.
Margaret Davis
Genres: Play scripts, physical theatre, musicals, and multi-form projects
Margaret Davis is a writer for both theatre and film. She has had extensive experience as a theatre director, in mainstage and independent companies including premiere productions of seminal Australian plays. As a writer she has won numerous awards, fellowships, and commissions for her own works, which include main stage, physical theatre and plays for young audiences. She has lectured at the University of Western Sydney, University of Wollongong, NIDA and for ten years in the BA in Performance at AIMDA. She is currently completing Lookout/Look Out! the third work in a trilogy of collaborative works with fellow writers, performers, visual and video artists in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney and completing her latest work for stage. Margaret has broad experience as a script assessor and dramaturg and completed the inaugural Script Assessment Training Program with AWG and AFTRS.
Mary Rachel Brown
Genres: Character-driven narrative, linear narrative, comedy and drama, scripts with political themes, theatre for young people (16 to 25), pitch documents.
A dramaturg and script assessor, Mary has worked for many leading theatre companies, including Griffin Theatre, Canberra Youth Theatre, Merrigong, Australian Theatre for Young People and Hot House Company. Mary has an Associate Diploma in Performing Arts and is the recipient of many National Playwriting Awards. Her most recent work was writing for the 2020 Sydney Festival production of Betty Blokk Buster Reimagined for Redline. Mary’s most notable work is The Dapto Chaser which was commissioned and developed by Merrigong and reproduced by Apocalypse Theatre for Griffin Independent, Glen Street Theatre and Hothouse. Australian Theatre Live’s filmed version of the production was screened at Dendy Cinemas and on ABC iView. Mary’s TV credits include sketch writing for The Elegant Gentleman’s Guide to Knife Fighting for ABC and several episodes of Home and Away for the Seven Network.
Max Conroy
Genres: TV and feature film, drama, action/adventure, comedy, thriller/mystery, horror, sci-fi, historical
Max is an experienced screenwriter with a passion for film and television. Recently, he wrote on multiple seasons of the popular drama series, Wentworth. He has also worked as a script editor on a diverse range of programs, including the drama series Wentworth, murder mystery Mr. & Mrs. Murder and kids sci-fi Nowhere Boys. Apart from developing projects for the big and small screens, Max assesses scripts for the U.S. screenwriting competition, The Page Awards, and enjoys providing incisive, actionable feedback to writers on their film and TV scripts.
Michele Lee
Genres: Comedy, stories about women, narrative-based and character-driven work, writing from people of colour.
Michele Lee is an Asian Australian artist, of Hmong background. She works across theatre, live art and screen while also mentoring younger writers through the city of Melbourne’s Australian Theatre for Young People. Michele’s work has gone on to win numerous awards, including the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award and AWGIE Award for her play Rice. She also received five nominations at the Green Room Awards for her play Going Down and was one of four winners in AWG / Audible’s On Air Podcast Writing Competition for her script How Do I Let You Die.
Nicholas O’Hara-Boyd
Genres: Feature films, TV, plays, comedies, drama, romance, and thrillers
After graduating with a Bachelor of Film and Television from Bond University, Nicholas was commissioned to write a romantic-comedy screenplay for a Chinese production company. He has since provided coverage and script analysis for production and distribution companies in the UK and USA, as well as an array of independent producers and writers. He is currently developing two feature films.
Rachel Laverty
Genres: Thriller, Crime, Science Fiction, Social Satire, Dramedy, Children’s Television (C Classification)
Rachel Laverty is a screen industry creative with 15 years’ experience in television and film; the last 8 years working in scripted development. Rachel’s credits include Writer and Script Editor on Netflix ANZ’s Wellmania, Writer on Nickelodeon UK’s Rock Island Mysteries and Script Editor on Netflix ANZ’s Heartbreak High. Rachel also worked in-house for several years on Home & Away as Writer, Story Associate and Script Editor. In recognition of Rachel’s work, she was selected as one of only 18 writers for the Netflix ANZ Grow Creative Writers Lab in 2022, supported by AiF. She was also shortlisted for the AWG John Hinde Award for excellence in Science Fiction writing in both 2024 and 2025. Rachel has helped develop and write dramedies, thrillers, kids and crime projects for production companies throughout Australia. She has also worked in script departments and on sets across a diverse slate of produced television and features. Rachel has tackled development notes from big streamers like Netflix, from international executives, from Producers. Rachel understands how to tighten, clarify and elevate a script to stand out from the crowd. She is also passionate about helping bring bold stories that challenge the status quo to life.
Ross Mueller
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Dramedy, thriller/mystery, TV, audio and play scripts
Ross Mueller is an established Australian writer. In 2002 Mueller won the Australian playwright’s position at the prestigious International Residency of the Royal Court Theatre in London. In 2009 he was the winner of the New York New Dramatists Playwright exchange in New York City. In 2020 he was the winner of the Georgi Markov Award as part of the BBC International Audio Drama Prize. His plays have been performed at Sydney Theatre Company, Melbourne Theatre Company, Malthouse, Griffin and Hothouse. In 2022 his comedy, A Simple Act of Kindness premiered to rave reviews at Red Stitch Actors Theatre and was nominated for most Outstanding New Writing in the Victorian Green Awards. He has created content for audio and radio and he has written about politics, arts and sports as a freelancer for Arts Hub, Crikey and News Corp. He holds a Master in Writing For Performance from VCA and he has worked as a teacher, tutor and assessor in the tertiary education sector and been a guest lecturer at University of Melbourne, VCA. He is the co-founder and other half of Pelican Nation. He is represented by Sharne McGee at Liberty Management. Current original television projects include: Theory of Structures: Archipelago Productions [dramedy series]. Troubled Youth: Northern Pictures [comedy series]. LOVE.CHAOS.THEORY: Princess Pictures [dramedy]
Serhat Caradee
Genres: Drama, thriller, horror, romance, comedy, sci-fi and romantic comedies
An award-winning Australian writer and director, Serhat’s films have screened at over 50 local and international film festivals, winning numerous prizes and awards. He recently co-wrote, directed, and produced the feature film A Lion Returns. His first feature Cedar Boys, won the Audience Award at the 56th Sydney International Film Festival, screened at 5 international film festivals and garnered many nominations and accolades in Australia, including AWG, ADG, IF and AFI (AACTA) nominations for Best Original Screenplay. Serhat also comes from an extensive background in theatre, drama and performing arts studies. His vast array and experience covers all aspects of working on stage, TV and film as a writer, script editor and story consultant.