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Tarni James is Executive Producer of Entertainment for ABC Television, based in Melbourne. She has worked in the television industry for the past 30 years for all the Australian FTA networks, several cable channels, numerous independent production companies and the BBC as a journalist, producer, writer and director.  Tarni has created programming for arts, sport, current affairs, children’s, news, comedy, variety and documentary genres and has produced extensively in the field in Britain, USA, Africa, The Pacific, Europe and remote Australia.  Tarni currently oversees production of The New Spicks and Specks, Shaun Micallef’s Mad as Hell; RAW Comedy; Comedy Up Late and Dirty Laundry Live.

Her documentary series credits include Family Footsteps, ABC; The Naked Lentil, SBS; Jail Birds ABC;  the environmental series Carbon Cops ABC; and Grand Designs Australia series 1 Foxtel Lifestyle Channel. 

Jo Chichester is an Executive Producer in ABC TV Arts working across a range of programs including At The Movies, The Book Club, Jennifer Byrne Presents,  Exhumed and Sunday Arts Up Late.  Her documentary slate includes Outback Choir, Brilliant Creatures: Germaine, Clive, Barry & Bob, The Sharp Edge: The Art of Martin Sharp, Polly Borland: Polymorphous, George Gittoes: War Paint &  Robyn Beeche: A Life Exposed. Jo was Series Producer of Kitchen Cabinet with Annabel Crabb and has worked on a range of TV shows in arts, comedy and entertainment including Judith Lucy’s Spiritual Journey, Artscape, Art Nation, Memphis Trousers with HG & Roy and Mondo Thingo. Jo has also worked as a presenter/producer at triple j, 702 Sydney and Radio National, and was a film critic for Vogue Australia.

Mandy Chang is ABC TV's Arts Commissioning Editor. Since joining Mandy has Exec Produced several programs including The Art of Australia, Comic Book Heroes and The Dream of Perfection/Autopsy on a Dream plus the upcoming Hannah Gadsby’s Oz and Art & Soul II.

Mandy is an award-winning producer/director, has worked with a number of high profile presenters including art critic Robert Hughes and has a successful track record in developing projects from scratch and making visually arresting, intelligent films. Her feature doc The Mona Lisa Curse (Channel 4) won a Rose D’Or, Grierson and Emmy Award and The Camera that Changed the World (BBC) screened, at festivals worldwide. Before leaving the UK Mandy made a 3-part factual series for the BBC about brain surgeons and a documentary about British admen for Ridley Scott. Mandy is a regular judge for the Grierson, Emmy and London Film Festival Awards.

Phil Craig is an accomplished producer and writer. He progressed via British current affairs series 'World in Action' and 'Panorama' to produce a range of films and series including complex international co-productions. Mainstream hits like 'The Flight That Fought Back', 'Live Aid Remembered', 'Ocean of Fear', 'Geldof in Africa' and 'Catherine the Great'; primetime history such as 'Finest Hour', 'Churchill?s Darkest Decision' and 'Diana, Story of a Princess'; and the quirky nostalgia of 'Jackie Magazine' and 'Phantom of the Opera: Behind the Mask'. In Australia Phil has exec produced and co-written 'Skippy, Australia?s First Superstar', 'Great Escape: The Reckoning', 'Surviving Mumbai', 'Bomb Bali', 'The Secret History of Eurovision', 'Chateau Chunder' and the ABC?s upcoming 'Desert War'. Phil recently worked at Nutopia producing factual series including 'How We Invented the World', 'The 80s, the Decade That Made Us' and making specials including '911 State of Emergency', 'Adrift' and 'Targeting Bin Laden'.

Matt Scully was series producer of ABC Science flagship series Catalyst. He worked as producer/director with Film Australia in Canberra and Sydney, and as series producer for Channel Seven’s Better Homes and Gardens.

Through several leading production companies, he has produced a wide variety of reality, entertainment, ob doc and art programs including the BBC format 'Honey, We’re Killing the Kids', 'Joker Poker', 'Stuart McGill Uncorked', 'Lock ‘n’ Load' with R. Lee Ermey, and HG Nelson’s 'Bush Slam' which Matt conceived and developed for the ABC.

Director Andrea Ulbrick is a science specialist who has been working in the media for twenty-four years. A series director, series producer and writer, she was series producer on the new William McInnes birdwatching series 'Hello Birdy' to be screened on the ABC. Previously, she worked on Australia’s highest-rating show 'Australia’s Got Talent'. In 2010, Andrea completed a two-part, long-running, award-winning observational science series investigating child development for the ABC: The Life Series.

Anita was a newspaper journalist in the UK before moving into television where she spent 11 years making documentaries, Factual Entertainment and reality programmes for ITV, Channel  4, Sky and Channel 5. She has been in Australia for 7 years producing shows for the commercial networks before moving to the ABC as Commissioning Editor for Factual Entertainment 20 months ago. Programmes include Race to London, Wild Life at the Zoo on ABC1 as well as yet untx?d shows such as Croc College, Boomtown and Vet School and a new series for ABC2 entitled Head First.

Sophia Zachariou is currently Acting Head of Entertainment with ABC.  She has developed, managed and launched a number of extremely successful ABC TV programs across all genres of Entertainment and Comedy from studio based panel shows, observational documentary series, sketch comedy and game shows.

Some of Sophia’s career  highlights include ratings smash hits such as  Gruen Nation/Planet, Kitchen Cabinet, Hamster Decides, The Check Out, The Chaser’s War on Everything, Judith Lucy’s Spiritual Journey, Agony Uncles/Aunts, Elegant Gentleman’s Guide to Knife fighting, The Agony Of Life, Good Game, The Roast, Hungry Beast, At the Movies, The Book Club and  Next Stop Hollywood.

In 2010 Dena joined the ABC taking up the role of Series Producer for Message Stick. in 2011 she commence her current role as a Commissioning Editor for the Indigenous Department. In 2002 she completed the AFTRS Television Editing course. Dena returned to CAAMA Productions, where some of her editing credits include Rosalie?s Journey, Lore of Love and Cheeky Dog, a documentary in which she also directed. In 2008 Dena wrote/directed Hush, a which won the audience award for Best Foreign Short Film at the 2008 Films de Femmes, Créteil France. In 2009 Dena premiered Jacob, which short won the Gold Shorts at the Adelaide Short Film Festival and Best Narrative Short at the Harlem Film Festival. Attending AIDC on behalf of the Indigenous Department, she is seeking film makers with potiential projects for development and commission.

Jacinta completed a Bachelor of Commerce at The University of Melbourne majoring in Marketing and Management. During this time she undertook a traineeship at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu in the Risk Services Department and an internship at DDB Advertising in Hong Kong. It was during her University studies she realised her passion for marketing, advertising and sales and began her media career at ACP Magazines (Bauer Media). Here, Jacinta worked in the Mediabrands agency team as a Sales Coordinator. Within her exciting new role at activeTV, Jacinta is responsible for generating and implementing sponsorships for productions and continually developing business strategies.

Kay is a highly accomplished General Manager and Executive Producer with an exceptional track record of delivering successful productions. Kay has a demonstrated ability to forge and sustain relationships with the Australian and international industry to optimise opportunities and secure finance for projects. Kay's track record of success in negotiating deals which deliver substantial benefits to all parties by understanding requirements and expectations and devising innovative structures and approaches is second to none.

Amanda is Director/CEO of Adelaide Film Festival and CEO of the Adelaide Festival of Ideas. 

We are currently looking for projects for 2015 AFF Investment Fund (AFFIF) - check site for details and happy to heaer of projects in pre or post. www.adealaidefilmfestival.org  

Ruari has worked with distributor Gil Scrine Films since 2009 including the company's evolution into Antidote Films. This work included acquisitions for the VoD platform beamafilm and the not-for-profit theatrical distributor, Cinema Ventures.  With a focus on documentary and the education market Ruari now consults in acquisition/distribution for Antidote Films and others while completing his PhD at the ARC Centre of Excellence in Creative Industries and Innovation at the Queensland University of Technology. 

Cecilia joined Aquarius Films from Matchbox Pictures in late 2013. At Matchbox she series produced Next Stop Hollywood, a six part series for ABC1 following young Aussie actors to LA for pilot season, and associate produced the political doc Leaky Boat for Penny Chapman. She also coordinated business affairs on the high profile ABC1 dramas The Slap and The Straits. Prior to Matchbox Cecilia produced the critically acclaimed ABC1 single Searching 4 Sandeep, which premiered internationally at Hot Docs 2008 and has sold to broadcasters all over the world.

Polly Staniford is an award-winning producer, writer and director and co-founder of film and TV production company Aquarius Films. Most recently she wrote an episode of the ABC3 children's drama 'Nowhere Boys' and directed the half hour documentary Brain as part of season 4 of ABC1's acclaimed Anatomy series. Brain profiles painter Jamie Daddo and his relationship with his identical twin brother, TV presenter Andrew Daddo. Prior to setting up Aquarius Films, Polly spent three years working as an in-house producer at Matchbox Pictures where she collaborated on a number of film and television projects with award-winning producers Tony Ayres and Michael McMahon, with whom she produced Miss South Sudan Australia and Season 2 of Anatomy She is currently developing a number of feature films, TV drama and factual projects.

Kingston is a graduate of the University of NSW, National Institute of Dramatic Art and the Australian Film Television & Radio School. He has directed in theatre and produced numerous documentaries and a TV movie. He's worked in policy and production for many years including as Film Commissioner for NSW and the Manager of the Production Liaison Unit for the NSW Film & Television Office (now Screen NSW)

Harriet is a Senior Producer at Canberra based production Company Bearcage. She joined the Company in 2011 following on from five years experience working as a distributor and producer at Ronin Films where she had responsibility for acquisitions, business development and documentary production. Harriet has a Bachelor of Business from Griffith University and a Masters of Liberal Arts from the Australian National University. In her role as producer, completed documentary projects from her time at Ronin Films include Chinese Australian co-production Across the Plateau (Adelaide Film Festival 2009), The Chifleys of Busby Street (Brisbane International Film Festival 2008) and Emily In Japan (2009, ABC). Since joining Bearcage Harriet has worked as producer on Who We Are In Sport (2012, Bio Channel), Building Australia (2013, History Channel) and The Boffin, the Builder and the Bombardier (2013, ABC).

Managing Director and co-founder of Bearcage, Michael's credits as Producer and Executive Producer encompass award winning television, government and commercial productions. His notable projects, both one-offs and series, include Building Australia (2013, History Channel), The Boffin, the Builder and the Bombardier (2013, ABC), The Story of Australia (2013, CCTV9), New Zealand From Above (2012, ZDF/ARTE, National Geographic, Prime TV), The Digger (Gold Dolphin at the Cannes Film and Television Awards), Blessed Mary: A Saint for All Australians (2010, History Channel), For Valour (2009, History Channel), and The Strong Men of Nguiu (2007, ABC Television). Michael serves as Chair of the ScreenACT Advisory Board, is a former member of the ACT Cultural Council, and has recently been appointed to the Federal Government's Creative Industry Innovation Centre.

Serge is Creative Director and co-founder of Bearcage.  He was born in Geneva with parents of French, Armenian, Chinese and Russian background; he was educated in the United States before settling in Australia.

Serge has a diverse and successful career as a director and has received many awards for his work.  Most recently, Serge completed the award winning feature documentary The Digger ? A History. Other projects include Blessed Mary and For Valour, both of which were the History Channels highest rating programs in their year of broadcast and the $1.5m multi-media theatre experience Circa for the National Museum of Australia.  As a drama director, his work includes many award winning shorts including Shockwaves (2008) which was selected in Official Competition in the Tampere, Boston, St Kilda and Revelations International Film Festivals and was nominated for 4 awards including best film and best director at the St Kilda Film Festival.

Ron Saunders has been active in film and television production for over 30 years as a writer, director, producer and executive producer. He has worked in Senior Management at the South Australian Film Corporation, Film Australia, Southern Star and Yoram Gross-EM before becoming Head of Television at the ABC. Ron is currently General Manager of Beyond Screen Production which has produced a range of specialist and popular factual programming, including Outback Kids, The Science of Self Harm, and Whitlam: the Power & the Passion. He has an extensive track record in children's programmes and animation, including Milly Molly, Spellbinder, Johnson and Friends, Backyard Science, Quest, LabRats Challenge, Toybox and Pipsqueaks. Ron has been involved in co-productions with Singapore, China, Canada, Poland, Japan, the Philippines and Germany. His latest project has been a co-production in China of Hoopla Doopla, a new children's programme for the ABC.

Harry Bardwell is a WA-based executive producer, producer, funder, broadcaster, and documentary maker. He is the principal of Bardwell Media, and executive producer and manager of Beyond West. Following his success with breakthrough documentary Backs to the Blast Harry joined joined ABCTV Science in Sydney in 1983. He subsequently held positions as a factual and documentary producer, commissioning editor, Supervising Producer/EP Four Corners and head of international news production. In 2005 Harry joined ScreenWest where he was responsible for funding the production and development of programs for film, television and digital media production. With Beyond West Harry seeks co-production opportunities with producers wishing to work in WA.

Russell Vines is the founder of Zinc Finger Films. Over the last fifteen years he has either produced and/or directed over 40 hours of television across a wide range of genres including documentaries, factual formats and drama. Recent highlights include producing the critically acclaimed tele-movie, The Great Mint Swindle for the Nine Network, directing the AACTA award winning documentary series Search for Warriors about the SAS regiment and series directing National Geographic's Life On The Edge, a circumnavigation of Australia by land, sea and submarine. Russell is currently directing a documentary for the ABC about the horses and the men of Australia's legendary Light Horse, during WWI.

Wayne Denning is the owner and managing director of Carbon Media, based in Brisbane, Australia. Wayne established Carbon Media in 2006 and has overseen the production, as executive producer, of many television programs and series. Wayne's recent productions include 5 Kangaroos for Sesame Workshop, Handball Heroes for ABC3, children's game shows Go Lingo! and Letterbox for NITV and ABC3, documentaries Intune, Blacktracks, From the Ashes and ProppaNOW. The multiplatform of ground breaking documentary series First Footprints for the ABC. Wayne currently sits on the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia Board, the Brisbane Writers Festival Board and is the Chair of the Brisbane Festivals Indigenous Advisory Group.

Producer and production guru Joany Sze is a thunderbolt of energy, efficiency and excellence. A logistical nerd at heart, she has managed a dozen shoots in parallel across multiple time zones without even breaking into a sweat. Joany admits that she possibly landed her first TV job in London only because the other guy got drunk at the interview. Since then she has produced countless live action, animation, music and travel TV shows, turned a platoon of writers into filmmakers and sent them into Africa on bicycles, and produced a mountain of short-form content for multi-platform entertainment and corporate partners. She founded Chemical Media in 2011 with David Collins and Tony Jackson.

Tony Jackson has spent more than 25 years making television, earning his first stripes and frequent flyer miles at the BBC before eventually becoming Executive Producer and Head of Production at Lonely Planet Television. After building his reputation and risking his gonads making docos of career criminals in the East End of London, Tony made his first splash in Australia by spending four months deep in a NSW rainforest armed with several kilometres of internet cabling to make 48 episodes of an interactive reality TV show for UK network Channel Four. He went on to secure one of the best jobs in the world, travelling the globe directing and producing much of Lonely Planet's television output for the next decade. He founded Chemical Media in 2011 with his colleagues David Collins and Joany Sze.

Producer Katy Morrison meandered into factual storytelling via a research degree in history and a minor in medical microbiology - a combination that had nothing to do with film-making and everything to do with the forensic pathologist detective shows that her mother liked to watch on the ABC on a Saturday night. After flexing her muscles with a human rights organisations in South America and moonlighting as a travel writer in Buenos Aires, she has since worked on over 30 hours of broadcast television. Her passion for experimenting with new ways of telling stories has led Katy to working on films about virtual worlds, iPhone docos utilizing Augmented Reality and producing interactive documentaries.