Building a Slate you Believe in

In this online talk, Script to Screen invited Australian powerhouse creatives – showrunner/screenwriter/director/producer Tony Ayres (Stateless, The Slap, The Home Song Stories) and producer Kristina Ceyton (The Nightingale, The Babadook) to discuss Building a Slate You Believe In with moderator Karin Williams.

Despite the pandemic impacting screen production, distribution and exhibition, the development process for screen projects is able to continue and in some cases thrive. In this TALK, the panel will delve into curating the talent you work with and how to decide which projects to work on.

Now more than ever a captive audience demands engaging content. Tony Ayres and Kristina Ceyton’s feature films and television series demonstrate each of their abilities to produce projects that please both audiences and critics.

Tony is well known for creating some of Australia’s most revered film and television drama including The Home Song Stories, Nowhere Boys, The Slap, Glitch and most recently Stateless – created and executive produced with Cate Blanchett and Elise McCredie. Stateless is a series about the people caught up in Australia’s immigration system, it premiered at Berlinale this year and Netflix acquired global rights (release date soon to be announced).

Kristina’s most recent films, allegorical thriller The Babadook, historical thriller The Nightingale (both directed by Jennifer Kent) and Buoyancy (dir. Rodd Rathjen) about 14-year-old Chakra who is sold as slave labour to the captain of a Thai fishing vessel, all deal with challenging subject matter and have gone on to be award-winning films.