Creative Team
Writer and Director - Kate Lefoe
Kate Lefoe is an award-winning international filmmaker. She has won awards for direction, editing and sound for her films which have screened at Academy-accredited festivals internationally, with several shorts being distributed online and DVD. Supported by an Ian Potter Grant, Somersault Pike, her Victorian College of the Arts (VCA), Masters graduate film, which she wrote, directed and edited, screened in the Melbourne International Film Festival Accelerator Program, won Best Editing at Flickerfest Film Festival and scooped up several more awards for sound design, editing and direction. Released as a Vimeo Staff Pick in 2018, it was viewed 32,000 times in the first week. Kate won Best Emerging Talent at Queer Screen in 2012 for her first short film Under Pressure. Highlights of the last few years include being awarded a place in the Midsumma Future Queer Artist Program, completing a mentorship with Film and TV director Glendyn Ivin, travelling to the Amazon jungle for a filmmaking workshop with Werner Herzog and winning the Sydney Road Film Festival. In 2019, she was awarded a Moreland Council Writers Residency to develop Wicked Women. Kate’s queer short Plunge screened at 45 international festivals, scooping up a handful of awards and is distributed by Peccadillo Pictures. It was released online through One More Lesbian and has been viewed 450,000 times since June 2019. In July, Kate was accepted into the Victorian LGBTIQ Leadership Program 2020.
Producer - Hayley Adams
Hayley Adams was a 2021 Screen Forever Ones to Watch. She produced and directed Love Songs, the world’s first narrative series for TikTok. With 21 x 1 minute episodes, the series has amassed over 12 million views, with Season 2 being released in partnership with Tinder. After the success of Love Songs, Hayley received development and production funding from Screen Australia for the next TikTok series, Scattered (38 x 1 minute). Scattered (2021) follows Wil’s three best friends waking up the morning after his funeral to realise they've lost his ashes and must find them before the day’s up.
She has been supported by Screen Australia and Film Victoria across a slate of projects, currently in development. Outside of web series, Hayley produces video content at Balloon Tree Productions. She recently produced the MIFF Accelerator 2019 and Flickerfest 2020 short film 'There’s a Mobster Under My Bed!', with company director Matthew Smolen.
Producer - Andrew Blogg
Andrew Blogg is a screenwriter, film director, producer and academic. With a film career spanning 20 years, his works have screened both nationally and internationally. In 2015, his documentary feature, "CAMP 32", premiered at the Cambodian International Film Festival. His recent short film, "POOFTA" won the Geelong Pride Film Festival LGBTIAQ+ Screenplay prize. "POOFTA" was inspired by debate that erupted during the marriage equality plebiscite in Australia. The film has screened at numerous festivals, winning awards for direction and performance. Following "POOFTA" comes "DAMAGED," a captivating 6-part web series exploring the lives of three main protagonists. "DAMAGED" is set to stream on OutTV in late 2024. Andrew currently teaches at the School of Film and Television, Victorian College of the Arts.
Story Producer & Writer - Grant Scicluna
Grant Scicluna is the award-winning writer and director of Downriver, a mystery starring Kerry Fox, which was selected for the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival ahead of its release in Australian and US Cinemas in 2016, and on streaming services throughout Europe and Asia. Grant’s follow up project, Pig’s Blood, is a gangster romance to be shot in Naples and Sydney. His film Chantou, a Cambodian drama, is in final stages of financing. Grant’s short films include The Wilding, which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival, and won the world’s largest queer film price, the Iris. Neon Skin won the NFSA Award for Best Queer Australian Short 2011. Grant recently directed the VR experience 30 minutes of danger and writes and contributes on various TV shows in development.
Writer - Gina
Lambropoulos
Gina is Melbourne-based screenwriter and community broadcaster on JOY 94.9. Her feature script That Time of the Year (aka The Princess and the Bear) won the 2016 AWG Open Channel New Writer’s Script Competition. It’s currently in development with Matthewswood Productions and has received development support from Screen Australia and Film Victoria. It was performed as a live script reading at the 2019 MIFF 37ºSouth Market. In 2019 Gina was selected to take part in Screen Australia’s Developing the Developer workshop with the aim of diversifying the pool of professional fiction developers developing Australian stories for the screen. In 2019, she was selected for the Cinespace Diversity Writer’s Room program. This simulated television writers' room, led by showrunner Jane Allen, aimed to develop skills in show plotting, and to learn how to work collaboratively within a television writers' room environment. Gina also participated in Talent Camp, a diversity and inclusion initiative supported by Film Victoria, AFTRS and Screen Australia.
Writer - Oliver Ross
A writer, designer and producer who has worked across 70 projects in film and theatre, Ross has served on boards and committees with the MEAA, Union House Theatre, Transgender Victoria, Ruby Theatre Company, University of Melbourne and the Equity Diversity Committee. Focusing on dramaturgy and creative development, he has worked as a rough cut consultant with Arenamedia on upcoming feature The Dry, and runs the reviewing website Shakespeare Oz. Ross is currently working as producer for Melbourne’s tilde Trans and Gender Diverse Film Festival. He also works as a project coordinator for Transgender Victoria as part of the Peer Support Program team run in collaboration with the Department of Premier and Cabinet. Oliver was selected for the 2019 Screen Australia’s Developing the Developer workshops, including a mentorship with Julie Kacleff (Starting from Now, First Day).
Consultants
Story Developer - Louise Gough
Louise Gough consulted with our team in the early stage of story development in 2021.
Louise Gough currently works as an Executive Producer at Picking Scabs, See-Saw Films’ and writer/showrunner Samantha Strauss’ joint venture, after leaving her role of Head of Development at Screen Australia. Throughout her career, Louise has worked on projects across Australia, New Zealand, the US and Europe. Most recently Louise was Executive Producer and CEO at Australian Plays Transform. Prior to this she was Head of Development at Arenamedia, overseeing a broad slate of projects from script to screen, including The Dry, and working with high calibre and robust creatives. Louise was Editorial Manager at ABC TV Drama and Narrative Comedy seeing a number of projects in the pipeline from idea to audience, Script Manager at Film Victoria managing a slate and initiatives with a budget of $1.5 million annually, and was in the development team at Madman Production Company across a slate of projects into production. She previously held the role of Development Executive (Story) at Screen Australia where she oversaw the selection, development and production of a significant slate of works, and also conceived, designed and delivered the initiative Developing the Developer. For the last 10 years, Louise has also worked as a script advisor with Sources 2 in Europe, and has worked as an Advisor at the Berlinale Talent Campus Script Station. Through freelance development work Louise’s engagements recently included development work with companies including Matchbox, Screen Australia, Roadshow, Felix Media, Easy Tiger, Fremantle, Hoodlum and Blackfella Films.
Script Editor - Jane Allen
Jane Allen worked with the team in the final stages of development in 2023.
A former lawyer, Jane was co-executive producer and writer on In Our Blood (Hoodlum Entertainment), a musical drama about Australia’s response to AIDS in the 1980s, for the ABC, nominated for Most Outstanding Drama, 2023 Logie Awards. She also produced and was the lead writer for the award winning ABC legal drama, Janet King – the first Australian primetime drama to have a lesbian lead character. Janet King was a spinoff of prosecution drama Crownies, on which Jane produced and led the writing team. She was also a writer and producer on the Indigenous sci-fi ABC series Cleverman.
“I was so pleased to be asked to consult on this project. Wicked Women (both the magazine and the competition) is a vital part of our queer heritage, and it’s so important that our history is kept alive. The team was a complete delight to work with. As someone who was out and about on the queer scene at this time, I can also vouch for its authenticity. The whole process was a joy, and I don’t mind admitting I was moved to tears.” Jane Allen 2023
