Natalie Miller Fellowship 2015 Q&A: Making Good Business Sense
Date and time
Location
ACMI
The Cube Federation Square Melbourne, VIC 3000 AustraliaDescription
Making Good Business Sense: The cultural and business case for more women leaders in the Australian screen industry.
The research is in. The problem has been identified. Now it is time to address the implications of the serious under-representation of women in leadership roles in most business and key creative sectors of the Australian screen industry. It is clear that greater gender diversity would deliver cultural benefits, but does it also make good business sense to have more women deciding what content is made and what audiences see on their screens?
These speakers have all worked at the coalface of addressing this very issue and their insights will reveal the current status and more importantly, offer thoughts about what can be done in the future to redress the imbalance.
Speakers
Media entrepreneur, company director and philanthropist Deanne Weir has more than 20 years’ experience in media and communications. Deanne chairs the boards of four private companies including Hoodlum, a BAFTA and Emmy award winning production company, and Ai-Media, a global innovator in speech-to-text services for broadcast and education. Deanne is Deputy Chair of Screen Australia and a board member of both the Australian Women Donors Network and Playwriting Australia. In her chapter ‘Women in Film and Television’ for Lumina, Issue #14 (May 2015), she outlines the latest data surveyed by Screen Australia on Australian women working in film.
Mike Baard is the Managing Director of Universal Pictures Australasia, a position he has held since 2006. During this time Mike has overseen the release of more than 170 films in the ANZ market which have generated over US$1.5 billion, including some of the highest grossing films in recent years such as Jurassic World, Minions, Ted, Mamma Mia!, Bridesmaids, The Water Diviner, Les Miserables and Fast and Furious 7. Mike serves on the Board of Matchbox Pictures and is a former Chairman of the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia.
Professor Amanda Sinclair is an academic, consultant and researcher with particular expertise in the areas of leadership and ethics, organisational culture and change, gender and diversity. At Melbourne Business School, Amanda teaches leadership and change and management and ethics, amongst other subjects, in the MBA and EMBA programs. Amanda's work has been widely published and her sometimes controversial conclusions have generated significant popular as well as academic debate. Her books, Trials at the Top and Doing Leadership Differently, argued that gender, sexuality and power have shaped and limited leadership in business.
Sue Maslin is an award-winning screen producer and Adjunct Professor of the School of Media & Communication, RMIT University. Feature credits include soon to be released The Dressmaker starring Kate Winslet, Road to Nhill and Japanese Story. Her company, Film Art Media, produces and distributes screen content across many platforms with a focus on blue chip documentaries. Sue is President of the Natalie Miller Fellowship, Patron of WIFT Victoria and was the inaugural recipient of the Jill Robb Award for Outstanding Leadership, Achievement and Service to the Victorian Screen Industry.
The discussion will be moderated by journalist and presenter Sandy George. As a journalist, she has tracked the Australian film and television industry for more than 20 years. She is long-time correspondent for the London-based magazine Screen International and www.screendaily.com, writes for many outlets including SBS Movies and has been editor of Australian trade magazine Encore and film writer for the daily newspaper The Australian. She has presented movies on SBS on Saturday nights and regularly hosts events and panel discussions.
Organised by
Inspiring future female leaders of the Australian screen industry.
www.nataliemillerfellowship.com