RISING TALENT 2023 - WRITERS

WRITERS

So impressed are we with the industry’s up-and-comers, we have decided to make our Rising Talent list an annual fixture. These are the people we think the industry needs to sit up and take notice of; the names you’ll need to know and want to work with in the years ahead. Some faces are relatively new, while others have recently moved up the chain into leadership positions where they are making change.

Thank you again to everyone who helped us put this list together, including the hundreds of submissions we received through our public call out. We know this list is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the talent in this industry, but we hope it hints towards its future.

HUNA AMWEERO

Huna Amweero co-wrote the feature film Blaze with visual artist and filmmaker Del Kathryn Barton for Causeway Films, which premiered in Tribeca. The film earned both Amweero and Barton the 2022 AWGIE Award Best Feature Film – Original.

In 2022, Amweero also wrote two episodes of TikTok supernatural comedy series Krystal Klairvoyant with Erin Good, with whom she had previously worked on web series Jade of Death.

Amweero is currently developing her own projects in addition to being involved in the development of various other long-form projects for local production companies.

In late 2018, Amweero was selected to attend the Bunya Productions Engendered Masterclass for female genre writers and directors, hosted by Jeremy Podeswa (Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire, Six Feet Under, The Handmaid’s Tale) and writer and showrunner Raelle Tucker (Supernatural, True Blood, Jessica Jones).

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HANNAH CARROLL CHAPMAN

Hannah Carroll Chapman is the creator and writer of Heartbreak High, produced by Fremantle and Newbe for Netflix. The series featured in the top ten most watched shows in 43 countries, hitting number one in Australia. Carroll Chapman won the AACTA Award for Best Screenplay in Television for the pilot episode and was also nominated for an AWGIE. She is currently in development for Heartbreak High season 2, and a comedy drama series inspired by the ABC podcast Snowball for Matchbox/NBCU.

Carroll Chapman’s other credits include ABC serial The Heights, which earned her an AWGIE Award, and Home & Away. She has worked in development for Matchbox Pictures and as a production operator at Carnival Films in London. She began her career in 3D animation, post-production and VFX, with a degree in 3D animation from AFTRS.

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GRETEL VELLA

Gretel Vella’s original series Totally Completely Fine, which she created, wrote and executive produced, will launch on Sundance Now and Stan in April.

Vella’s break in TV came via Doctor Doctor for Easy Tiger/ Nine. Continuing to work with Doctor Doctor co-creator and Oscar nominee Tony McNamara, Vella’s next gig was three seasons of The Great, for which she also served as co-producer. That project saw her nominated for the Writers Guild of America’s Award for Best New Series and Best Comedy Series for 2021, as well as an AWGIE.

Vella is among the writers of Christmas Ransom and A Sunburnt Christmas, for which she was nominated for an AWGIE. Her credits also include the upcoming Amazon series Class of ’07.

Vella currently has projects in development with Fremantle Australia, Jungle Entertainment and Century City Entertainment. Her theatre credits include A Period Piece, Carking It, The Blood on Bloody Blood Ladder, Shandy’s Corner and Bathory Begins.

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JOSH SAMBONO

Josh Sambono is a Jingili man and an action/horror writer based in Western Sydney.

Sambono has been in writers’ rooms for See-Saw Films, Bunya Productions and Blackfella Films. His TV writing debut came in 2021 on AMC+ vampire hunter series Firebite

His First Nations horror short Suspect premiered at BiFan in 2020 and won Best Australian Short at Sydney’s A Night of Horror. He was a director’s attachment to Taika Waititi on Thor: Love and Thunder, and co-wrote supernatural horror feature The Quarantine Hauntings, Sambono's creature feature Drop Bears, written with Laura Sambono, won the AACTA Pitch: Bite competition in 2021, with prizes including $10,000 in development funds and a distribution deal with Monster Pictures. Their script Terror Zone was also a finalist in 2020.

In 2022, Sambono was selected for the Emerging Writer’s Program for NCIS: Sydney, a CBS/ Paramount+ production. He also directed ABC iview docuseries No Offence!

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JESSICA TUCKWELL

Jessica Tuckwell is a screenwriter, script producer and director for TV drama and feature film, specialising in drama, comedy-drama and adaptations.

Tuckwell wrote for ABC’s Les Norton and was the first development executive for John Edwards and Dan Edwards at Roadshow Rough Diamond, running a broad slate of drama projects.

She then went on to become script producer for seasons one and two of Stan’s Bump, and wrote multiple episodes across all three seasons. Her season 2 episode ‘Am I the Arsehole’, which she also directed, was nominated for an AWGIE Award.

Tuckwell is the co-creator and script producer of Bump spin-off Year Of for Stan, due for release in 2023; she wrote 3 episodes and directed the final two episodes of the series.

Originally training as a theatre director and dramaturg at NIDA, Tuckwell worked for mainstage, independent and youth companies across Australia and the UK and was the inaugural Director in Residence at Bell Shakespeare. Her directing work specialised in Australian plays, adaptations and the development of new plays including Words They Make with Their Mouths. Her first full length play Tiny Remarkable Bramble is being adapted into a film.

Her short stories have been featured on Giant Dwarf’s Story Club podcast and ABC’s Tall Tales and True, she was a Moth GrandSlam finalist, and her first story No Strategy was published in the Harper Collins anthology Welcome to Story Club.

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