As CEO of Screen Queensland, I deal with international productions, studios and independent production houses, film festivals, Queensland domestic productions, and post and VFX studios and supervisors.

I studied film and TV at university, then started my career in event management. That gave me a grounding and understanding to take on a similar role at the then Pacific Film and Television Commission (PFTC) [now Screen Queensland], working on production attraction. That led to a decade in Los Angeles as Ausfilm commissioner, working with studios and production executives to get productions made in Australia.

My career developed out of relationships. I was working in LA when the Australian Government’s Producer Offset was introduced (allowing a rebate of up to 40 per cent on qualifying productions) and suddenly the industry needed to access Australian talent. Unearthing talent by introducing writers, producers and directors to studios and optioning works was really rewarding.

Now at Screen Queensland, it feels like the world has become smaller. There is so much great talent working in both LA and Australia, as both markets deliver really different things. I work with producers like Nathan Mayfield and Tracey Robertson, who are developing global content through their LA- and Brisbane-based company, Hoodlum, with series like Netflix’s first Australian commission, Tidelands and the drama Harrow, from Disney’s ABC, which is being made in Australia.

I’m also placing writers and directors such as Vikings’ Lucas Taylor, who recently won the Greg Coote Scholarship and is now on secondment to FremantleMedia in Europe, and ensuring we continue to provide a great experience for U.S. studio films like Thor: Ragnarok and Aquaman – films that in the past 12 months have called Queensland home.

I love being challenged by innovation and am open to constant change. It’s vital to keep moving where the audiences are and embrace new platforms. Netflix is an incredible key client. We have to find the people to tell the stories that resonate for their audiences.

TV won’t look the same in five years, if not two, and we have to better understand the films and TV shows that we are making and whether they are right for cinema or other platforms.

It’s been wonderful to work with a dear friend, Danielle Dajani, at Warner Bros. to bring Aquaman to the Gold Coast and Village Roadshow Studios. I first met Danielle when I was at the PFTC, when I headed up the location attraction unit in 2002 and she was general manager, production management at Village Roadshow. We have had a long relationship across a number of jobs, with parallel journeys around the world in the film industry. It has now come full circle as we negotiated Aquaman on opposite sides of the table.

Coming from that base, in negotiating the incentives, crewing, and securing locations on a contract like Aquaman, it meant that we could be very honest. We were able to have an open and straightforward dialogue that was built on trust and was coming from a legitimate place. And it meant that we could celebrate our shared birthday together!

In our industry there are a good range of women working in management and production but on the creative side the writers, directors and producers aren’t coming through. We have to ask ourselves, where do the girls go and where does the disjoint of women not taking up those roles happen? We need to do more research to find where the barriers are. Women aren’t rising to the top not because they’re not good enough or smart enough.