Board

The Screen Tasmania Advisory Board (STAB) advises the State Government on achieving the objectives of Screen Tasmania. It comprises local film, television and multimedia practitioners and others.

Margaret Reynolds :: chair

Margaret Reynolds has a background in education, social policy and human rights.
 
She was born in Launceston and after training at the University of Tasmania taught in special education in Tasmania, London and Queensland over a fifteen year period.

Margaret has extensive experience in social policy development and advocacy, working at local, state and federal government levels. She was elected to the Townsville City Council in 1979 and the Australian Senate in 1983.

As Minister for Local Government and the Status of Women 1987-1990 she developed a range of initiatives to highlight access and equity.  She has worked with a number of international organizations to promote human rights and was National President of the United Nations Association of Australia 1999-2005.

After retiring from the Senate,  Margaret, and her husband Henry, returned to Tasmania in 1999. She chaired the Tasmanian Women’s Advisory Council 2002-2005 and the Screen Tasmania Advisory Board for the last six years. In 2001 she coordinated the Tasmanian Federation Youth Parliament which culminated in the historic first joint sitting of a youth parliament with the Tasmanian House of Assembly.

Margaret taught Human Rights and International Politics at the University of Queensland 1999-2004 and continues to assist students arrange international internships.

Since 2004 Margaret has worked in disability policy and advocacy and is State Manager of National Disability Services. In October her book, “Living Politics”, tracing her career in Australian and international politics, was released by University of Queensland Press.

Colin Grubb

Colin graduated from the school of Art at the University of Tasmania before joining the Tasmanian Film Corporation where he worked in many areas of film production. After a brief period at the ABC Children's Unit as a producer in Hobart and Adelaide, Colin moved to Washington in 1991 where he produced and directed three major 13 part documentary series for Discovery Channel including Wings of the Luftwaffe and The X Planes. Since 1994 Colin has worked as a Senior Producer at ABC Hobart, particularly on gardening Australia. He has also directed three music documentaries including the award-winning Ravel's - Mother Goose.

Di Drew

Di is an experienced Producer and Director.  In 2003 the Australian Screen Directors Association recognised Di’s “consistent excellence in the art of screen direction in feature film and television direction” by awarding her their annual ASDA award.

Her impressive body of work includes the feature films Hildegarde; The Right Hand Man, Trouble in Paradise, Whipping Boy, theMini SeriesSeven Deadly Sins – Gluttony, Spring and Fall; and the landmark 1915, for which she won a Penguin Award for Best Director.

Di’s work has gained both local and international recognition from some of the most prestigious film festivals in the world: Hildegardewon the Grand Jury Prize at the Kinderfilmfest in Japan; the Jury Award at the Chicago Film Festival 2002 and featured in competition at the Berlin Film Festival, and the Turin International Film Festival in 2003. Right Hand Man opened the Monterey Film Festival and won an AFI ACS Award. She pursued her film degree at the Australian Film Television and Radio School and won Best Fiction Film at the Sydney Film Festival with her graduate film Tread Softly starring Robin Nevin. As producer of All Saints, Di brought the Seven Network’s drama series to the number one position three years in a row, achieving two gold Logies, seven Silver Logies and being twice awarded the double Logie for Australia’s Most Popular Drama and Most Popular Program. She has directed some of the most successful series on Australian television, including GP, A Country Practice, Medivac, Bananas in Pyjamas, Butterfly Island, The Ferals, Magic Mountain, A Sporting Life, Learned Friends and Five Mile Creek.

In theatre Di won the best director prize for her first production Picnic on the Battlefield. Further credits include Cabaret, Oliver, the Green Room Award winning Knuckle Dusters with Kerry Walker, and the one-woman play Machiavelli, Machiavelli, starring Ruth Cracknell. Di is an active member of the film community,  working as a tutor and mentor for the Australian Film, Television and Radio School, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the National Institute of Dramatic Art, the New South Wales Institute of Technology and Women in Film and Television. She was also Head of Directing at AFTRS.

2004 saw her direct the miniseries Through My Eyes starring an impressive cast of Australia’s “A” list actors. In 2005 the series won a Silver Logie for Miranda Otto for Most Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Telemovie or Mini- Series and two AFI nominations for Most Outstanding Actress in a Leading Role and Best Supporting Actress for Angie Milliken.

Nick Cole

Nick Cole is a lawyer with the Corporate and Financial Services group at DLA Phillips Fox in Sydney and was formerly an in-house lawyer with the Film Finance Corporation.  He has extensive experience in the film and television industries in both a legal and production capacity, and has production credits on some of Australia’s leading feature films including Strictly Ballroom.  Nick also directed the Nine Network’s television drama series Water Rats.

Nick is able to provide a unique insight into the audio visual industries that comes from firsthand experience.  He can provide expert advice on financing and investment of film and television, as well as assignment and licensing of intellectual property.  He also advises companies generally on all industry sectors on technology, media and communication issues.

After completing a law degree in 1987, Nick began working in the feature film industry and gained experience as an Assistant Director, Editor and Director.  His credits as a Director include the Nine Network series Water Rats and A Difficult Women (2nd unit).  He has also worked on many well known Australian and international films - Paradise Road, Fearless, Strictly Ballroom, Green Card, Thank God He Met Lizzie, The Island of Dr Moreau and Death in Brunswick. 

In 1992 he was one of eight writer/directors selected for the Post Graduate Diploma in Film at the Victorian College of the Arts (Formerly Swinburne).  His graduation film The Boatbuilder, which he wrote, directed and edited, was awarded the Cinevex Script Prize for Best Short Script and the Worldfest Silver Award at the Charleston International Film Festival.

In 1995, his feature film script Bad Angel was nominated for an Australian Writers Guild Award.  In 1996, he was one of four writers to be selected as part of the Australian Film Commission's inaugural New Scriptwriters Scheme and received script development for Bad Angel. 

In 2001 Nick returned to legal practice. He spent two years as an in-house lawyer with the Film Finance Corporation Australia before joining the Technology Media and Commercial group at Phillips Fox.

Nick is also producing The Last Ride which will be the debut feature film of 2003 Palme d'Or winner, Glendyn Ivin.  The project was one of eight selected for the 2007 SPAAmart and is due to commence production in 2008.

After having worked on some of Australia's most successful feature films and television, Nick has a broad range of experience.  He is able to provide a unique combination of legal skills, creative talent and film experience.

Michael McMahon

Michael McMahon is an independent film producer and a director of Melbourne based company, Big and Little Films Pty Ltd. Prior to moving into film and television production Michael worked as an arts and entertainment lawyer in the public sector and private practice.

Michael’s first documentary production credit was Sadness (1998), a 52 minute documentary for SBS Television of William Yang’s acclaimed stage monologue of the same name. Sadness screened at over 40 international film festivals and won many awards, including the 1999 Film Critics Circle Award for Best Documentary, the Most Popular Film - Brisbane International Film Festival 1999 and a Special Award at the 2004 Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival.

In 2003 Michael completed two documentaries - Man Made – The Story of Two Men and a Baby, a 52 minute documentary which he executive produced for SBS Television, and Wildness, a 56 minute documentary which he produced for Film Australia and ABC Television. Man Made was nominated for a Silver Logie for Best Documentary. Wildness received the audience award for Best Documentary at the Sydney International Film Festival 2003, was joint winner of the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the 2004 London Australian Film Festival and won the Best Documentary category in the 2003 Australian Film Institute Awards and the 2003 IF Awards. It had successful theatrical seasons in Hobart and Melbourne and has screened internationally in film festivals.
 
Other production credits include Cosenza Vecchia (2000), a half hour documentary for SBS; Thomson of Arnhem Land (2000), a 56 minute documentary for Film Australia and ABC TV; Mrs Craddock’s Complaint (1997), a short drama for ABC TV and Cruel Youth (1988), a 30 minute drama screened on SBS and theatrically throughout Australia.

In 2005, Michael produced Call Me Mum, a digital feature, and was Executive Producer on The Last Valley, a 52 minute documentary for ABC TV.  Both films screened to critical acclaim at the Sydney Film Festival 2006.

In 2006 he produced a feature film, The Home Song Stories,with Liz Watts of Porchlight Films. The film premiered at the 2007 Berlin International Film Festival and screened in Competition at the 2007 Adelaide Film Festival. It has also screened at the Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane film festivals and will screen at the Edinburgh International Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival.