The role of the Screen Tasmania Board:

• The Screen Tasmania Board acts as an advisory body to the Minister for the Arts and as such has no legal status or statutory powers.
• The Board provides expertise in assessing and recommending projects under Screen Tasmania’s various industry funding programs. It also contributes to the formulation of strategic objectives for the screen industry.
• The Board seeks to support and grow the screen industry in Tasmania through increased production levels and high level expertise and professionalism amongst Tasmanian practitioners, in alignment with the strategic direction of Screen Tasmania.
• Board members can represent various sectors of the screen industry and the wider community, and are appointed by the Minister for the Arts.
• The board is comprised of a Chair and Deputy Chair and must total no fewer than four and no more than eight members, with a balanced representation of Tasmanian and non-Tasmanian members.
• The Board meets four times a year for funding-round meetings and, when required, conference meetings are held outside of funding rounds via phone.
• The Board provides independent recommendations and advice to the Minister for the Arts through the Secretary of the Department of Economic Development, Tourism and the Arts.
  

Geoff Heriot 
Chair
Geoff Heriot took up his appointment as Chair of the Screen Tasmania Board in April 2012. He has extensive and high-level experience as a media executive, strategist and corporate governance specialist in Australia and internationally. Geoff has lived in and worked from Hobart since early 2010 and in 2011, assisted Screen Tasmania with the development of its five-year strategic plan.

As a consultant and adviser, he has worked closely with boards and senior managers of media organisation, assisting with their strategic and organisational development. In recent years, Geoff has undertaken assignments in Indonesia, Mongolia, Vietnam, Papua New Guinea and the Pacific.

As part of a small team, he undertook a substantial performance and management review of the Al Jazeera Children's Channel in Qatar. In the mid 1990s, he served as senior advisor to the Chairperson and Group Chief Executive of the South African Broadcasting Corporation, assisting with the transition from the apartheid regime.

His most recent corporate staff role was Chief of Corporate Planning and Governance for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) between 2008 and 2011. In this, he led a strategic support unit for the ABC Board and successive Managing Directors.  His other senior ABC roles included Head of International Projects, General Manager of Corporate Strategy, Head of Education Services and leadership roles with Radio Australia.

Geoff twice served as an ABC foreign correspondent in South Asia (based in New Delhi) and Papua New Guinea and the Pacific (based in Port Moresby). He began his career as a newspaper journalist.

He holds the following academic credentials: Master of Commercial Law, Master of Arts in Asian History, Graduate Diploma in Business Administration, Company Directors Diploma and undergraduate qualifications in media and journalism.

Colin Grubb

During an extensive career in television, Colin has worked on a broad range of productions for the Tasmanian Film Corporation, ABC TV and Discovery USA. Graduating from the University of Tasmania with majors in filmmaking and sculpture, Colin trained as an education producer with the ABC in Hobart and Adelaide.

In the early 1990s, Colin was based in Washington DC where he produced and directed a series of prime-time documentary programs for the Discovery Channel. Returning to Australia, Colin took on the role as seies producer of one of Australia's original 'lifestyle' programs, Gardening Australia. In 2004, he developed the concept for the ABC's popular prime-time program Collectors and was Executive Producer for that much-loved series for all seven seasons. Colin is now working as Executive Producer of the major new series Auction Room that had its broadcast premiere on Sunday, 15 April 2012 on ABC1.

Colin has been part of the Screen Tasmania Board since 2003.

Di Drew

Di is one of Australia's most respected, award winning drama directors. The Australian Directors Guild awarded her their prestigious annual award "in recognition of consistent excellence in the art of screen direction in feature film and television direction".

Her extensive body of work includes the feature films Hildegarde starring Richard E Grant and Tara Morice; The Right Hand Man starring Rupert Everett and Hugo Weaving, telemovies Trouble in Paradise starring Raquel Welch and Jack Thompson; Whipping Boy starring Sigrid Thornton and Temuera Morrison, the mini-series Through My Eyes starring Miranda Otto, Peter O'Brien and an impressive cast of Australia's "A" list actors. Seven Deadly Sins – Gluttony starring Richard Roxburgh and Gia Carides, Spring and Fall – Perfect Company starring Ruth Cracknell and Robyn Nevin; 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 prominent film festivals around the world. Hildegarde won 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. The Right Hand Man opened the Monterey Film Festival in 2003 and won an AFI ACS Award. Through My Eyes 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 as well as best supporting actress.

Di 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. Di was the Head of Directing at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School in the late 1980s.

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, The Jewels of Edith Sitwell with Kerry Walker, and the one-woman play Machiavelli, Machiavelli starring Ruth Cracknell.

As producer of All Saints, Di brought the Seven Network's Australian 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 and Learned Friends as well as for US cable, Five Mile Creek and Monarch Cove.

Di is an active member of the film community working as a tutor, mentor and board member. She has taught for the National Institute of Dramatic Art, the New South Wales Institute of Technology, The Australian Film, Television and Radio School, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Women in Film and Television and Wide Angle Tasmania.

Hugh Baldwin

Hugh is Digital Media Director for Nickelodeon Australia.

He has extensive media experience in online content development, interactive television applications, research, children's production and journalism. He is responsible for the strategic and creative content development of Nickelodeon's digital media activities including online, mobile and itv applications. Since 2007, Hugh's work at Nickelodeon has won an ASTRA award for Best Use of Technology, a World BDA Silver Award for Best Flash Site and a Netguide Award as Best Youth/Kids Website.

Hugh is also on the advisory committee for the Australian Council's Story of the Future project, which aims to bring writers into the digital age.

Hugh was previously at Murdoch University's Interactive Television Research Institute (ITRI) as a PhD candidate. Hugh designed and developed nine iTV prototypes as part of a three year study on how interactivity can enhance children's television.

Hugh worked with the Seven Network on their enhanced digital channel coverage of the 2004 Athens Olympics, the 2005 Australian Tennis Open and the 2003 Rugby World Cup.

Prior to that, Hugh spent three years working as an NRL, Super 12 and NSL accredited journalist. He travelled to Korea and Japan to cover the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Hugh was the editor and online producer for a Sydney-based sports-entertainment company, NextGenSports, overseeing the production and delivery of broadband and narrowband sports content.

During the last ten years, he has been working as a script and screenwriter with over ten professional credits. Hugh has also worked extensively as a director and producer for children's theatre, animation, live action, radio, television, the internet and video. In 1999, Future Visions, written by Hugh, won a Silver Award at the 33rd Annual US Film and Video awards. Hugh is a graduate of the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA). He was also nominated for an AFI award in 1994 in the television section.

He is an AWG and MEAA member.

Fiona McConaghy

Fiona has over 28 years’ experience in the film, television and advertising industries.

Fiona started with filmmakers McElroy & McElroy Pty Ltd. in 1980. After serving her apprenticeship in film production for three years working on feature and television productions including Deadline, Return to Eden and Razorback, she left for the freelance world of film and television.

Some of the many films that Fiona has worked on in the role of Production Manager include Strictly Ballroom, Crocodile Dundee II, The Last Day of Chez Nous, and many television programmes and series.

After a year off in 1992 due to the birth of her son, director John Ashenhurst (world renowned for his award winning Singapore Airlines and Nescafe campaigns) approached Fiona to work as his producer. During the five years of their association, they successfully worked for national and international markets including various campaigns shot in Italy, Sicily, the United States of America, Central America, Spain, Africa and France for clients including Heineken, Evian, Singapore Airlines, Barilla, Jacob, Mobillink, Australian Tourism European campaign and Qantas.

In 1997, Fiona joined Cranbrook Films as producer. With offices in both Australia and New Zealand, Fiona was in charge of production in both countries. After a successful four and half years, Fiona went back into the freelance arena.

In December 2002, Fiona moved with her family to Tasmania and has continued to work locally, interstate and overseas on film and advertising projects, including as Line Producer on local productions such as the tele-feature Cable, and more recently docu-drama The Last Confession of Alexander Pearce.

Fiona has a wealth of experience and is well positioned to help and support the growth of the local Tasmanian film industry.

In a career of over 30 years Posie has embraced writing, directing and producing as one of Australia’s pre-eminent television creator-producers. Amongst her many national and international awards are 16 Logies, including the against-all-comers Most Popular Australian Show (2004), for McLeods Daughters. A board member of the Australian Film Television and Radio School from 2004 to 2010, Posie was Director of Drama for the Nine Network, Australia from late 2002. In November 2005 she resigned from the network to concentrate on her career as a novelist and running her production company, Millennium Pictures, with husband and creative partner Andrew Blaxland.

In November 2001 the Screen Producers Of Australia named Posie as the Inaugural Australian Independent Producer Of The Year for her body of work. And, in December 2002 Variety magazine noted her as one of 20 Significant Women In Film And Television along with Meryl Streep and Jennifer Aniston in its annual worldwide survey. In late 2010 she was a nominee for the Inaugural IF Television award. Co-nominees included Kym Williams, Brian Walsh, John Edwards, Hal McElroy & Penny Chapman.

Her early career included roles such as assistant editor on Manganinie for the Tasmanian Film Corporation and Posie later directed education, gardening, current affairs and sporting programs for the ABC in Hobart. She became part of the directing team for the Brisbane Commonwealth Games after being selected by the broadcaster as one of 8 people from around the country for Executive Producer training. Posie topped the course.

Recent television credits include creating and producing one of Australia’s most successful and long running drama series, the multi-award winning McLeods Daughters. Seen in over 230 territories worldwide, the eighth and final series was shown during 2008 in Australia. To this day, McLeods remains one of Australia’s best loved and highest-rating dramas.

Posie also created and produced the original pilot telemovie McLeods Daugthers, starring Jack Thompson. Broadcast on Mother’s Day 1996, it became the highest rating TV movie of all time until the telemovie pilot of The Alice, Posie’s first commission for the Nine Network, eclipsed the record by only 30,000 viewers nationally. Posie was happy to resign the crown!

Posie's other ratings and critical successes for Nine include Little Oberon starring Sigrid Thornton and the much acclaimed Two Twisted from Actor/Producer Bryan Brown. Posie’s final commission for the network was the blockbuster Sea Patrol.

Another significant credit is as co-creator of the worldwide edutainment phenomenon, Hi-5. After co-creating and co-producing the pilot and first two years of production with co-creator Helena Harris, Posie has been delighted to see the program’s ever-growing audience and success. Now in its twelfth year of production, Hi-5 is seen in more than 80 territories worldwide. In 2005, Hi-5 was nominated for a Daytime Emmy, but lost out to worthy co-nominee Sesame Street. 2006 and 2007 saw further Emmy nominations in the same category, again in competition with Sesame Street.

Posie resigned from Nine in November 2005 when a new multi-novel, world-wide publishing deal was offered to her by New York based Simon & Schuster ahead of publication of her third novel, The Beloved (The Uncrowned Queen in US) in June 2006. The last of a trilogy of novels set in C15th England, The Innocent, The Exiled and The Beloved have been hits wherever they’ve been published. Target USA created a special edition of The Innocent, part of its prestigious Bookmarked/Breakout Books. The novel was featured twice over a four month period from February through May 2006. A rarity. Previous Breakout authors have included Jodi Piccoult.

In October 2010 Posie’s new book, The Dressmaker, set in Dickensian England, was published nationally and internationally by Simon & Schuster. Again featured by Target USA in over 500 stores in the run-up to Christmas, it is a bestseller. Posie wrote and directed a movie-style trailer for the book which is featured on the Simon & Schuster US website.

A former political reporter and foreign correspondent for The Age and the ABC, over the past 15 years Simon has established himself as one of Australia’s most experienced history documentary filmmakers, winning major international awards and producing work for many of the world’s leading networks including the ABC, BBC, National Geographic and America’s PBS.

He has written a best-selling biography of the explorer Sir Hubert Wilkins and is a regular contributor to ABC Radio National, The Australian, Sunday Age and other newspapers.

Simon is the managing director of Real Pictures, a small independent production company which specialises in history, science and current events documentaries. His recent credits include:

2010 – Dick's Population Puzzle – a feature length documentary for the ABC examining the push to rapidly grow Australia’s population. Presented by philanthropist and entrepreneur, Dick Smith.
2009 – Addicted to Money
2008 – How Kevin Bacon Cured Cancer
2007 – Tasmanian Devil: The Fast and Furious Life of Errol Flynn
2005 – Frank Hurley – The Man Who Made History