Courtney Gibson has joined the AiF board.
Australians in Film is opening its ranks to Australian-based screen creatives and professionals, and launching education and career development programs for its members.
The new AiF international membership category will give Australians access to desk space at AiF’s headquarters on the Raleigh Studios lot as well as discounted rates to all AiF’s career and education development programs.
These include the script development program Gateway LA, the Village Roadshow|Animal Logic Entertainment Internship and the Heath Ledger Scholarship.
The new education and career development programs will include increased access to the US and the international industries with seminars and Q&As with leading American executives and creatives from Netflix, Fox 2000, Amazon, Village Roadshow, Warner Bros, Animal Logic, Hulu, CAA and UTA plus Australians working in the Australian and US industries.
The latter will include conversations with Damon Herriman (The Nightingale, Secret City, Quarry) and Anna Torv (Secret City, Fringe).
This week AiF held a screening of the Sundance hit Patti Cake$ with its Australian star Danielle Macdonald. Earlier screenings included Big Little Lies (with Q&As featuring Bruna Papandrea, Nicole Kidman and Per Sari), War Machine (David Michôd, moderated by Luke Davies) and The Get Down (Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin.)
AiF also announced that Jungle MD Courtney Gibson has joined the AiF board. Village Roadshow Entertainment Group CEO Greg Basser, producer Eden Gaha, group director of marketing at Event Hospitality and Entertainment Ian Sutherland and VP of drama development at Essential Media & Entertainment Simonne Overend have all been reappointed to the board for two-years.
Gibson, former CEO of Screen NSW and an executive at the Nine Network, Southern Star and ABC TV, was instrumental in the establishment of Charlie’s, AiF’s creative shared workspace in Hollywood, which is funded by Screen NSW, Screen Queensland, AFTRS and Film Victoria. The new space, The Creative Collective, downstairs from Charlie’s is a members-only workspace and creative hub.
AiF president Kate Marks said today, “Courtney was an extraordinary catalyst for change during her time at Screen NSW. She really champions creatives in the screen business and her experience in both the private and government sector of the industry means she will be a great addition to the board.”
Gibson said: “Australians in Film is such a can-do outfit, its influence, impact and imaginative approaches to industry development make it a stand-out organisation. I’m particularly pleased to be joining the board at a time when Australians are making such a compelling contribution to global screen culture and content.”