From student to showrunner: How Gretel Vella took her craft to the next level

Within just six short years of graduating NIDA’s MFA Writing for Performance course, Gretel Vella has been nominated for an AWGIE, written and co-produced an international series for Hulu, and served as showrunner on her own series.

While NIDA’s writing degree has traditionally had a focus on theatre, Vella came in with her eyes locked firmly on screenwriting. She’d studied filmmaking as an undergrad at UTS, knew the industry was entering the streaming boom, and wanted to be a part of it.

“I basically told...