Director of Screen Tasmania, Karena Slaninka, has announced she will be stepping down from her position.
She has written the below letter to IF explaining her decision.
On Friday I announced that I was stepping down after eight years as Director of Screen Tasmania to relocate to Adelaide to be with my partner Kevin Kofpstein and to pursue our own projects! It was a big decision, because I have loved every minute of my time here in Tasmania and am extremely proud of the way in which the industry has evolved and grown over this time and feel profoundly privileged to have had this experience and played a part in engendering this growth.
I leave on a high with The Kettering Incident just wrapped shooting and Dreamworks completing Light Between Oceans in Stanley, Roar Films in production on their biggest show yet – an official co-pro with Ireland, momentum will continue and Tassie will continue to shine! There are lots of people to thank and lots of memories to share and I will endeavour to do this before I leave on the 9th January. But the game ain't over folks and I'm excited about the next exciting adventure – see you all on the other side!
After eight years in my current role as Director of Screen Tasmania and eleven years in the Government sector, I leave Screen Tasmania in order to resume my career as a story developer, creative producer and writer in the screen industry.
I leave Tasmania knowing that the screen industry is the strongest it has been in 35 years, having generated a range of initiatives designed to foster local skills, stories and talent and drive increased production for Tasmania, particularly in television and digital content creation.
Recent highlights include securing $1million from the Tasmanian Government for the TV drama series The Kettering Incident produced by Porchlight Films and Sweet Potato Films for Foxtel and BBC Worldwide- the largest single investment ever made by any state Government in a single production. Facilitating the Dreamworks production of The Light Between Oceans in North West Tasmania, positioning Tasmania strongly in games, mobile and online production, including supporting the first web comedy series Noirhouse to be commissioned by ABC Iview and helping to underpin the growth of local companies such as Blue Rocket and Roar Film. I am also quietly thrilled with the improvement in our development to production ratio, having implemented bespoke development practices that has seen the number of projects advance from development into production from one in 16 to one in four over the past four years.
Over the past eight years, the industry has grown exponentially and it’s an exciting time in Tasmania, it’s on the map now, and we have shown that it is possible to make high-end big budget production in Tasmania, and I am sure we’ll see more of it in the future. It’s been a great privilege and a joy and I am grateful to have had the opportunity to work with an amazing team who have been passionately dedicated to fostering the local industry. I’m proud of what we have achieved during my tenure, and grateful for the support that we have received from Government and our state and federal agency counterparts. Tasmania is a very special place and it is exciting to see it finally have its day in the sun.
I leave Screen Tasmania in safe hands with Andrew McPhail the current Production Investment Manager stepping into the role of Acting Director in the short term.
In my current position, I have been a strong advocate for growing production in regional Australia and this will continue as I enter the next phase of my career, applying the skills I have gained over the past eleven years to contribute to an equally exciting and vibrant industry in South Australia where I will be relocating and joining my partner in the new year. My final date is January 9th, 2015.