Triangle Management founder Ted Miller, Sky Television New Zealand head of NZ originals Thomas Robins, and Fifth Season acquisitions director Ava Knight are among the previous Screen Forever attendees returning to the Gold Coast in May for this year’s SPA Connect Market.
Miller will join a host of other industry executives during the Marketplace Roundtables, while Delegates will have the chance to secure a meeting with Knight and Robins as part of the in-person Ready, Steady, Pitch!, which has been restructured this year to facilitate better matching between projects and buyers.
SPA hopes Knight and Robins will also be able to participate in Marketplace Roundtables, with confirmation still to come.
Knight, who attended last year’s conference, said Australia remained a key focus for Fifth Season as the company expanded its slate of premium scripted and unscripted content.
“At Fifth Season, we’ve seen notable success in partnering up with Australian production companies – such as Made Up Stories for comedic drama series Strife, and in collaboration with Blossom Films on Liane Moriarty adaptations including family drama The Last Anniversary for Foxtel Group’s Binge, and Nine Perfect Strangers for Hulu,” she said.
“We’ve grown our Australian slate over the past year with Jungle Entertainment’s sharp-witted crime caper He Had It Coming and documentary series Death Cap, co-produced with Dreamchaser and Den of Martians, both for Stan.
“I look forward to exploring opportunities with both new and existing partners on the Gold Coast this year.”
Robins, who oversees scripted content for Sky Originals NZ and commissions premium programming for Sky’s streaming platform Neon and all Sky channels, said attending the conference was a highlight on his calendar.
I’ve always felt so welcomed and have thoroughly enjoyed the friendly, positive vibe of the Australian screen industry,” he said.
“It’s time Sky New Zealand Originals and our friends across the ditch found ‘that’ exciting project to collaborate on.”
The SPA Connect Market will be held Tuesday, May 6 – Thursday, May 8 as part of Screen Forever on the Gold Coast.