West Australian line producer and production manager Robin Eastwood, known for her work on Who Do You Think You Are? and Every Family Has a Secret, has died aged 62 following a short illness.
Eastwood’s screen career spanned more than three decades and incorporated documentaries, variety programs, television dramas, and TV commercials, as well as long-form factual television programming.
More than half was spent at Artemis Media, formerly Artemis International & Serendipity Productions, with the WA-based production company confirming her passing in a social media on Wednesday.
“Robin has been a force in our industry, and we’ve had the privilege of working with her over the last 20 years on many series; Desperately Seeking Sheila, Who Do You Think You Are?, Monash and Me, and Every Family has a Secret,” the company wrote.
“As a Line Producer and Production Manager Robin set the standard, bringing professionalism and compassion into her work. Her teams felt looked after and supported, and she generously shared her knowledge through her mentoring.”
Eastwood’s early career was set against the backdrop of Japan, where she worked for two years as a representative of the Australian Tourism Commission in Tokyo upon graduating from Melbourne’s Monash University.
She returned to Australia in 1987 and commenced working with Japan Australia Word Services, providing media coordination services to the Japanese film industry, before becoming manager of the media division for eight years and eventually director of the company in 1991.
In July 1995, Eastwood set up her own production company, which worked across the Japanese and Australian film industries.
Her credits included being an associate producer and production/location manager for the ABC TV documentary Requiem for a Generation of Lost Souls (aka Shadows in the Sun) shot in Japan and Papua New Guinea; and serving as a production manager for The Human Race, a major international documentary co-production with ABC Australia, National Geographic America and ZDF Germany.
She was also a production manager on Rosie, a docu-drama for SBS Television on the history of Group Settlement of Western Australia in the 1920/30s.
With Artemis Media, she worked on nearly 50 episodes of the family history series Who Do You Think You Are?, 14 episodes of the documentary series Every Family Has A Secret, and the miniseries, Monash and Me: Peter Greste on Australia’s Great Commander. Her long-form documentary work includes co-producing Janine Hosking’s 2018 documentary Lebanese Beauty Queens, having previously served as a field producer on her 2007 documentary Ganja Queen.
Screenwest was among those to pay tribute to Eastwood, describing her as “greatly respected within the local screen sector”.