TV Talks: Celebrating Women

Helen Bowden is the Managing Director of Lingo Pictures. Her recent credits include Lambs of God (which received the most nominations and awards for a TV show at the 2019 AACTA Awards) starring Ann Dowd (Handmaids Tale), Essie Davis (Phryne Fisher) and Jessica Barden (End of the F***ing World) for Foxtel; Upright starring Tim Minchin for Foxtel and Sky UK; and The Secrets She Keeps starring Laura Carmichael (Downton Abbey), Jessica de Gouw and Michael Dorman for Network Ten. She has also produced On the Ropes, Wake in Fright, Devil’s Playground (Winner of the 2015 Best Mini-series AACTA & Logie) and The Slap (Winner of the 2010 Best Mini-series AACTA & Logie).

Helen was previously founder and managing director of Matchbox Pictures, which formed in 2008 and sold to NBCUniversal in early 2014. She established Lingo Pictures with Jason Stephens in 2015.

Jacquelin Perske has worked extensively in television as a writer and script producer. She most recently wrote BBC thriller, The Cry, based on best-selling author Helen Fitzgerald’s book with Jenna Coleman (Victoria, Captain America: The First Avenger). The show was the second biggest drama launch of the year for the BBC, securing almost 6 million viewers and winning its time slot.

In recent years, Jacquelin has written and script produced Seven Types of Ambiguity with Hugo Weaving and Xavier Samuel (Matchbox Pictures/ABC) and Deadline Gallipoli (Matchbox Pictures/Foxtel), starring Sam Worthington and Hugh Dancy. Deadline Gallipoli took home the Australian Writers Guild Award (AWGIE) for Television Mini Series in 2015, while her episode of Seven Types of Ambiguity, “Alex”, was nominated for a 2017 AWGIE Award for Best Television Series or Miniseries.

She was the producer, co-creator and writer of Spirited for Foxtel, which was nominated for an AFI, with the pilot episode earning her the 2012 AWGIE for Best Drama. The second series was also nominated for Best Television Drama at the Australian Academy Awards (AACTA).

Jacquelin previously worked as producer, co-creator and writer on the acclaimed series Love My Way, and for Spirited for Foxtel. She was also part of an international team of writers working on George Lucas’ live action series for television, Star Wars: Underworld and recently worked on the TNT series Will based on the early life of William Shakespeare. Her other credits include Big Sky, Raw FM, Fireflies, AFI award-winning The Secret Life of Us, and the Netflix re-imagining of Monkey Magic, The New Legends of Monkey.

Que Minh Luu is an executive producer working across scripted drama, comedy and digital content at the ABC, most recently on Frayed, The Heights, Harrow, Content and Diary of an Uber Driver. Prior to her current role, she worked in development at Matchbox Pictures where she co-created The Heights, and as an independent, she has produced a diverse range of award-winning work across radio and podcasting as well as live and digital platforms including co-writing and producing the geo-locative historical drama Ghosts of Biloela, for which she won an AWGIE. In a former life, she had an established career as a film editor.

Anita Jacoby is an award-winning producer, broadcast executive, journalist and non-executive director. She has held senior production roles with all the FTA broadcasters and Foxtel, as well as in the independent production sector. As Managing Director of ITV Australia she was responsible for the local operations of this global production company. Prior to this she managed Zapruder’s other films for a decade alongside Andrew Denton. Zapruder’s was responsible for hundreds of hours of original programming including Enough Rope, The Gruen Transfer, God on my Side and Elders.

Anita currently sits on the Australian Communications & Media Authority (ACMA). She is also a Director of Women in Media Australia, Documentary Australia Foundation and a member of Chief Executive Women. In 2013 she established the annual Jacoby Walkley Scholarship in Broadcast Journalism and last year she was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia.