AFTRS Alumni Panel: Growing Your Creative Business

Chloe Rickard is one of Australia’s most dynamic and innovative producers. A Partner, Chief Operating Officer and Executive Producer at Jungle Entertainment, she has been integral to the company’s growth, innovation and success. Jungle are responsible for a raft of internationally acclaimed comedies, No Activity in its fourth season for CBSAA, Mr Inbetween in its third season with FX, and A Moody Christmas in its second season with Fox – making Jungle one of the only companies globally with three comedies concurrently on air with three difference US networks and platforms.

Chloe’s Executive Producer credits include Wakefield (ABC/BBCS), Bad Mothers (Nine Network/Sundance Now), Squinters (ABC) and Soul Mates (ABC/Seeso). She has produced for many of the top TV comedy creators in Australia on shows including No Activity (Stan Australia), Sando (ABC), Here Come the Habibs (Nine Network), Soul Mates (ABC/SeeSo), The Moodys and its sequel A Moody Christmas (ABC) and The Elegant Gentlemen’s Guide to Knife Fighting (ABC).

She oversees many of Jungle’s international format sales which span a range of titles and territories including for the US, Belgium, Germany, Holland, Asia and the Middle East. She is currently developing the feature films Croak and The Hitchhiker funded by Screen Australia.

In 2015, Chloe gained her Masters of Screen Arts & Business from AFTRS, in which she was awarded the Foxtel New Media Innovation Prize and the Wake in Fright Prize for the best thesis. Chloe is the Chair of the Screen Tasmania Advisory Board (STEAG).

Nathan Anderson’s duel expertise in film production and technology development allows him a forward-looking approach to the evolving new media landscape. He brings a futurist mentality to the industry, embracing emerging technology as a tool for emotionally resonant narrative storytelling.

After beginning his career in the film industry, Nathan followed the dotcom explosion in the late 90s, making a transition into digital. He leveraged this tech startup background with his knowledge of traditional media to dive into multiplatform digital development and transmedia content creation. Nathan has produced digital media content for all platforms, working with such top international brands and companies as Foxtel, Disney, Viacom, ABC, BBC and NBCUniversal.

In the five years since founding Start VR (Start Beyond), Nathan has produced award-winning VR projects such as Awake, Wentworth VR, Atlas Obscura VR and VR Noir with partners including Animal Logic, Oculus, Microsoft, Fremantle, AFTRS, Create NSW and Screen Australia.

Nathan is a member of the Producer’s Guild of America New Media Council and is a regular speaker at industry conferences. Nathan graduated with a Masters by Research (2010) exploring interactive narrative forms and a Graduate Certificate in Business Administration (2008) from AFTRS.

Paul Wiegard is the co-founder and CEO of Madman Entertainment, a leading independent distribution and rights management company for film and television with offices in Melbourne, Auckland & Berlin. An integrated business structure established on four key commercial pillars: Theatrical Distribution, Physical Media (DVD & Blu Ray), Digital and Ancillary sales.

Paul has EP’d over 20 Feature and Documentary films including three AACTA award winners. His company has distributed five Oscar-winning Feature docs in Australia and NZ. He established DocPlay, the dedicated documentary SVOD platform, and founded investment vehicle Nude Run and production companies Third Man Films and Madman Production Company.

He is a graduate of the AFTRS Masters Screen Arts & Business, President of the Aust. Independent Distributors Association (AIDA), Vice-President of the Aust. Home Entertainment Distributors Association (AHEDA) and on the board of ACMI and AIDC.

A writer, producer and executive producer for a many national and international companies, among them Crawford Productions, PBL Productions, Taffner Ramsay, Beyond International and Granada, Peter began his career writing and producing for television classics such as Cop Shop, The Sullivans, The Flying Doctors, The Comedy Company and Acropolis Now. He produced the inaugural Comedy Festival Charity Gala in 1992 and created The World Comedy Tour in 2000. He also produced The 34th Annual TV Week Logies, and he has created or co-created a number of series, among them Skirts, The Comedy Sale! The Agency, Parties, FAQ, and The Big Wig for Sky1 in the UK. Working with Caroline Aherne of The Royle Family, he co-created, co-wrote and produced the BBC2 comedy series, Dossa and Joe. Other credits include the Network Ten production, Unreal TV, a sitcom Sit Down, Shut Up, as well as the tonight show, The Big Schmooze and a number of other productions at thecomedychannel for Foxtel, and script editing on the Lindy Chamberlain mini-series, Through My Eyes and the feature Perfect Victim.

Peter has taught at a number of universities in screen business, creative industries and producing. He is currently Head of Screen Business and Producing at the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS).