Hailing from Thursday Island, Danielle Ah Boo was appointed as Screen Queensland's Head of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Program in late 2023. Danielle has previously worked in production for First Nations-founded agency Carbon Creative and more recently as a financial accountant with Arrow Energy, and has served as Treasurer and Co-chair of Reconciliation Queensland.

Danielle works to amplify Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices and stories in the screen industry as part of national truth-telling, elevate awareness of the cultural significance of First Nations heritage, and open doors to new and exciting opportunities for practitioners.

Richard Fitzpatrick ACS is an Emmy award-winning cinematographer as well as a Professorial Research Fellow at James Cook University specialising in research on sharks and other megafauna. He has shot more than 150 films for clients such as the Netflix, BBC, Disney/ National Geographic, and Discovery Channels and is renowned for filming complex behavioural sequences – many never seen before. With over 15,000 hours underwater he has filmed around the world from the crystal-clear coral gardens of the Great Barrier Reef to the murky waters of the Amazon.

Currently based at James Cook University in Cairns, Richard, and his team at BIOPIXEL, manage one of the largest marine stock vision libraries and dedicated biological filming studios in the world. Many of the complex behavioural sequences for shows such as Attenborough’s Great Barrier Reef, Welcome to Earth with Will Smith and James Cameron’s, Supernatural series, were filmed in Biopixel’s Aquarium studio at JCU, Cairns Campus.

Veronica Fury is an award-winning Producer, Executive Producer and Principal of WildBear Entertainment. WildBear produces over 200 hours of factual screen content every year and has offices in Canberra, Brisbane, Sydney and Dunedin (Aotearoa).

Veronica has over 85 commissioned television and feature documentaries to her name and produced over 250 hours of screen content including, Gem Hunters Down Under (Network 7) Wildlife ER (Disney+), And We Danced (ABC) and Wild Winter (All3). Veronica produced AACTA nominated Brock: Over the Top and Ford v Holden (Universal), Award-winning biopic (with EP's Elton John & David Furnish) Hating Peter Tatchell (Netflix) and A League of Her Own for ABC. Veronica is a Screen Producers Australia Councillor and sits on the Board of Curriculum at Bond University and the Industry Advisory Board of GFS.

Dean Gibson is a filmmaker with over 20 years’ of experience in creating, writing, directing, editing and producing content. His work screens regularly on ABC, SBS and NITV and includes children’s television, documentaries and drama.

Dean’s onscreen highlights in the children’s television space include directing a Sesame Street film Five Kangaroos, featuring Jessica Mauboy. His most recent work Tjitji Lullaby and Marringa Lullaby for ABC Kids plays all Australian toddlers to bed nightly. Dean also created and co-directed the series Handball Heroes, which screened on ABC3.

In documentary, Dean recently delivered Incarceration Nation to NITV/SBS in which he is the Writer and Director. Incarceration Nation is a Feature Documentary focusing on the systemic racism of the justice system within Australia. Its successes include; Logie Award winner 2021-22 for Most Outstanding Factual or Documentary Program, finalist for 2022 Walkley Awards and finalist ATOM Best Feature Documentary. Dean was also the writer and director of Wik vs Queensland which premiered at the 2018 Sydney International Film Festival.

Most recently, Dean directed the 6-part science documentary series First Weapons for ABC, Black Fella Films and Inkey Media, released in 2023.

Dean currently sits on the Board of Screen Queensland, Queensland Theatre and the Brisbane Lions Football Club.

What links Boris Johnson, endangered elephants, crazy architecture, Oklahoma tornadoes, binge drinking, life-threatening riots, Al Qaeda hostages, airport expansion, earthquakes, human rights abuses, ballroom dancing and the Iraq war? They’re some of the topics documented by Ian Lynch in a career that spans more than two decades in shoots around the world.   Polemics, investigations, obdocs and formats have all helped to hone Ian’s skill in the documentary space.

He joined Screen Queensland last year as Content Director after a career in the UK, as well as working on projects for US and Australian broadcasters. His Australian credits include the ABC’s Foreign Correspondent and Four Corners, as well as work for SBS and Audible Australia. His international credits include the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, ITN, Sky, Discovery, National Geographic, PBS and HGTV.

At Screen Queensland, Ian has supported documentary series such as SBS’ The Swap, Stan’s Dawn of the Dolphins and Nine’s Missing Person’s Investigation. Feature documentaries supported include ABC’s/WildBear’s The Black Hand, theatrical feature Sharko and Stan’s/Bioquest’s Reefshot. He also exec produced the RIDE factual short films at the Brisbane Film Festival, made by emerging producers from underrepresented backgrounds.

Daniella Ortega is part of the documentary team at Screen Australia and is a documentary screen professional dedicated to excellence in storytelling and communicating complex concepts in innovative ways.

She has a background in directing and producing high-end documentaries about science, history and natural history. Daniella’s work has traversed subjects as diverse as archaeological discovery, the unfolding climate crisis and the mysteries of the teenage brain. An accomplished Series Producer, she has steered major complex projects for a variety of international broadcasters. At Screen Australia, as an Investment & Development Manager, Daniella is drawing on her experience to support the wider documentary industry.