How to Make an Anti-Hero

Maria Lewis is an AWGIE award-winning screenwriter, best-selling author, and pop culture etymologist. Over the past 18 years of her career, she has built an international reputation as a storyteller across a diverse range of mediums including 11 novels such as Marvel’s Mockingbird: Strike Out, Assassin’s Creed - Mirage: Daughter Of No One and The Graveyard Shift, a pop cultural slasher set in Melbourne.

As a screenwriter, she has worked on projects for Netflix, AMC, Ubisoft, DC Comics, Stan, SBS, ABC and made her directorial debut in 2023 with The House That Hungers,. Her rom-com One Last Gob Job was a No.1 recommendation by The Black List.

She also created award-winning audio documentaries usch as The Phantom Never Dies and has programmed film seasons at ACMI on classic movie monsters, cult classics, romantic comedies and Australian neo-noir films titled Yeah Noir.

João is an experienced visual effects specialist with a track record in both award-winning feature films and high-profile TV projects, making him an ideal fit for Framestore’s diverse client base.  

His career began in advertising before transitioning to major film projects in 2006 with 300. João has worked on blockbusters such as Jurassic World, Avatar and Assassin’s Creed, earning a VES nomination for Jurassic World and a Primetime Emmy nomination for Lost in Space, where he also won a VES award for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode. 

Recent highlights include overseeing visual effects for Project Power (Netflix), digitally integrating Tig Notaro into Army of the Dead, and contributing to the third season of Lost in Space. João’s latest projects involve the TV adaptation of Fallout for Amazon Studios and Marvel Studios’ Deadpool & Wolverine.

James is the creator, head writer, and an Executive Producer of The Artful Dodger (Disney+). He began his career as a script analyst at Icon Film Distribution, advising on the artistic and commercial potential of feature film scripts. With extensive experience running television writers' rooms and lecturing in film and television at top universities in the US, James has worked alongside leading American showrunners. James has twice been named an “international rising star” as a screenwriter by BAFTA LA and is also an award-winning prose writer, with work published in outlets such as The New York Times, Washington Post, and The Australian.

A qualified lawyer, James holds a PhD in English from Oxford University and has degrees in English, Law, and Screenwriting. His diverse background, spanning corporate litigation, academia, and television, informs his work as a sought-after creator, writer, and Executive Producer specialising in adaptations of high-value literary IP for television.

Catherine Smyth-McMullen is an award-winning screenwriter and producer, focusing on genre. Her feature The Other Lamb premiered at TIFF 2019 to rave reviews, screening at BFI London, San Sebastian, and Fantastic Fest, and featured on the Black List as one of the year’s best original scripts. She has worked extensively in Australia and the U.S. as a writer, creator, and showrunner, selling pilots to Netflix, Warner Bros., NBC, AMC and eOne, and writing on shows including The Sandman (Netflix) and Two Sentence Horror Stories (The CW).

Her work has won or been shortlisted for many national and international awards, including two AWGIE nominations, the John Hinde Award for Science Fiction from the Australian Writers’ Guild, and the Ustinov Award for Television Writing from the International Emmys.

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