PEOPLE
PEOPLE
OUR PEOPLE
Naomi Fryer
Writer / Director / Producer
Naomi Fryer is an experienced creative who was born and raised in the stunning Northern Rivers of NSW. Naomi spent her youth devising and acting in theatre productions on the North Coast of NSW and, later, also worked extensively as a performer in Sydney.
As writer and director, Naomi made Dr. Salt, Gone Out and Be Famous in association with Metro Screen. Her films have played at Byron Bay International Festival, Breath of Fresh Air, WOW World of Women Cinema, Melbourne Underground Film Festival, Verona International Film Festivals and been a part of the short corner Cannes. Most recently she has directed two short films Gemma and Laps as part of the AFTRS Masters program.
Naomi also lived in LA where she undertook the Professional Program in Screenwriting at UCLA where she was awarded the Nate Wilson Joie de Vivre award for her feature screenplay Love is at the Centre of Things. However, passionate about bringing Australian stories to the screen, Naomi has returned to her roots to make This River.
Katherine Shearer
Producer
Originally from Adelaide, Katie has a background in performance with a BA Honours from Flinders University Drama Centre, SA, and has been very fortunate to have worked across stage and screen both nationally and abroad.
Katie produced the AFTRS Masters film Sweet Tooth, written/ directed by Shannon Ashlyn, which has won both the Nicolas Baudin Award for Best Short Film at the Festival Des Antipodes, Saint-Tropez, and CAPA Best Film for CILECT International Association of Film and Television Schools. (www.sweettoothmoviemagic.com).
This year produced for Buffet Digital 'The Art Of Tasting', as well as '29 Gold Stars' music video for Nathan Cavaleri.
Along with cinema, Katie has a keen passion for theatre, was the company manager for the Sydney season of NZ's Pop-up Globe and is currently producing associate for Sydney's Outhouse Theatre Company.
Ehran Edwards
Cinematographer
Based in Sydney, Ehran has worked locally and internationally on a broad variety of projects. These include creative projects such as music videos, short and feature films and documentary. Over the years she has also worked closely with corporate clients to capture interviews, live events, create promotional clips and internal videos.
Ehran is a graduate of The International Film School Sydney (IFSS), where she received an Advanced Diploma in Screen and Media, specializing in Cinematography.
She is currently completing a Masters in Cinematography at AFTRS.
Jess C Wheatley
Production Designer
Jess C Wheatley is a Visual Designer, Artist and Screenwriter with a passion for world building, concept development and film making. With her background in illustration, character and set design, she finds herself drawn to diverse stories and enjoys every moment of it. After growing up in the hinterland behind Byron Bay, Jess completed a four year Design Degree in Brisbane and a two year Motion Design Degree in Sydney — where she has focused on Production and Pre Production. She has just completed a Masters of Screenwriting at Victoria College of Arts while pursuing art department roles and freelancing as a pitch document designer.
Jess is a Marvel enthusiast and tea connoisseur with an inclination towards geekery of most kinds, and whittles away her hours beside the kettle with a notebook within reach.
Mitch Jones
Art Director
Mitch Jones is a freelance Production, Character and Costume Designer, Set Builder and Prop Maker with a background in engineering.
Graduate In Productions design at AFTRS in 2017. Films
Wonder Inc. 2017, Production designer
Directors: Nathan Mewett and Oren Lavie.
Fourth Wall 2017, Production Designer
Director: Sharhane Bekarian.
Hate Dance 2017 Costume Designer Director: Beverley Carllow
Raznik’s Hunger 2017 Production Designer
Director: Sharhane Bekarian,
All Good Things 2017 Production Designer Director: Bernadette Hanna
Rust: Britney 2017 Production Designer
Director: Jordan Ned Mansfield,
Amir 2018 Production Designer Director: Ryan Woods
Loretta Egan
Costume Designer
Loretta has worked in the fashion industry as a designer since her graduation from East Sydney in the seventies, most notably for Radley in London with Ossie Clark, Doverfield in Athens and 6 years as head designer for Cue, Australia’s most successful family-owned fashion manufacturer and retailer. She ran her own directional fashion label, Rebel Lines, in the late 80s before relocating to Byron Shire where she had her own boutique, Blue Stocking.
Loretta commenced an Arts degree in 1995 and, concurrently, completed a TAFE certificate in Theatre Costume. Since then, she has worked on various film, TV and theatre projects. These include Costume Designer for the ABC TV series ‘The Gods of Wheat Street’, and two feature films: ‘Bitter and Twisted’ and acclaimed Australian director John Duigan’s ‘Careless Love’.
She has designed and made the costumes for Brainstorm, Australia’s most successful school theatre company since 1999, worked as Costume Supervisor on the TV series ‘ Catching Milat’, and undertaken various roles in ‘Lambs of God’, ‘Friday On My Mind’, ‘Carlotta’, ‘Peter Allen’, ‘Paper Giants’, ‘Fury Road’ and many more.
Jenna Pratt
Composer
Jenna Pratt is a Music composer and pianist based in Sydney, Australia. She composes contemporary classical music for film and television.
Jenna graduated with a Bachelor of Music in Songwriting from JMC Academy where she discovered her passion for film music. She went on to complete a Graduate Certificate in Screen Music at the Australian Film and Television School in 2018 as well as completing a one month residency at Church Street Studios run by one of Australia's leading Film Composers, Guy Gross.
So far in 2019, Jenna was one of 10 selected to participate in Equalize, a series of music production workshops by APRA AMCOS that aim to promote and education women in music. It was also recently announced that a film she composed music for, Boldly Go was accepted into the Short Film Corner of Festival de Cannes 2019. Jenna continues to practice her craft and will be working on many more projects this year
Nicole Sullivan
Casting Director
Nicole has worked with a number of exciting production companies, local and international, over many different genres: Married at First Sight (Nine Network), Geordie Shore S17 (MTV), Australian Spartan S1 & S2 (Seven Network), Russell Coights Aussie Adventures (Network Ten), The Ex Files (ABC Iview), Get Grubby TV (ABC Childrens), and Australian Ninja Warrior S1 (Nine Network), Summers Day (ABC ME). Nicole has also worked on numerous TVC’s.
Nicole’s roles have ranged from Casting, Production, Associate Producing, Talent Managing and Location Scouting.
Nicole has a passion for the industry and strives to bring diverse entertaining screen content to local and international audiences.
James A. Thomas
Editor
James is an internationally exhibited filmmaker and a founding member of the filmmaking instrumental band Dumbsaint. He has worked on a number of short films and music videos as a writer, director and editor.
James studied film at the University of New South Wales, graduating with First Class Honours after producing a thesis and film project exploring the uncertain status of cinema in the age of digital production. James is also a devoted cinephile, and a passionate fan of narrative films that are small-scale, personal and unconventional.
He is currently undertaking his second year of study in the Master of Arts: Screen course at the Australian Film Television and Radio School.