On Air: How to write for Audio

PRESENTED BY THE AUSTRALIAN WRITERS’ GUILD AND AUDIBLE

WITH SUPPORT FROM SCREEN AUSTRALIA

The Australian Writers’ Guild has partnered with Audible, the world’s leading provider and producer of audiobooks and spoken word entertainment, to bring you On Air, an exciting new development opportunity to help Australian storytellers break into the rapidly growing scripted audio sector.  

On Monday 4 May join us for an exclusive In Conversation with Australian audio-writing pioneers Marc Fennell, Dan Ilic and Kacie Anning. The trio will take you through the ins and outs of broadening your creative prospects, turning your screen or stage writing skills towards audio, and will discuss the rich opportunities to be found in this booming creative space. They will be joined by Monique Keller, Executive Producer, Original Podcasts at Audible.  

Then put your new skills to practice with On Air, our brand-new audio storytelling initiative aimed at expanding the scope of contemporary non-fiction and fiction storytelling. Open to all AWG members, up to a total of $20,000 will be distributed across the successful project/s with the opportunity for these unique proposals to be considered for further development as part of Audible’s original content program.

WHEN: Monday 4 May 2020, 6pm-7.30pm (AEST)

WHERE: Online via Zoom webinar

RSVP: Essential for all participants. RSVP via the link above. Attendees will receive a link to the panel one hour before the start time.

On Air opens for entries next Monday 4 May 2020 following the In Conversation.

KACIE ANNING

Kacie Anning is a freelance writer and director in television. She most recently directed two episodes of the upcoming Amazon comedy Upload for showrunner Greg Daniels (The Office, Parks & Recreation), and an episode of the Disney+ comedy Diary of a Future President. 

In Australia she directed the first season of The Other Guy for Stan (in addition to writing three episodes on the second season) and has directed episodes of Hardball (ABC Me) and Wham Bam Thank-You Ma’am (ABC & Seeso). Her calling card was the online comedy Fragments of Friday, which she wrote, directed and starred in, earning her the Directors Guild Award for Best Direction in an Original Online Project in addition to playing in festivals all over the world. Kacie is currently developing a slate of her own comedies with Australian and US production companies, whilst continuing episode directing in both countries. 

MARC FENNELL

Marc Fennell is an interviewer, presenter, author and journalist who The Times (UK) once dubbed a “cheerful Aussie version of Louis Theroux”. A charge Marc finds *just* ludicrous enough to put into his bio. 

Marc has worked with the BBC, Audible, Showtime, Monocle, triple j, Ten and The Sydney Opera House. In 2019, Marc was named one of the 40 Under 40 Most Influential Asian-Australians. 

He is the creator of global hit Audible podcast It Burns: The Scandal-Plagued Race to Breed the World’s Hottest Chilli which shot to the top of US Audible charts. It was named one of the best podcasts of the year by The Times, Gizmodo & Esquire. It has been nominated for a host of awards including Europe’s prestigious Rose d’Or and won Silver at the 2020 New York Festivals. 

Since 2013, Marc has hosted SBS’s Logie and Walkley nominated current affairs programme The Feed. He’s reported all around the world from the 2019 Hong Kong Protests to survivors of ISIS torture. Marc’s interviews with celebrities and newsmakers like Al Gore, Tom Cruise, Julian Assange, Jennifer Lawrence have generated over 30 million online views and 3 United Nations Media Award Nominations.

Marc is also the host of the award-winning ABC podcast Download This Show. He has written two books and is the Creative Director of the not-for-profit group Media Diversity Australia. He can also be caught guest-hosting Network 10’s The Project, SBS’s Insight, and on ABC Radio Sydney.

DAN ILIC

Widely regarded as Australia's 17th best satirist, Dan Ilic is also one of Australia's most prolific comedy filmmakers. It's his 'quantity over quality' approach that has propelled Dan to the heights of radio and TV shows in Australia and the USA.

Dan is the host of the popular podcast and live comedy show A Rational Fear. A show that brings together experts, journalists, comedians and politicians and uses comedy to talk about issues that get overlooked in mainstream media, namely climate justice.

Dan has performed in front of thousands of people around Australia. Including sell out shows at the Sydney Opera House and seasons of radio on ABC Radio National, and under rocket fire in Kandahar.

As a journalist and TV producer, he covered the 2016 US presidential election as the executive producer of satire for Fusion Media Group and Gizmodo Media Group in the USA and in 2015 was the senior satire producer of Al Jazeera’s youth publisher AJ+. Most recently he was the executive producer and showrunner of Tonightly with Tom Ballard (ABC) and in 2020 was the executive producer and showrunner of the coronavirus comedy lifestyle show At Home Alone Together (ABC).

MONIQUE KELLER

Monique Keller is Executive Producer, Original Podcasts for Audible with a focus on commissioning factual and scripted podcasts for Australia and New Zealand. Prior to this, she worked for Amazon Studios based in Los Angeles where she specialised in acquisitions and distribution for the Original Movies unit and worked on the release of over 35 movies including award-winning titles such asManchester by the Sea, The Dressmaker, You Were Never Really Here, Cold War and Late Night. Monique earned her Master of Fine Arts in Producing for Film, TV and New Media from University of Southern California’s Peter Stark Producing Program and was awarded the 2015 Producers Guild of America’s Deborah Hill Fellowship.