https://www.expandingmedia.org/freestyletv

A manifesto for creating high-quality, low-cost television for the digital age.
Written by Julie Eckersley with Dr Austin Hayden.

About Julie Eckersley: Julie’s career in the film and television industry spans 20 years to date. She has Produced and Executive Produced over 70 hours of television. She started her career as an actor touring nationally and internationally, with a specialty in Shakespeare. She then joined Rebel Wilson on her early comedy series, The Wedge as a writer and performer and spent 2 years working with Shaun Micallef on Newstopia. Having completed her Masters in Communications (Swinburne University) and a Graduate Diploma in Producing (AFTRS) she joined Matchbox Pictures (NBCU) in 2011, producing award winning content that has sold around the world including Glitch Seasons 2 & 3, Maximum Coppage, Odland's, Anatomy 3, The Turning, The Family Law Seasons 1, 2 & 3. In 2021 she joined the SBS network as Head of Scripted where she successfully built and implemented a strategy to re-invigorate SBS drama. Her commissions include: Safe Home, While the Men Were Away, Erotic Stories, Swift St and Four Years Later. In 2023 she was awarded Commissioner of the Year. Julie has built a career as a specialist in creating world class content and pioneering the next wave of creativity. She is passionate about creative excellence, strategic vision and inspiring leadership that empowers others to flourish.Through her consultancy, Expanding Media, she empowers and supports creatives and their visions. The idea of Freestyle is her latest offering to an industry she loves as it moves through times of significant change. https://www.linkedin.com/in/julieeckersley/

About: Austin Hayden, PhD Austin is an academic, producer, and performer. His research sits at the intersection of finance, media theory, and social theory. He has published widely and has been a sought- after voice in both academia and also in the emerging New Media landscape. As a producer, his films have played Cannes, TIFF, NYFF, Sitges et al. He has developed, packaged, and sold properties in the US, UK, and Australia. In 2016, he developed and packaged a slate of TV properties with APA for Team Whistle. He was a co-lead with a team of Creative Executives from Vertigo Entertainment, Forward Pass, et al to develop and produce a slate a TV and low to mid- budget film projects, which led to the development of an SPV to establish a Film Fund with Hollywood executives, private international financiers, and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in Baku, Azerbaijan.He produced the international experimental feature Inventing the Future (2020), which made many end-of-year Best Films lists, and was one of the first features to be fully rolled out on YouTube entirely for free. He’s a producer for the New Media outlet Wisecrack, which has over 3 million followers on YouTube, over 600 million views, and has generated millions of dollars in revenue working with Marvel, Warner Brothers, Showtime, Random House, Taco Bell, Ubisoft, AdultSwim, et al.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/austin-hayden-smidt-3b6821b7/

With many thanks to those across the Australian screen industry who read and contributed to this document and thinking.

Produced at Myrtle&Pine Studios by Ampel 66 Myrtle Street, Chippendale, Sydney.