STUART BIO
Stuart is an award-winning writer and director (not always at the same time) of genre with soul. He tells stories with big ideas, strong characters and taut commercial filmmaking. He is represented by Joe Riley at Zero Gravity Management.
Most recently, he wrote AURORA, an emotional sci-fi thriller, which shoots in early 2022 through Arclight Pictures. He was also tapped to write the finale of the forthcoming dramedy digital series THE WEDDING. His sci-fi action thriller PAYLOAD written with Matthew Clayfield was in the Aussie List 2019, the top ten unproduced Australian Screenplays as chosen by Veerhius Pictures and The Black List. It was also nominated for the John Hinde Award for Excellence in Science-Fiction Writing
RESTORATION – a smart sci-fi thriller produced by Midnight Snack’s Toby Gibson – is currently streaming as a five-part DUSTx Original Series. Structured to be both a web-series and a tele-feature, Stuart co-wrote the script (with Matthew Clayfield) and directed all the episodes. In Australia, RESTORATION had its premiere as a telemovie on the free-to-air Nine Network and on the domestic SVOD service, Stan.
According to the Webseries World Cup, RESTORATION is the “sci-fi champ” — the most awarded, nominated and officially selected science-fiction web series of all time. Amongst it’s many accolades, RESTORATION won Best Direction in a Webseries at the Raindance Film Festival and won the inaugural “Ozzie” for Best Webseries at the OzFlix Awards. The Australian Writer’s Guild Highly Commended RESTORATION in their John Hinde Award for Excellence in Science-Fiction Writing (produced category); it was a nominated for an Australian Writer’s Guild AWGIE for Best Comedy/Drama (Other Form); nominated for an Australian Screen Editors ‘Ellie’ for Best Editing in a Drama (Non-Feature); and was a recipient of Australian Cinematographers Society (Vic) Gold Award for Best Cinematography in a TV Series, Mini-Series and Telefeature.
Stuart is working with co-writer Matthew Clayfield on REVERSION (the “requel” to the multi-award-winning Restoration) for Midnight Snack Productions with development support from Screen Australia. Matthew and Stuart are also developing CRIMES IN SOUTHERN AUSTRALIA, an ensemble crime drama based on true events; it melds the feel of true crime with the black comedy of the Coen Brothers.
Previously, Stuart wrote and directed the sci-fi drama short PAYLOAD which is currently screening through DUSTx and Amazon Prime. At last count, it has been seen in over 150 countries and over 500,000 times. The feature screenplay is in development, and is part of the AWG’s Pathways Showcase.
With screenwriter Chas Fisher, Stuart is developing HOLLOW CODE a tense murder mystery set on a space pirate ship with an all female crew. It is pitched as Wentworth meets Dead Calm… in space. HOLLOW CODE is a finalist in the AWG’s John Hinde Award for 2019;. has been a quarterfinalist in Script Pipeline, a semifinalist in the Page Awards, a second rounder in Austin Film Festival; and in the final 20 of JumpStart.
He is also working with co-writer Catherine Smyth-McMullen (The Other Lamb) on THE PATIENT VECTOR, a psychological body horror about the break down of a relationship that is best described as Rosemary’s Baby meets Outbreak.
His script for DUST BUNNy, a short animation about childhood grief, was nominated for an AWG Monte Miller Award.
He was a consulting writer in the room for Adele Vuko’s THE GALACTIC GUARDIAN (funded by Screen Australia) Niki Aken’s (The Hunting) MOTHER WOLF; Alexei Mizin & Ryan van Dijk’s MERIDIAN (funded by Scripted Ink); Sweet Potato Films’s (The Kettering Incident) writers room for their techno-thriller web series, SAVE GAVE; and the writer’s room for superhero comedy, THE ELEMENTALS written by Michael Lucas & Chrstine Bartlett (Five Bedrooms, Offspring)
Stuart undertook a FilmVictoria Director’s Placement on HUNTERS, a Valhalla Entertainment production for the Sky Network with the Executive Producer / Producing-Director, Emile Levisetti.
With the support of Arts Victoria & the VCA, Stuart undertook a year-long mentorship in with renowned script developer Stephen Cleary (founder of the SAFC FilmLab).
He has been short-listed for the world famous TROPFEST twice with — ROY & BETSIE, a dramedy about a girl (Heidi Valkenburg) falling in love with a balloon; and NOT MY FILM, an experimental comedy about a seemingly infinite space.
In addition to his writing & directing, Stuart has a background in post-production. He was the Post-Production Coordinator on Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017); the Layout Production Supervisor on the Warner Brother’s The Lego Movie (2014) for the Oscar-winning studio, Animal Logic His other credits include Happy Feet Two (2011), Australia (2008), Harry Potter 5 (2007), and Superman Returns (2006). He has worked with creative agencies including McCann, DDB, 180° Amsterdam, BMG, DDB, and BBDO.
Stuart is a Masters graduate of the famed VCA School of Film and Television, where has was honoured with the award for Most Outstanding Overall Post-Graduate Student.
His photography has been featured in FRANKIE, AUSTRALIAN INK, OYSTER and numerous other publications.
He is the co-host and producer of the highly regarded DRAFT ZERO screenwriting podcast.
He is available for directing, writing and production work: [email protected]
