People

31% LULLABY
17% ARIA
52% HOWL AT THE MOON

Rebecca Summerton

Rebecca Summerton

She/Her
Producer

Rebecca is producer and founding member of Closer Productions.



She is a producer, with feature film credits including 52 Tuesdays, which won the directing award for World Cinema at Sundance and the Crystal Bear at Berlinale, and feature documentary Sam Klemke’s Time Machine which premiered at Sundance and in Official Selection at HotDocs and Rotterdam. Her most recent feature, Animals, was an official Irish/Australian co-production based on the acclaimed novel, and premiered at Sundance 2019.  

For television, Rebecca has made numerous documentaries including Dendy Award-winning I Want To Dance Better At Parties and 3-part arts series Hannah Gadsby’s Oz. Her television drama credits include the 6-part series F*!#ing Adelaide, which premiered at Series Mania and was the most watched ABC iView Original in 2018. She also produced The Hunting, a 4 x 1 hour drama series which premiered on SBS Television in August 2019 becoming SBS’ most successful commissioned drama at that time. Most recently, Rebecca produced Aftertaste, a returnable 6 x 30 comedy drama for the ABC. The first season premiered at Berlinale Series Selects 2021 and was nominated for a Most Popular Comedy Logie in 2022, season 2 screened on ABCTV in July 2022 and has been nominated for four AACTA awards including Best Comedy Program.

IMDB

22% SMOKE
19% MIRRORS
59% WIRES

Matthew Bate

Matthew Bate

He/Him
Writer/Director/Producer

Matthew Bate is a founding member of Closer Productions, and is a multi-award winning writer, director and producer.


Matthew's feature documentary Shut Up Little Man! premiered in competition at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival before screening theatrically across the U.S and being sold to Netflix. His follow up feature Sam Klemke’s Time Machine premiered at the 2015 Sundance New Frontiers Program, winning Doc Aviv's Artistic Spirit Award and an AWGIE for best screenplay.

Mathew’s hybrid short  I Want to Dance Better At Parties won the 2014 Dendy Award for Best Film. His Virtual Reality work Summation of Force, made with Magnum Photographer Trent Parke, was selected for Sundance’s New Frontier Program and won the inaugural VR Award at the ‘Imagine Film Festival’ Amsterdam.

In 2019 Matthew co-authored the augmented reality work The Book of Darryl, with renown digital creators The Goggles, published by MacMillan Press New York. He also directed and produced the interactive documentary Are You Addicted to Technology? for SBS television. In 2020 he was co-creator/writer/producer of 2 seasons of the Logie and AACTA nominated series Aftertaste, starring Rachel Griffiths and Erik Thomson.

Matthew was a producer on the 2021 Peabody-nominated Netflix Original documentary The Dreamlife of Georgie Stone. In 2023 wrote and directed the feature documentary The Defenders, which won the Sydney Film Festival Audience Award.

IMDB

8% COMPOSED
53% CONSUMED
39% JAZZ FINGERS

Sophie Hyde

Sophie Hyde

She/They
Director/Producer

Sophie Hyde is a founding member of Closer Productions and social impact company The Unquiet Collective.



Working primarily as a writer/director Sophie most recently directed Emma Thompson in the 4x BAFTA nominated comedy Good Luck To You, Leo Grande which premiered at Sundance 2022 selling to Searchlight in the US and Lionsgate UK.

Her debut feature drama 52 Tuesdays (director/producer/co-writer) won the Directing Award at Sundance and the Crystal Bear at the Berlinale. She directed and produced feature comedy Animals which starred Holliday Grainger and Alia Shawkat and was written by Emma Jane Unsworth based on her novel.

Sophie created, produced and directed episodic series F*!#ing Adelaide for ABC Australia, and limited series The Hunting for SBS.

She co-directed and produced feature documentary Life in Movement which won the Australian documentary prize at Sydney Film Festival.

Sophie believes strongly in nurturing the voices of other filmmakers and therefore also works as a  producer and Executive Producer on various projects including the  feature documentaries Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure , Sam Klemke’s Time Machine, In My Blood It Runs and the short documentary The Dreamlife of Georgie Stone, which released worldwide on Netflix and was nominated for a Peabody Award in 2023.

IMDB

23% SKATER
61% FILM-MAKER
16% TEA-MAKER

Bryan Mason

Bryan Mason

He/Him
Editor/DoP/Producer/Director

Bryan Mason is a founding member of Closer Productions. A multi skilled, award-winning editor and cinematographer, Bryan has worked across feature drama, documentary and television.


Most recently, he was cinematographer and editor for the 4x BAFTA nominated film Good Luck To You, Leo Grande directed by Sophie Hyde and starring Emma Thompson.

In 2015, he shot, edited and produced the Sundance and Berlin award winning 52 Tuesdays for which he won the Screen Editors of Australia award. He was cinematographer and editor on both Irish comedy Animals and Iranian/Australian drama My Tehran for Sale. 

His feature documentary credits include Australian Documentary Prize winner Life in Movement (director/editor/cinematographer) and Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure, for which he won an Australian Academy Award for editing. He edited feature documentaries Sam Klemke’s Time Machine, Embrace, Mother With A Gun and the acclaimed In My Blood It Runs. Recently he edited the short documentary The Dreamlife of Georgie Stone, which released worldwide on Netflix and was nominated for a Peabody Award in 2023.

Bryan’s television credits include the SBS 4x1 hour series The Hunting (editor), the ABC iView series F*!#ing Adelaide (cinematographer/editor/producer) and the AACTA nominated ABC comedy series Aftertaste S1 (editor) and Aftertaste S2 (cinematographer/editor).

IMDB

7% BALLET
15% FOSSE
78% FREESTYLE

Sarah Wormald

Sarah Wormald

She/Her
Junior Producer

Sarah Wormald is an emerging producer who started working with Closer Productions in late 2018. Since joining the Closer team Sarah has been working closely with Producer Rebecca Summerton across many of the company’s projects. She has worked as a Producer’s Assistant across the development, production and delivery of ABC Comedy Aftertaste S1 and on The Hunting through pre-production to delivery, and most recently worked as an Associate Producer on Aftertaste S2. Sarah has also assisted with the post-production, delivery and release strategy of Closer’s feature film Animals, as well as working in-depth across Closer’s upcoming development slate.

At the end of 2019 Sarah secured funding from the MRC for her first two short films, Everything ALL AT ONCE and Glasshouse, which she produced in 2020. Both films premiered at the Adelaide Film Festival 2020. Everything ALL AT ONCE was also officially selected for the BUFF Malmö Film Festival 2021 and Palm Springs International ShortFest 2021, where it was in competition for Best International Short. Her most recent short Are You Really The Universe?, supported by Adelaide Film Festival and The Helpmann Academy, and starring Tilda Cobham-Hervey and Antoine Jelk recently premiered at Adelaide Film Festival 2022 where it won the Audience Award for Best Short Film.

IMDB

31% ROMANTIC
67% PASSIONATE
2% CHAOS

Tamara Hardman

Tamara Hardman

She/Her
Director's Assistant

Tamara Hardman works as assistant to Sophie Hyde. In 2018, she worked as the directors attachment on Animals, in Dublin, Ireland.

Since then, she has continued to work across Closer's film and TV slate including SBS series The Hunting and feature documentary In My Blood It Runs, and most recently Good Luck To You, Leo Grande.

She is also a writer/director, most recently directing Tilda Cobham-Hervey in her short film Are You Really The Universe? which premiered at Adelaide Film Festival 2022 where it won the award for Best Short Film. Her previous short film Everything ALL AT ONCE premiered at Adelaide Film Festival and went on to screen at BUFF Malmo and Palm Spring ShortsFest.

In 2022 she was accepted into the SA AFTRS Talent Camp and shortlisted for the SAFC Film Lab low budget feature initiative.

IMDB

4% SMART
2% SEXY
94% RICHLY INSIGHTFUL 

Poppy Fitzpatrick

Poppy Fitzpatrick

she/her
Producer's Assistant

Poppy Fitzpatrick joined Closer in 2022 as Producer's Assistant to Rebecca Summerton and Sarah Wormald, after crewing on Aftertaste S2 and assisting in post-production delivery.

Since then, she has assisted across a number of projects on the company's development slate, including working closely with Matthew Bate as researcher on an upcoming documentary series. 

Poppy is also producing her first Mercury-funded short film Dragon's Breath, and developing a TikTok-based documentary series titled She Mass Debates supported by Carclew, which aims to hijack the social media algorithm with the sex education she never had. In 2022 Poppy was selected for the AFTRS Documentary Talent Camp, and attended AIDC as a Leading Light in 2023. Poppy also freelances as a photographer and feature journalism writer. 

IMDB

33% JUDGEMENT
41% STRATEGY
26% MOONSHOT

Richard Harris

Richard Harris

he/him
Executive Producer

Richard is a film executive and producer with more than twenty-five years’ industry leadership experience.


He joined Closer Productions as an Executive Producer in February 2023, to assist the company to grow, develop partnerships and build greater production capacity.

Prior to joining Closer, Richard was Executive Producer at Minderoo Pictures, where he set up the organisation’s impact film division, and established a slate of projects with filmmakers including Academy Award-winning director Louis Psihoyos (The Cove).

In 2019 he was Co-producer and EP on Under the Volcano, produced by Cody Greenwood and directed by Gracie Otto. The film had its international premiere at SXSW in Austen Texas in March 2021, and is distributed worldwide by Universal.

Before moving into independent production, Richard held executive positions at the Australian Directors Guild, Screen Australia and the South Australian Film Corporation, where he was Chief Executive for eight years. During his tenure at the SAFC he transformed the local sector, overseeing the construction of the Adelaide Studios, creating the groundbreaking low budget FilmLab designed to support emerging local talent, and achieved record production levels in the state.

Richard has also worked as a business consultant with 113 Partners, and continues to provide business and project consulting services to production companies across Australia.

He is currently the Chair of Windmill Theatre Company and has served on other boards, including Ausfilm. He has lectured in media policy at Sydney University and authored the 2007 Platform Paper Film in the Age of Digital Distribution. In 2007 Variety listed Richard as one of its ten Global Executives to Watch. 

23% BAT
37% CROW
40% DOLOMITE

Matt Vesely

Matt Vesely

He/Him
Close(r) Friend

Matt Vesely is a South Australian writer and director, working across TV & Film. Matt works as a story producer, writer and development executive with award-winning South Australian collective Closer Productions.

Matt’s latest short, System Error, was selected for the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival and opened the 2021 St Kilda Film Festival. His debut feature film, the science fiction thriller Monolith starring Lily Sullivan (Evil Dead Rise), was selected to have its international premiere at South By South West in 2023. He is represented by HLA Management in Australia and XYZ Management in the US.

For direct enquiries contact: hla@hlamgt.com.au

IMDB

15% NOBODY'S PERFECT
62% I LOVE YOU, TOO
23% SHUT UP AND DEAL

Matthew Cormack

Matthew Cormack

He/Him
Close(r) Friend

Matthew is an AACTA and AWGIE-winning screenwriter. His writing credits include feature film 52 Tuesdays (Crystal Bear at Berlinale Film Festival, AWGIE Award for Original Screenplay), episodic series F*!#ing Adelaide for ABC, award-winning short film My Last Ten Hours with You, and writer and co-creator of limited series The Hunting for SBS (AACTA Award for Best Screenplay in Television).

Matthew has also worked in development, production, and sales with Closer Productions across such projects as feature documentaries Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure, Life in Movement and Sam Klemke's Time Machine, hybrid doco/drama I Want to Dance Better at Parties, co-creator of transmedia project My 52 Tuesdays, and script editor on feature drama Animals and ABC series Aftertaste.

For direct enquiries, contact: sallym@shanahan.com.au

IMDB

31% STRING
9% CHEWING GUM
60% DUCT TAPE

Raynor Pettge

Raynor Pettge

He/Him
Close(r) Friend

Raynor Pettge works as an editor, designer, and visual effects creator.

Cutting his teeth on TVCs and corporate films, Raynor has since provided effects and motion graphics for a number of visually rich productions including the Oscar-shortlisted animated film The Cat Piano, Sundance-selected documentaries Shut Up! Little Man: An Audio Misadventure, and Sam Klemke's Time Machine, as well as TV series such as Danger 5, Hannah Gadsby's Oz, and recently the hit SBS miniseries The Hunting. Raynor has also provided VFX and graphics work on feature films such as The Infinite Man, Hotel Mubai, and Animals.

IMDB

72% IDEALIST
8% PANIC
20% CAKE

Tilda Cobham-Hervey

Tilda Cobham-Hervey

She/Her
Close(r) Friend

Tilda Cobham-Hervey began her career at age 12 with renowned physical theatre company, Force Majeure, in the hit show The Age I'm In. At age 14 she was a founding member of the award winning Circus company Gravity and Other Myths.

In 2011 Tilda starred in Closer Productions award winning feature film, 52 Tuesdays, directed by Sophie Hyde and was dubbed one of the breakout stars of the 2104 Sundance film festival.

In 2016 she made her television debut in two high profile mini series, The Kettering Incident and Barracuda and was subsequently nominated for the Outstanding Newcomer Award at the 2017 Logies. In 2017 Tilda was nominated for a Helpmann Awards for her performance in Andrew Bovell’s play Things I Know To Be True. In early 2017, Tilda completed filming feature film Hotel Mumbai which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 2018. Also in 2017, Tilda wrote and directed a short film, A Field Guide To Being A 12-Year-Old Girl, which won the Crystal Bear at the 2018 Berlinale.

In 2018, Tilda was seen in Closer Productions web series, F*#ing Adelaide and also starred in two US feature films, Burn and Flinch. Later that year Tilda took on one of her most prominent roles to date, playing Helen Reddy in the biopic I Am Woman, which opened the Special Presentations category at the 2019 Toronto Film Festival. In 2019 Tilda co-directed the short animation, Roborovski with Dev Patel which went on to win the Award for Best Australian Short Animation at Flickerfest in 2021. During this year she also wrote two feature length screenplays, Irma Voth, for Closer Productions and Sheila for Revolver.

In 2021 Tilda created an immersive theatre experience called Two Strangers Walk Into A Bar… for the Adelaide Fringe Festival that garnered great reviews. She is currently acting in the TV show The Lost Flowers Of Alice Hart for Amazon. 

IMDB

44% STORYTELLER
38% CURIOUS
18% DISRUPTOR

Maya Newell

Maya Newell

She/Her
Close(r) Friend

Maya is a director and impact producer. Her most recent documentary The Dreamlife of Georgie Stone premiered on Netflix worldwide as a Netflix Original, and was nominated for a peabody award. Her previous feature In My Blood It Runs about ten-year-old Arrernte/Garrwa boy Dujuan Hoosan and his community,  was produced by Sophie Hyde, Larissa Behrendt and Rachel Naninaaq Edwardson and made in collaboration with those onscreen.

It won Best Director at ADG Awards, was selected for Goodpitch² Aus, a Sundance Institute Fellowship, was nominated for Best Doc and best Cinematography at the AACTAs, premiered at Hotdocs Film festival and screened at many more. The families onscreen led a multi-year impact campaign targeting juvenile justice, education rand anti-racism - and notably Dujuan, the 10 yr old star of the film became the youngest person to address the Human Rights Council at the United Nations when speaking up to raise the age of incarceration from 10 to at least 14 and reform First Nations education in Australia.

Previously, Maya has made short documentaries, directed  Growing Up Gayby and  Gayby Baby, made with Charlotte Mars.  Gayby Baby screened at festivals internationally, was selected for  GoodPitch² Aus, broke cinema-on-demand records, was nominated for Best Doc at the ACCTAs, screens on Netflix us and Uk and sparked a national conversation about the rights of children raised in LGBTIQ families.

IMDB