Bus Stop Films has brought together an intersectionally diverse group of industry representatives and advocates to help us shape a broad, dynamic and relevant program of speakers.
Lisa Cox
Advertising consultant and disability advocate.
Lisa Cox is a TEDx speaker, author, globally published writer, internationally awarded thought leader and inclusive communications consultant. Combining her professional background in advertising and media, with a lived experience of disability, Lisa is committed to improving employment outcomes for people with a disability by empowering professionals in some of the world’s most influential industries, like film and advertising. Her solutions-focused approach is helping professionals better navigate the nuances of disability inclusion through their content and workplace practices. Lisa is the inaugural Disability Affairs Officer at Media Diversity Australia, has worked with Advertising Council Australia’s Diversity & Inclusion Taskforce and currently sits on Griffith University Inclusive Futures Engagement Council. Read more at www.lisacox.co
Producer, recent Co Chair Commercial Producers Council
Pip Smart has an impactful history in the industry, having worked at the coalface of commercial and film production as a Producer and Executive Producer for twenty-five years. She is currently Partner and EP at the highly awarded production company Revolver.
She has produced countless high-profile campaigns for some of the world’s best directors including Steve Rogers, Kim Gehrig and Andreas Nilsson to name a very select few. She has contributed to global campaigns for clients including Apple, Supercell, Nike, Heineken, Old Spice, Uber and Tourism Australia amongst many others, which have in turn, received numerous Grand Prix, Gold Lions and other international awards.
Throughout her time at Revolver, Pip has played an integral role in nurturing creative talent within the company, helping to develop and launch many new director’s careers with an acute understanding of creative film making and advertising. Pip has a deep knowledge and understanding of filmmaking, commercial production and ultimately what makes the best work, an understanding that comes from a genuine wealth of experience.
Disability advocate, filmmaker and Access Coordinator
Chanel Bowen is a regional film producer and programmer who is passionate about community-driven films and deliveringAustralian content to audiences. Chanel graduated from Curtin University in 2016 with a Bachelor of Arts (Film and TV) and Bachelor of Commerce (International Business and Accounting) having studied in Perth and internationally with courses in China, Denmark and Canada. Chanel is a proud member of the disability and hard-of-hearing communities and is a passionate advocate for disability stories on screen. Chanel has partnered with A2K Media on the Industry Advisory Committee for Disability Justice Lens and serves on the Minister’s Advisory Committee for Disability in Western Australia reporting to Honorable Don Punch, Minister for Disability.
Becoming passionate about awareness of brain injuries, how common and diverse they are – Chanel has worked with the Australian Society for Study of Brain Injury, Shelter WA and studied Traumatic Brain Injury at the University of Tasmania.
Chanel is trained as an Access Coordinator with Bridge06 and Screen Australia, prior to this developing guidelines for the role through case studies with Bus Stop Films CEO and COO Tracey Corbin-Machett and Dianna La Grassa. Chanel currently works alongside Bus Stop Films founders Eleanor Winkler and Genevie Clay-Smith as Producers Attachment on the first inclusively made feature film in Australia, Baby Cat which will go into production in 2023. Chanel has been awarded the Regional to Global Screenworks and Australians In Film Internship in LA for 2022 allowing her to expand her producing experience with Animal
Logic Entertainment and Truant Pictures in the USA. Chanel has worked for CinefestOZ Film Festival as the Film Manager for feature film content since 2016 and passionately delivers Australian content to audiences across regional Australia. Arguably
the most enjoyable part of Chanel’s job is working with locals in remote and regional locations on films, helping them to experience life ‘on set’ and deliver believable performances, most recently doing so with locals around Bremer Bay with Tim Winton’s young adult fiction adaption to screen, Blueback. Chanel has been recognised by Screen Producers Australia as a ‘One to Watch’ and will be mentored throughout the first half of 2023 by Goalpost Pictures founders Rosemary Blight and Kylie du Fresne. In her spare time, Chanel likes to cook dumplings from scratch, surf or swim in the ocean and talk to her chickens about the meaning of life.
Disability advocate, actor, filmmaker and Bus Stop Films board member
Emily Dash is an emerging writer, actor, producer and speaker. She graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Arts (Sociology) (Gender Studies) in 2013, achieving First Class Honors in Sociology.
Emily began her artistic practice in 2014. In 2015/16 she engaged in a professional writing mentorship to develop Red Door Arts’ “CONNECT Project”, a multidisciplinary street performance exploring inclusion co-written and co-curated with Alyson Evans. Emily also starred in this performance.
Her debut short film “I Am Not A Work of Art” was part of Metro Screen’s 2015 Screenability program. An early development of this piece was exhibited at the 2015 Adelaide Film Festival. Her second film was Can You See Me Theatre’s “The Cards I’m Dealt” (2015), shortlisted for Tropfest Short Film Festival 2016. Emily wrote and starred in both these works. She also wrote a film entitled “Reimagining the Village” for Rozelle Neighbourhood Centre and Maitree House. Another film credit is Johanna Garvin’s short film “The Milky Pop Kid” (Highly Commended for Writing – Sydney Film Festival 2017), which she co-wrote and starred in.
She was the sole writer of her most recent film “Groundhog Night” directed by Genevieve Clay-Smith for Bus Stop Films, which premiered at Sydney Film Festival 2020 and screened in Flickerfest 2021, CinefestOZ and the Travelling Film Festival 2020. She starred alongside Robyn Nevin, John Batchelor, Susan Prior, Genevieve Clay-Smith and Chris Haywood. It is currently being developed for TV and has had both national and International success.
Nathan Borg (He/Him) is a Deaf, Queer actor and advocate within the Australian film, television and theatre industry. He is recognised for his Deaf roles in “Neighbours”, “BONDS,” and has gained visibility for his advocacy work, including interviews on ABC, Channel 7, Channel 10, and the ListenABLE Podcast. Nathan will be in an upcoming deaf film, “My Melbourne” which will be released in cinemas 2024. Fluent in both English and Auslan, Nathan is also a cochlear implant user.
CEO Inclusively Made, Access expert, entertainer, paralympian and BSF Advisory board member
Paul Nunnari is a Paralympic medallist, performer and disability advocate. In 2022 Paul received the Public Service Medal for outstanding public service to New South Wales, particularly in the field of access and inclusion.Paul’s exploits as a performer came to prominence as “The Other Superman” on Australia's Got Talent in 2013. Since this time Paul has performed around the world, including setting a Guinness World Record on the Italian production of La Notte Dei record in Rome in 2019. This was followed by performances with The Wiggles in 2020, a performance at World Expo Dubai in 2021 and the principal act for Australia Day Live at Circular Quay in 2023.
Paul’s film credits include the infamous Wheelchair Zombie in Little Monsters by Australian director Abe Forsythe in 2019. He appeared in the ABC’s production of Fresh Blood Pilot Season (2015), Bus Stop Films Taking Back the Waves (2017) and in 2019 was key talent for the Blackmore’s Good Health Changes Everything campaign which included global distribution.
Paul’s live stage credits include Justene Williams' production of She Conjured the Clouds as part of the Sydney Festival, La Soiree at the Sydney Opera House and with The Wiggles in 2020.
Disability advocate, filmmaker and Access Coordinator
Stephanie Dower is a screen producer, writer, consultant, and access coordinator based in Brisbane, Australia. In 2021, Stephanie produced and edited short film Sunshine, a project funded through Screen Queensland’s RIDE Shorts program in collaboration with Taste Creative and Bus Stop Films. The film premiered at the Brisbane International Film Festival and later went on to screen at the Cleveland International Film Festival in the USA. More recently, Stephanie was a producer on short film And The Ocean Agreed, a film written, directed and produced by AWGIE-winner Tanya Modini.
Stephanie’s advocacy efforts as a filmmaker living with disability has seen her become a member of Screen Queensland’s Equity and Diversity Taskforce and appointed as an advisor to the Screen Producers’ Australia Council. Stephanie is also a regular co-host of Attitude Foundation’s ReFramedPodcast and works as an associate at disability inclusion consultancy firm, Get Skilled Access.
Brandon is an actor, writer, singer and producer and a proud Indigenous Australian of the Yuin Nation living with an invisible disability. I have been involved with community theatre, film and screen for over 8 years participating in 20+ different theatre productions, including Bonnie & Clyde: The Musical as Buck Barrow, Cannibal The Musical: as James Humphrey, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest as Aide Warren and Angels In America Part 1 as Martin Heller and various other roles. I have been involved in the critically acclaimed hit TV show Mr Inbetween and the reboot of the 90’s Aussie show Heartbreak High. I have been a part of the Bus Stop Films Accessible Film Studies Program for 3 years now and I am absolutely loving it. I have recently been honoured to be a Bus Stop Films Ambassador for Wollongong and I am enjoying the work that is associated with this title. I hope to bring more awareness that is aligned with the core values of this amazing company.I am currently producing a short film with my friends for our film company that we created very recently, and are hoping to make a big impact in the movie scene!
Tracey is a proud hard of hearing woman with a passion for film, advocacy and inclusion. As CEO of Bus Stop Films she is advocating for greater representation of people with disability in the screen industry, receiving an OAM in 2023 for service to the arts and to people with disability. Her 25-year career has crossed social housing, women’s domestic violence services, including 6 years as the State Manager of Women’s Domestic Violence Court Assistance Program and the film and television industry, working with a number of industry services including Screen NSW, Event Cinemas and Women in Film and TV (WIFT) NSW.
Her advocacy work in the screen industry has seen her lead on strategies including “Screenability” and “She Shoots” at Screen NSW and WIFT’s Raising Films Australia and growing the work of Bus Stop Films on a global scale.
Tracey is an Includeability Ambassador on disability employment to the Australian Human Rights Commission and a Director of Deaf Sports Australia and Northcott (Disability Services). She is also a member of the Screen Australia’s Gender Matter Taskforce, Screen Producer’s Australia Respectful Workplaces Reference Group and TAFE NSW Creative Industries Taskforce. Tracey was a member of the Australian delegation of disability advocates to the United Nation’s 15th Conference of State Parties to The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Tracey is Executive Producer of Bus Stop’s slate and co-produced films including Groundhog Night and Valiant.
Tracey holds a Bachelor of Arts, Welfare Studies (WSU) and a Diploma of Business, Frontline Management (UTS).
With over 10+ years of experience in the education sector, an MBA graduate and a NIDA trained actress Dianna is our Chief Operating Officer and resident Producer. Her background in adult education underpins the delivery of our Accessible Film Studies Program.
As the COO it has given her great pleasure to watch the organisation pave ground-breaking pathways for the inclusion of people with disabilities in the film industry and watch the students blossom in these interactive and unique environments, seeing them develop real life skills and opportunities for their passion. Dianna has produced more than 25 film projects with Bus Stop Films including the multi award winning Groundhog Night and What Was it Like? and acclaimed films Filters, Visible and This Is News Radio.
Hugues joins the Bus Stop Films team after a storied career in the media, entertainment and digital marketing world. Managing his own integrated creative agency, Guerrilla Films, Hugues worked alongside, consulted and produced cross-platform media campaigns for some of Australia’s most beloved and recognisable brands and institutions.
Outside of the professional environment, Hugues devotes his time in volunteering and fund-raising for several philanthropic enterprises and local organisations as well as mentoring and training young athletes in the football, boxing and fitness world.
Always up for a chat, a kick, a training session or a surf, Hugues brings his composed and (self-proclaimed) “geeky analytics” approach to the Bus Stop family and community with a smile and dedicated enthusiasm.
Serena is from Ireland and has 10 years of experience in marketing working across various sectors from FMCG, hospitality and not for profit. Prior to working at Bus Stop Films Serena worked at hospitality chain Merivale managing top tier events. Serena loves everything about marketing including design, copywriting, project management but where she really excels is anything got to do with event management.
Patient and calm, her personable attitude to work means she can foster meaningful relationships with colleagues, stakeholders and just about anyone. Serena loves creating a distinct tone of voice, positioning and brand mission and vision.
Serena has an MSc in Advertising from Dublin Institute of Technology and a BA in New Media and English from the University of Limerick. Serena also works as an ESL teacher in Sydney which fuels her passion for language, other cultures and being of service to others. Serena enjoys reading, Crossfit, seeing her favourite bands and films. She is super stoked to be able to combine her passion for not-for-profitand not-for-profittop-tier and films together.
With a deep commitment to social change and a steadfast belief in the power of advocacy, Michelle is an engaging & caring professional with over 15 years of experience working across the public, private and NGO sectors within marketing & communications roles.
As Marketing & Distribution Coordinator at Bus Stop Films, Michelle is able to focus on her commitment to driving change and improving the lives of others. She believes strongly in social justice, ethical and sustainable living, and creativity. Michelle is passionate about kindness and this principle drives all aspects of her life.
Manager of Advocacy and Partnerships Bus Stop Films
Diana is a writer, director and producer, passionate about content that connects communities and challenges audiences. Following the birth of her son, Diana produced True Vision, a documentary that challenges the perceptions around disability, something Diana had experienced firsthand with the birth of her son Alfie, who was born with Nystagmus and Albinism.
Diana has since worked on a range of social impact screen projects including Under Cover, The Show Must Go On, Brazen Hussies and Why Did She Have To Tell The World. Diana has also produced The New Hustle and the recently released documentary series Founder.
Diana was the recipient of Film Victoria’s Key Talent Placement for producing in 2018, and in 2019 became the first recipient of the Screen Australia Enterprise People Fund working alongside Sue Maslin at Film Art Media.
A passionate advocate for gender equality, Diana has been a board member with WIFT Victoria, WIFT Australia, and was founder of the Victorian chapter of Screen Vixens. Diana has also been integral in coordinating various events including the Australian Feature Film Summit, the Raising Films Forum and Time’s Up: A Forum For Change.
Sarah was part of the founding team of Bus Stop Films, jumping on board in 2011. Showing strong commitment to the organisation, in the early days spinning plates as teacher, support worker and filmmaker. Playing a major role in taking Bus Stop Films programs internationally, Sarah forged pathways for inclusion on studio productions both locally and overseas. Winning several awards including recognition as a Producer at TIFF in 2016, Sarah has since built an outstanding career in the film and television industry, with credits under Warner Brothers, Amazon and Netflix productions in Australia and offshore.
While also honing her skills as a seasoned inclusive educator and philanthropist under several social enterprises and disability organisations, Sarah’s knowledge of both the film industry and disability support sectors blends perfectly in leading Bus Stop’s commitment to disability employment in our newly established Bus Stop Employment business unit.
Sarah holds an Associate of Arts: International Relations and Post Grad Certificate – Global Development from UNSW.
Employment Trainer & Assessor, On Set Support Worker Bus Stop Employment
Seema is a skilled Employment Trainer & Assessor and on set support worker for Bus Stop Employment (BSE). Her role consists of delivering training modules to BSE’s members, and liaising between production companies and members in order to ensure a smooth transition to their work day on set. Projects she has worked on as support worker include TVC’s for GOOGLE, ANZ, KIA, OPTUS, and Australia’s first pictureless film ‘TOUCH’, by MASTERCARD and HOWATSON & CO.
Prior to moving into disability support work, Seema worked for Channel NINE in their newsroom as a Senior News Non-Linear Editor, editing for their flagship 6pm broadcast, along with feature story editing for The Today Show, and Today Extra.
Seema has a keen passion for disability advocacy/inclusion and the film/tv industry, Seema says that Bus Stop Films and Bus Stop Employment offer the beautiful fusion of both and she is incredibly passionate about helping create a more inclusive industry for all to enjoy and be a part of!
Bus Stop Employment is a professional, inclusive and reliable service for all people with disability seeking work in the screen industry and for production companies wishing to hire people with disability in their companies and productions.
