DIY tales of a no longer emerging filmmaker
With monica zanetti
“When you’re a creator and you want to make a project, you have to sign over the rights. But you’re not thinking about things like spin offs or sequels or book adaptations, it never occurs to you that that might be a possibility. Now I’m very big on maintaining my rights… and you will at some point always have to sign it over somewhere but just knowing where you want to sign it over is very important”
— Monica Zanetti
Season 1; Episode 1
We chat to our mate, Monica Zanetti about writing, financing, making and selling her first two feature films - the challenges she faced, from early conversations with distributors, to navigating the Australian tax incentives, contracts, production accounting and finding the right co-producing partners. She shares the things she wishes she knew before coming into the industry, the things she’s still learning, her go to’s to have her questions answers and much, much more.
monica zanetti
writer; director
Monica Zanetti is an award winning Australian Screenwriter & Director.
Monica wrote and directed ELLIE ABBIE (& ELLIE’S DEAD AUNT) which opened the 2020 Mardi Gras Film Festival; the first Australian film to do so in the festivals history. The film has also been accepted into BFI Flare London and will be distributed by Arcadia Pictures locally.
In 2019, Monica received Screen Australia funding to develop her original series UNWELL. Monica wrote an episode of the Channel 10/Netflix series SISTERS and co-wrote an episode of CJZ’s Channel 10 series MY LIFE IS MURDER starring Lucy Lawless. She was also a Writer/Producer on the ABC Comedy series TONIGHTLY WITH TOM BALLARD.
Her debut feature SKIN DEEP, screened at over 8 international Film Festivals and was honored at Austin Film Festival with an award for Best Narrative Feature. The film also earned Monica an AWGIE nomination for Best Original Screenplay, a spot on the 25 Screenwriters to watch list by MovieMaker Magazine in the US and was released internationally in 2016.