AWG & ASE: FIRST DRAFT / FINAL CUT

The Australian Writers Guild & Australian Screen Editors present:

FIRST DRAFT / FINAL CUT: In conversation with Sam Meikle and Danielle Boesenberg ASE 

How does a story evolve from the page to the edit suite? Join acclaimed screenwriter Sam Meikle and editor Danielle Boesenberg ASE for a conversation about storytelling at opposite ends of the production process. Moderated by screenwriter Megan Palinkas.

Date: Wednesday 9 September, 2026

Time: 6:30pm - 8:00pm

Venue: The Red Room, Leederville Hotel, 742 Newcastle St, Leederville WA 6007

Tickets: Free. Please book via the Register button on the right.

Speakers

Danielle Boesenberg ASE is a highly versatile, award-winning editor with films screened at Berlin, Toronto, Clermont-Ferrand, Tribeca, Palm Springs, Sydney, Melbourne, and Heartland.

Nominated for the Australian Screen Editors award for her work on Kiss in 2011, Danielle was nominated again in 2014 for her work on the Guineafowl music clip Little Death (Make It Rain) and again in 2017 for web series Attack! Attack! Art?. She won the 2015 ASE award for Best Editing in a Short Film for The Aquarium. In 2019, she was nominated for Best Editing in a Short Film and was awarded a Special Mention at Flickerfest 2019 for Birdie, which was acquired by Searchlight Pictures after screening at the Toronto IFF 2018. In 2024, she was nominated for both AACTA and ASE awards for her editing of Colin From Accounts.

Danielle’s recent credits include Caper Crew for the ABC, Ghosts for BBC Australia and Paramount +, and the final season of multi-award winning Rom-Com Colin from Accounts for Foxtel/Binge.

Danielle served as President of the Australian Screen Editors’ Guild from 2021 - 2024

Sam Meikle is a multi award-winning writer and creator with credits across a broad range of television dramas, comedies, animation, and web series. He’s worked extensively in development for many of Australia’s leading production companies, his short films have screened around the world, he’s been engaged to develop multiple feature film projects, and he’s a writing graduate of the AFTRS and NIDA.

Most recently, he was a writer, an Executive Producer and co-showrunner of Wakefield (ABC, BBC Studios, Showtime), a co-creator, head writer, and Executive Producer of MaveriX (ABC, Netflix), head writer and Co-Executive Producer of Last King of the Cross Season 2 (Paramount+), and a writer on The Twelve Season 3 (Binge) and Return to Paradise Season 3 (ABC, BBC). In 2023 he was selected for the The Creators, the Screen Australia / AWG showrunning program, and in 2025 he was invited to the Series Mania Writers’ Campus in Lille France.

Megan Palinkas is an awarded writer and producer based in Fremantle, Western Australia. She was a key creative on the Netflix reboot of Heartbreak High, helping shape its Emmy Award-winning first season as Writer and Script Producer before stepping into the role of Co-Executive Producer on the show's final season. Since beginning her career on Neighbours, Megan has built extensive experience developing and producing premium television drama, with credits including The Heights (Matchbox Pictures/ABC) and Reckless (BBC Studios Australia/SBS/NITV), on which she served as Script Producer and Co-Executive Producer. Megan has just completed writing an episode on Two Birds, an upcoming drama series for ITV produced by AC Chapter One and Third Act Stories.