AWG QLD: Giving yourself a green light

A talk from the writer, director and star of the self-financed feature film All My Friends Are Back in Brisbane, shot in Brisbane in early 2025 and currently in post-production.

What do you do when you can’t get finance for your projects? Make a project that you can finance yourself. That’s what Stephen Vagg and Louise Alston did earlier this year when they made the comedy romance All My Friends Are Back in Brisbane. Stephen and Louise talk through the process from concept to reality, in conjunction with the film’s star Nelle Lee. The discussion is moderated by AWG Queensland Chair Shayne Armstrong.

This is a presentation by the Queensland branch of the Australian Writers' Guild in association with the Australian Directors' Guild.

Speakers: 

• Nelle Lee (lead actor)

• Louise Alston (director, producer)

• Stephen Vagg (writer, producer)

• Shayne Armstrong (moderator)

WHEN: Thursday 11 September 2025, from 7pm

WHERE: Diane Cilento Studio, Queensland Theatre, 78 Montague Rd, South Brisbane QLD 4101

TICKETS: $10 (AWG, ADG, MEAA, and other industry guild members),  $15 (Non-members)

Nelle Lee

Nelle Lee is a Brisbane-based actor, writer, and co-founder / artistic director of the award-winning theatre company Shake & Stir. A graduate of the University of Southern Queensland, she has created and performed in acclaimed stage productions that have toured nationally, adapting classic works and developing new Australian stories. Alongside her theatre work, Nelle has appeared in film and television and is an experienced voice artist whose work spans commercials, narration, and animation.

Louise Alston

Louise Alston has directed eleven feature films. These include three adaptations of New York Times bestselling romance novels for Passionflix, Lick, Resisting Roots and The Will. In 2024, her thriller In Her Likeness was released on Peacock and Tubi and and in 2023, My Husband’s Seven Wives was released on Lifetime. In 2023 her rom coms Three Dates to Forever and The Wedding in the Hamptons were released on Peacock and Amazon for Reel One. Her Disney Original film Back of the Net was released in 2019. Louise’s second feature Jucy screened at the Toronto International Film Festival among other festivals. This film, and her breakout first feature, All My Friends Are Leaving Brisbane, have gone on to streamer success. Her indie sequel, All My Friends Are Back in Brisbane is currently in post-production. Louise directed the comedy series Stage Mums which began as a web series and was picked up by Australian network Channel 10.

Stephen Vagg

Stephen Vagg has worked as a writer, script editor and producer. His television credits include Darby and Joan, Neighbours, Rock Island Mysteries, and Home and Away. He wrote and co produced the feature films All My Friends Are Back in Brisbane, Jucy and All My Friends Are Leaving Brisbane, the latter earning an AFI Award Nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. Stephen won an AWGIE Award for his Neighbours script for episode 6857 – this was the first time in a decade that Neighbours had won in this category. He is the author of the biography Rod Taylor: An Aussie in LA, which was turned into the documentary Rod Taylor: Pulling No Punches and is the author of several plays that have been performed around the world, including the AWGIE-nominated Friday Night Drinks. He has worked as a lawyer and journalist and has a PhD in early live Australian television drama.

Shayne Armstrong

Shayne Armstrong is an award-winning Queensland screenwriter. With his writing partner SP Krause, he penned the thriller Deep Water  (2025) directed by Renny Harlin and starring Ben Kingsley and Aaron Eckhart, the supernatural thriller The Darkness  (2016) produced by Blumhouse/Universal and co-written with director Greg McLean, the acclaimed thriller Acolytes (2008) starring Joel Edgerton, and the creature-feature Bait 3D (2012). In kids’ TV and animation, they developed and wrote the Doctor Who spin-off K-9: The Series  (Disney XD/Network Ten) and the Star Wars: Master the Force character featurettes (Disney XD/Lucasfilm), and wrote the the animated telemovies and series Johnny Bravo Goes to Bollywood, Exchange Student Zero and Monster Beach (Cartoon Network). Horror and thriller feature projects in development include Headless for producer Chris Brown and directors The Spierig Brothers; Theo for producer Kristian Moliere and director Kiah Roache-Turner ; Death Roll for producer Chris Brown and director Steve Boyle; and Black Creek for Kristian Moliere and Grant Hardy (Monster Pictures). They won the Best Short Film AWGIE for the sci-fi thriller Rarer Monsters and the John Hinde Award for Excellence in Science-Fiction Writing twice. Shayne is also a Board Member and Queensland Chair of the Australian Writers' Guild.