About

Co-Managing Director and Producer Bunya Productions

In 2008, David Jowsey formed BUNYA Productions with auteur filmmaker Ivan Sen.

David produced Toomelah by Ivan Sen, selected in Un Certain Regard, Cannes 2011. David produced the 2011 Sundance selected feature Mad Bastards by Brendan Fletcher and Satellite Boy by Catriona McKenzie which premiered at Toronto 2012 and Berlin 2013. David produced Ivan Sen’s Mystery Road film which received a Special Presentation at Toronto 2013.

In 2015 David produced Jasper Jones, based on the best-selling novel and directed by Rachel Perkins, as well as Ivan Sen’s Goldstone which premiered in Toronto’s 2016 Platfom Section. David Jowsey produced Sweet Country by Warwick Thornton, which won the Special Jury Prize at Venice 2017 and the Platform Prize at Toronto 2017.

In 2018 David produced the award-winning series Mystery Road. David produced High Ground in 2019 which premiered at Berlin. Across 2019/20 he produced Mystery Road Series 2 which premiered in Berlin Series, as well as the features Loveland by Ivan Sen and The Drover’s Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson by Leah Purcell which premiered at SXSW.

In 2021 David Jowsey produced True Colours a mystery drama series and Mystery Road Origin the series prequel, which premiered at Toronto. Most recently David produced In Limbo a comedy series for ABC TV and Limbo by Ivan Sen with premiered in Competition at Berlin.  He is currently in production on feature films The Deb and Kangaroo.

Co-Managing Director and Producer Bunya Productions

Greer Simpkin is Co-Managing Director of the Bunya Media Group.

Since joining Bunya, Greer has produced the award-winning feature films Limbo, Sweet Country, Goldstone, High Ground, Loveland, The Drover’s Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson and was an Executive Producer on Jasper Jones. Greer Is currently producing Rebel Wilson’s debut feature The Deb and the Studio Canal feature Kangaroo.

Greer has produced all three series of award-winning television drama series Mystery Road as well as the SBS mini-series True Colours and the ABC Comedy In Limbo.

The Mystery Road franchise has won a total of 15 AACTA Awards and a TV Week Logie Award for Most Popular Drama. The series has been a ratings hit; the second series was the highest rating Australian drama on free to air in 2020, the third series Mystery Road: Origin was the highest rating drama on ABC iview in its 15-year history.

Prior to joining Bunya, Greer was Deputy Head of Fiction at ABC Television. Greer was instrumental in commissioning a large slate of drama and comedy including The Code, The Slap, Rake, Paper Giants, Cliffy, Jack Irish, Please Like Me, Devil’s Dust, Miss Fisher, Dr Blake and Mabo. Greer was also an Executive Producer of The Code, Hiding, Parer’s War, Serangoon Road and The Secret River.

Head of Production

Lauren works across the Bunya Productions film & TV slate and has most recently Post Supervised the 6-part drama series Ladies in Black for the ABC.

Her other credits include Post Supervision on the 6-part comedy series In Limbo and two series of Mystery Road for the ABC, the drama True Colours for SBS, Leah Purcell’s debut feature The Drover’s Wife: the Legend of Molly Johnson, Warwick Thornton’s acclaimed feature Sweet Country, and Post-Producer on sketch comedy The Moth Effect for Amazon Prime.

Lauren joined Bunya in 2016 as Head of Production where she has overseen the Bunya factual slate including the drama/documentary series Blue Water Empire, the VR Film Every King Tide, and the feature documentaries Sanctuary and The Leadership which she co-produced.

Lauren was also an Executive Producer on The Leadership film’s 3-year Impact Campaign, funded by Good Pitch Australia, DAF and the Shark Island Institute.

Lauren previously worked as an Associate Agent at esteemed talent agency Cameron’s Management. Before that, Lauren worked at ABC Television for almost a decade, in both the Drama & Narrative Comedy Unit and the Television Marketing Unit.  She has also practised law in New South Wales.

Development Co-ordinator

Sophia O’Rourke manages the Bunya development slate. In this role, Sophia works closely with producers, writers and script producers throughout all stages of development.

Sophia joined Bunya Productions in 2022 as Development Coordinator, having previously worked with the company on two seasons of Mystery Road.

Sophia began her career working in television at the ABC in the production team for Four Corners and QandA. She moved to Broome and worked as a Radio Producer and Presenter for ABC Kimberley. She has also worked as a Media Adviser in federal politics.

Sophia is a Graduate of AFTRS and has produced and written award-winning short films which have screened nationally and internationally. Her writing has been published in Australian literary journals.

Sophia is a PhD candidate at UTS where her research investigates the experiences of autisic women in film – on and off screen.

Producer

Lisa is an experienced independent screen producer and screen funding agency executive. She produced the definitive New Zealand feature film Scarfies (Sundance 1999, Best NZ Film 2001), and worked for Working Title Australia on films such as Ned Kelly (starring Heath Ledger, Naomi Watts), award-winning David Wenham comedy Gettin’ Square and Toa Fraser’s first feature No. 2.

She worked at the New Zealand Film Commission for five years from 2011, initially as Short Film Manager, before becoming Head of Development and Production across a broad collection of films including Taika Waititi’s Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Pietra Brettkelly’s A Flickering Truth, Alison Maclean’s The Rehearsal and David Farrier and Dylan Reeve’s controversial documentary Tickled.

Following the NZFC, Lisa moved to Pūkeko Pictures as Head of Development across a slate of drama projects including Cleverman Season 2; as well as Executive Producing children’s animation series co-productions with China and Canada, Kiddets and Book Hungry Bears.

Lisa returned to independent producing in 2018 on the 1860’s gold rush drama The Luminaries for BBC, TVNZ and Fremantle; and One Lane Bridge (Season 2 & 3) shot in Queenstown, New Zealand, for Great Southern Film & Television, TVNZ and All3 Media.

Production assistant

Claude Baker joined Bunya Productions as an Administrative Assistant in 2022, where he has since assisted at various stages of film and television projects, including development, production, and post-production. He has also worked within Bunya’s distribution arm, Dark Matter, promoting cinema releases through social media campaigns and screenings of feature films, Limbo and We Are Still Here.

Claude completed his Diploma of Film in 2022 after beginning his career crewing for art departments on multiple productions. Now, at Bunya Productions, Claude’s main responsibilities include assisting development, production, post-production and distribution teams, ensuring creative, administrative and promotional tasks are accomplished successfully while also handling general office management.