Graeme Burfoot

Born in London and immigrated to Australia when he was nine, Graeme studied film, television and media design at Curtin University, Western Australia, graduating in 1982 with a BA in design with distinction. Graeme's film career started in advertising as a designer and animator, then director of animation on many award-winning commercials and now one of Australia's top commercials directors, winning visual effects, animation and direction awards around the world. As an accomplished drama director, Graeme won the Australian Film Institute Award (AATCA) for best short fiction film for 'The Beneficiary' that he wrote and directed in 1997. The film was nominated for best short film at the Torino International Festival of Young Cinema, won at the Palm Springs Film Festival and short-listed in the final 10 shorts for the 1999 Academy Awards. In 2000 Graeme directed second unit on the Warner Brothers, Village Roadshow sci-fi 'Red Planet' He had the opportunity to direct Kerry-Anne Moss, Simon Baker and Benjamin Bratt. His outstanding second unit direction on this film earned him the consideration of the Wachowski's for second unit for Matrix 2 and 3 (which he unfortunately did not get) and land Hollywood representation at Endeavor. In 2002, he directed the three-part drama of Robert Drewe's award winning book 'Shark Net' for the ABC and BBC, earned an AACTA nomination for best drama, screened and well received at the New York Film Festival. Graeme earned a best director nomination at the Australian Directors Guild Awards for his episode 'Call Back' of the Bryan Brown series 'Two Twisted' for the Nine Network. Graeme started writing to find stories he'd be excited to tell. He loves writing into the intrigue, loves the twists and turns, deceiving and revealing. Suspense is a big part of his work, subverting plot and character. He has written adventure, noir, science fiction and strong drama. And there has to be high stakes: a heart at the core. In 2016 Graeme won The Australian Writer's Guild John Hinde Award for excellence in science fiction screenwriting - best un-produced screenplay for his screenplay 'Red to Blue'. In 2022, his screenplay 'Hannah's Answer' was finalist in the PAGE International Screen Writing Awards and in 2023 won the PAGE Award's silver award for best drama screenplay. In 2024, Graeme is un-represented and resides in Sydney Australia with his family.