Lynn Santer

Born in London (1961) of English born Russian Romanian Jewish parents, Lynn studied music under Stanley Sadie, co-author of "Grove" and musical critic for "The Sunday Times". Completing her high school years in London, Lynn migrated to Australia where she studied Public Relations with a minor in law at RMIT, followed by a finance degree from the University of Sydney. Her early professional career was in the world of high finance and in 1994 she returned to her native London where she became a specialist consultant to the British Government on Pensions Legislation Reform. In 1999 her first novel "Sins of Life" (based on her experience with the Life Insurance industry) was published. It instantly became the best selling title for the publisher (Minerva Press) and was optioned by Scorpio Productions in Pinewood Studios. During those five years in London she also furthered her lifelong passion for Africa and the preservation of the big cats with several trips to Namibia and the private game reserves in South Africa of Ngala and Phinda. During this time, she became close friends with Virginia McKenna OBE (then president of the Born Free Foundation) and an Honorary Lifetime Member of The AfriCat Foundation. Returning to Australia mid 1999, due to the ailing health of her father, Lynn commenced her writing career in earnest. Quickly producing two sequels to "Sins of Life": "Into the Fire" and "Evil by Design", Lynn headed to Hollywood to pitch product. In November, 1999, she met Tippi Hedren, iconic star of Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" and president of the ROAR Foundation. The two women instantly bonded over their mutual love of big cats. In 2001, while organizing a high profile fund raiser for The AfriCat Foundation with Tippi Hedren as guest of honor, Lynn was contacted by Meryl Harrison, then Chief Inspector with the Zimbabwe SPCA. This was the be the start of an odyssey which involved hiring ex Special Forces commandos to undertake a covert mission to expose brutal atrocities against endangered big game by some of the wealthiest men on earth. The stories subsequently emerging from this quest featured Tippi, Lynn and Meryl in a YouTube called "Land of the Free", a Nine Network Australia cover story "The Birds and the Big Cats", and a novel and feature screenplay also called "Land of the Free". From 1999 onward, Lynn became a writer for hire and much sought after biographer. She also wrote and produced a number of award winning shorts including "Beauty and the Beasts", "Grace Space" and "Lewis's Piano". Late in 2005, Lynn's father passed away. This tragic event was the catalyst for her meeting Rabbi Nir Gurevitch. The Rabbi was intrigued to meet one of Lynn's high profile clients, Captain Ali Al-Wahabi, the former personal pilot of Saddam Hussein. Under Lynn's guidance and management these two men teamed with Robyn Wigmore, a spokesperson for the Christian Aid Association, World Vision, and formed "Passion for Peace" (P4P). The trio subsequently toured schools and universities spreading their vision of and hope for peace, tolerance and understanding in the world. By 2005, Lynn had also become the biographer and professional manager of iconic Australian folk hero, Alby Mangels, and in 2007 she founded a philanthropic literary initiative called "The Magical Scarecrows". Additionally she had become a columnist in an international glossy magazine called "XL", writing about international celebrities and their philanthropic endeavors. As a columnist, she met Priscilla Presley who was to become another lifetime friend. In 2015, Lynn met and teamed with James Ganiere, CEO of RioVista Universal Productions. Together Lynn and James have partnered to produce a number of epic features, starting with Land of the Free and The Legacy of Gaston Leroux. Priscilla Presley attached as EP to both projects. In 2016, Lynn took another fledgling project under her wing believing the epic Sci-Fi fantasy quests of "Little Hawk" by A. J. Cootes could well become the next major franchise to hit Hollywood. By 2017, a notable collection of Hollywood heavyweights joined the developing franchise which was subsequently renamed "Almythea" with the slogan "Defy the Darkness". In 2018, a number of events took Lynn's "Land of the Free" project in a new direction, subsequently focusing on a non-fiction, feature length documentary with license permissions granted from the Parliamentary Recording Unit of the UK and Kensington Palace for attributable contributions from HRH Queen Elizabeth II and HRH Prince William, together contributions from Sir Roger Gale MP (UK), William Travers OBE, Meryl Harrison (MBE nominated), Priscilla Presley, Tippi Hedren, John Thompson (recipient of the 2019 Albert Schweitzer Award) and Reg Dickason (the former Special Forces operative who helped Lynn plan her mission back in 2001) for a production called "Land of the Free - Animal Trafficking Redefined". In 2019, the first book in the "Almythea" series ("Almythea - Rise of Wingtar") was launched under Lynn's management at the Supanova convention in Brisbane with Stargate's Cliff Simon (aka Lord Ba'al) headlining the event. Today, the special FX wizard from Star Wars IV and two-time Emmy winning director, Bruce Logan, has attached as Director of the film franchise, with Peter Bergmann (Porchlight Entertainment) attaching as Executive Producer and award-winning screenwriter, Steven Finly, producing the scripts. Priscilla Presley has attached as both second EP and cast member "Petelia", Cliff Simon has his eye on the role of "Grey Paw" and James Ganiere is once again co-producing with Lynn.