by FilmInk Staff
Australians in Film (AiF) and Screen Australia today unveiled the five emerging creatives selected for the UNTAPPED 2025 Development Lab, the second stage of their acclaimed talent development initiative spotlighting the next generation of undiscovered Australian screen voices.
The 2025 recipients are:
- Melody Chen (NSW)
- Jessica Trinity Fisher (QLD)
- Meaghan Palmer (VIC)
- Ramon Samson (QLD)
- William Sebastian Turner (WA)
The journey began earlier this year with four open-access online masterclasses for all eligible applicants, featuring candid conversations with acclaimed creatives Megan Park (My Old Ass), Michael Shanks (Together), Ryan O’Connell (Special), and Jet Wilkinson (The Chi).
These sessions offered invaluable insight into the artistic processes and strategies for creative success from some of the most innovative storytellers working today.
Following the masterclasses, the five recipients were chosen for the UNTAPPED Development Lab—a bespoke program designed to expand the critical international industry knowledge of Australia’s emerging filmmakers. Each participant will receive tailored mentorship, creative feedback, and professional development support from leading international writers and directors.
“From our first UNTAPPED cohort in 2021 to today, the results speak for themselves,” said Peter Ritchie, Executive Director of AiF. Kalu Oji’s stunning debut feature Pasa Faho, developed through the program, had its world premiere at the Melbourne International Film Festival last weekend.
“I’m thrilled to announce the next round of exceptional UNTAPPED 2025 Development Lab recipients. None of this vital work to inspire and empower the next generation of Australian filmmakers would be possible without the visionary support of Screen Australia, along with VicScreen, Screen NSW, Screen Queensland, and Screenwest, and other industry partners. Together, we are building tangible pathways for emerging creatives to succeed.”
Harry Avramidis, Senior Manager, International and Business Development of Screen Australia said, “This year’s Untapped 2025 Development Lab recipients continue to exemplify the depth and distinctive vision of Australia’s early career creative talent.
Collaborating with Australians in Film and our industry partners to empower new and bold Australian voices is always enriching, and we look forward to championing Melody, Jessica, Meaghan, Ramon, and William as they set solid foundations for long, rewarding careers and embark on bringing these authentic stories to the world.”
To learn more about the 2025 UNTAPPED Development Lab participants, read below.
Melody Chen (NSW)
PENNY LOAFERS logline: (dramedy series): Nineteen-year-old Penny Wu wakes up in the body of her finance bro older brother, Daniel, one week before his death. As Penny stumbles through his life and uncovers the dark truth behind his accident, she must also grapple with painful questions about their relationship, her fractured family, and what it truly means to live a life of her choosing.
Melody Chen is a Chinese-Australian writer based in Gadigal Land/Sydney. Her work combines offbeat humour with vulnerability to tell stories about queer identity, inherited trauma, and the Chinese diaspora. In 2022, Melody was one of 12 screenwriters selected for the Australian Writers’ Guild’s inaugural First Break program. She has since worked as a notetaker and contributor on a diverse slate of projects for companies such as Goalpost Pictures, See-Saw Films, and Screen Australia. As a playwright, Melody took part in ATYP’s Fresh Ink National Mentoring Program in 2023, and CAAP x STC’s Playwrights Lab in 2024. Melody’s surreal black comedy drama pilot, Penny Loafers, was the runner-up in the 2025 AWG Emerging Writers’ Awards and is currently in development.
Jessica Trinity Fisher (QLD)
HOME BODY logline: (dramedy series): After an agoraphobe accidentally kills her estranged sister’s criminal ex-boyfriend, the sisters must confront their differences in order to keep their deadly secret buried.
Jessica Trinity Fisher is a writer/director based in Meanjin/Brisbane. She recently graduated from Griffith Film School’s Master’s Program. She has written and directed several short films, with her latest, The Funeral Planner, selected for the 2024 St Kilda Film Festival and awarded ‘Best Queensland Short Film’ at the 2024 Brisbane International Film Festival. Jess was also awarded a Director’s Placement at the International Filmmaking Academy in Bologna, Italy. She previously worked for The Screenwriting Life Podcast with Meg LeFauve & Lorien McKenna, and was selected to take part in Screen Queensland’s 2024 Channel Lab: Short Cuts Initiative to develop her award-winning web series, Ruff & Ruby. More recently, Jess was shortlisted for the Australian Writers’ Guild’s 2025 Emerging Writers’ Awards.
Meaghan Palmer (VIC)
DADDY logline: (dark comedy series): Thirty-something Mona returns to her small town to await the impending death of her very Catholic father, a doctor who was accused of abusing a child patient. She and her estranged siblings are forced to face each other as well as the shame and speculation from their former friends, while waiting for Daddy to just die already.
Meaghan Palmer is a screenwriter and filmmaker based in Naarm/Melbourne. She has a Master’s in Film from the VCA and an Advanced Diploma in Screenwriting from RMIT. Her short Tasty won an Australian Director’s Guild Award, the “My Queer Career” award at Mardi Gras Queer Screen and was selected at BFI Flare, Toronto Inside Out, Austin, The Iris Prize and was nominated for a Best Screenwriter Award at Austin. Meaghan has worked in various writers’ rooms while her night job is owning and operating queer nightclub party, Thursgay for the last thirteen years, a natural progression after DJ semi-retirement.
Ramon Samson (QLD)
MANO PO logline: (drama feature): After being diagnosed with early-onset dementia, an isolated Filipino-Australian piano teacher sets out on a cross-country road trip to reconcile with his estranged daughter. Accompanied by a young caretaker who pushes him to confront his past, their journey forces him to rethink what family means and how to make amends while there’s still time.
Ramon Samson is a Meanjin/Brisbane-based Filipino-Australian writer, director, and editor, and one of the youngest graduates of the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS), earning his Masters in Directing at 22. His short film I Remember You premiered at the Byron Bay International Film Festival and later screened in Perth and Montreal. His short film, The Detention Kid, was shortlisted for Tropfest, and A Film By had its premiere at the Pierre Cardin Musical Film Festival. Currently, Ramon works as an editor in animation, with credits on Australian series Kangaroo Beach and Vegesaurs, as well as adult animated comedies YOLO: Rainbow Trinity (Adult Swim) and Universal Basic Guys (Fox).
William Sebastian Turner (WA)
FLOODED MINE logline: (thriller feature): Two listless Perth friends’ short-sighted plan to rob their weed dealer on the eve of a road trip across Australia goes awry when they accidentally kill the dealer, putting their dreams of a new life in Melbourne at risk.
Boorloo/Perth-based William Sebastian Turner worked as a lawyer before pivoting to filmmaking – writing, directing, and producing short films in Australia, Denmark, England, and the US, including the short Tidevand and web series Not Quite It. William received his MFA in Filmmaking from Columbia University, where his thesis film, Esperance to Fremantle, was honoured as a Jury Select. The short had its Australian premiere at FlickerFest before screening internationally and eventually winning two WA Screen Culture Awards. William’s feature script, Flooded Mine, was recognised as a Faculty Select at Columbia and his pilot, Heir Apparent, received the Phil Johnston Comedy Teleplay Award. William aspires to create character-driven films that land somewhere in the grey area between comedy and thriller, while championing Western Australian stories that can speak to a wider audience.
Image: L:R Jessica Trinity Fisher, William Sebastian Turner, Meaghan Palmer, Ramon Samson and Melody Chen.
