Dreamchaser is a contemporary Australian content studio. We partner with Australia’s leading creators to develop, finance, produce, and distribute premium content across all genres for the global film and television market. Our aim is to harness the dreams of Australian creatives and make them a reality.
Founded and led by two of Australia’s most successful and trusted executives – Hugh Marks, one of the country’s leading Broadcasters, Producers & CEOs, and Carl Fennessy, an internationally acclaimed producer and content entrepreneur – Dreamchaser brings together an experienced management team with a proven record of world-class, full-service execution.
With the backing of global content powerhouse Fifth Season, Dreamchaser provides a unique home for creators to develop exceptional programming slates, cultivate distinctive creative identities and bring the next generation of Australia’s most ambitious and imaginative stories to the world.
MEET
THE
TEAM
Hugh Marks has over 25 years’ experience as a senior executive in content production, broadcasting and digital media, both in Australia and overseas. Hugh’s most recent role was as CEO of Nine Entertainment. Over his five years as CEO of Nine, Hugh transformed the business from a legacy broadcasting business with a market capitalisation under A$1 Billion to a future focussed A$5 Billion digital media business with market leading interests across each of Broadcasting, Publishing, Streaming, Marketplaces and Radio. Including driving and successfully integrating Australia’s largest recent media transaction through the merger with Fairfax Media and acquisition of minorities in Macquarie Radio.
Prior to Hugh joining Nine for the second time in his career in 2015 (he also worked at Nine between 1995 and 2002, joining as legal counsel and becoming head of Nine Films and Television), he had ownership and management interests in a number of independent companies providing content for broadcast and pay TV, talent management, and digital video production. Hugh was an authority member of the Australian Communications and Media Authority for more than two years. Previously he was CEO of the ASX listed Southern Star Group, Australia’s then largest independent production and distribution group.
Carl began his career in Australia at the Seven and Nine networks in Melbourne. In 1993, he joined forces with his brother Mark to launch their first production company Crackerjack.
Crackerjack quickly became one of Australia’s leading independent production companies, known for popular series Comedy Inc., CNNNN, Backberner, The Choir Of Hard Knocks and Jamie’s Kitchen Australia.
In 2006, Carl and Mark sold Crackerjack to UK production giant FremantleMedia. Carl served as Chief Operating Officer of FMA until 2009. At FremantleMedia, Carl and Mark oversaw hits such as MasterChef Australia, Australian Idol, So You Think You Can Dance, The Biggest Loser, The Farmer Wants A Wife and Australia’s Got Talent.
In 2010, the brothers launched Shine Australia where Carl and Mark served as joint-CEOs. Shine quickly became the dominant production company in the Australian market with an extraordinary slate of programming including MasterChef, The Voice, INXS: Never Tear Us Apart, The Bachelor and Gogglebox.
In 2011, Carl was appointed CEO of Shine America and relocated his family to Los Angeles. His production credits at Shine America include the US productions of MasterChef, The Biggest Loser, The Office, The Bridge, Minute To Win It, The Face and more.
In 2015, Carl and Mark oversaw the merger of Shine and Endemol to form Endemol Shine Australia. The company became the largest production company in Australian history. Production credits at ESA include Australian Survivor, Big Brother, Australian Ninja Warrior, Married At First Sight, LEGO Masters, Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds and Offspring.
Since 2010, programs produced under Carl’s leadership have collectively been awarded with 12 Logies, 34 AACTA Awards and an International Emmy Award. In 2017, Carl and Mark also topped the Australian Financial Review’s Power List as the most powerful influence on Australian culture.
Sara Horn is the Chief Operating Officer for Dreamchaser Entertainment. Prior to this Sara was the Managing Director of Production & Operations at Endemol Shine Australia, managing a large team across a diverse production slate including MasterChef, Gogglebox, Survivor, LEGO Masters, Married At First Sight, Ninja Warrior, Big Brother and more. Preceding this, Sara held the position of Director of Production first at Crackerjack Productions and then for four years at FremantleMedia Australia.
Whilst at Endemol Shine Australia, Sara held a concurrent role as the Global Chair of Endemol Shine Giving leading the plastic-free pledge and sustainable production drive across Endemol Shine Group worldwide. This dovetailed perfectly with Sara’s passion and expertise in driving integration of sustainability practices across the screen production industry. This passion has led to Sara being a co-founder of Sustainable Screens Australia, an industry led initiative working to reduce the environmental impact of the Australian film and television industry.
In 2018, Sara was awarded a Masters of Business Administration by the Macquarie Graduate School of Management.
Megan is Dreamchaser’s Chief Financial Officer, a chartered accountant with over 20 years media experience, she is responsible for all aspects the finance function.
Megan has a particular passion for television production, having previously worked at Endemol Shine and prior to that she spent 9 years holding various senior finance positions at ITV in Sydney, London and Los Angeles.
Megan brings extensive acquisition and integration expertise having supported ITV’s M&A strategy in Europe and North America.
Megan joined ITV from Ernst & Young’s Media and Entertainment practice, where she worked for over 10 years across a portfolio of global entertainment businesses in London, Sydney and New York.
Jessica joined Dreamchaser in April 2022 as Executive Assistant & Office Manager to Hugh Marks, Carl Fennessy and the executive team. With 10 years’ experience in the television industry, Jessica brings a wealth of operational, events and EA experience to the studio and has been responsible for all aspects of the day to day running of the business since its launch.
Prior to joining Dreamchaser, Jessica served as an EA at Endemol Shine Australia for 10 years, providing high-level administrative support to the company’s directors across multiple divisions.
Monique Keller is the head of development for Dreamchaser. Prior to this she worked with Fremantle Australia on a slate of factual and scripted projects and with Audible ANZ to commission and oversee a slate of award-winning original podcasts. Monique was based in Los Angeles for several years and worked with Amazon Studios as an original movies executive on over 30 award winning narrative and documentary titles. Monique is an alumnus of USC’s Peter Stark Producing Program, and judges for the Producers Guild of America’s Debra Hill Fellowship and the Jesse Cox Audio Fellowship.
Billy Russell is a Development Executive working across Dreamchaser’s entertainment & factual slates.
Prior to joining Dreamchaser, Billy led unscripted development at Fremantle Australia, and previously worked with ITV Studios Australia as Head of Digital, designing and delivering innovative multi-platform content campaigns. Across these roles, Billy has worked on some of the biggest formats in the country, including The Voice, The Great Australian Bake Off, Love Island, I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!, Farmer Wants A Wife, Australia’s Got Talent, and The X Factor.
Billy started his career at Foxtel, where he developed, wrote, produced, and anchored thousands of hours of music programming for the iconic Channel V. His original format, The Riff, became the network’s flagship program and won two ASTRA Awards for Most Outstanding Light Entertainment Program and Most Outstanding Music Coverage.
Billy holds a Bachelor of Laws, a Bachelor of Arts (Literature), and is currently completing a Master of Media Practice & Industry at UTS.
Matthew joined Dreamchaser in June 2022 as Development Coordinator, helping the Development team build the company’s growing slate of exciting projects. Prior to Dreamchaser, Matthew has amassed a varied collection of experiences across both the development and production of TV and film, as well as in the tech sphere. Matthew spent a year working in Los Angeles, simultaneously supporting the production of an award-winning unscripted format, whilst also developing a large-scale project for the American Broadcasting Company. Upon his return, he leant his expertise to the ANZ team at Audible, the Studio Operations team at Nine and the Producers and Director of Marvel’s Thor: Love & Thunder.
CREATIVE
PARTNERS
Debbie Cuell is a creator and Executive producer of Documentary and Factual Entertainment programs.
In her recent role at Endemol Shine Australia Debbie looked after the slate of factual programs, including Old People’s Home For 4 Year Olds Series 1. Broadcast on the ABC, it touched the hearts of Australian viewers and shone a light on our often-forgotten older Australians. The series was critically acclaimed in Australia and internationally winning an AACTA for Best Documentary or Factual Program and the 2020 International Emmy Award for best Entertainment Program.
Debbie then went on to Develop and Executive Produce Series 2 of Old People’s Home For 4 Year Olds. It too critically acclaimed winning the 2021 AACTA for Best Documentary or Factual Program, and GRAND GOLD at the New York TV and Film Awards for Documentary Social Issues.
Debbie’s other recent credits include Look Me In The Eye SBS, One Born Every Minute TEN, Ambulance Australia Ten, Lost For Words SBS, Great Australian Spelling Bee TEN.
In her previous role in 2017 as Head of Entertainment at the ABC Debbie led a large national team and managed the production, and delivery of a mix of original content and formats, including Panel/Shiny Floor, Factual Entertainment, Observational Documentaries, and unscripted comedy.
In 2022 Debbie launched her production label “Sparkle Pictures” in an exclusive partnership with Dreamchaser.
Debbie is known for bringing integrity and heart to all that she produces.
After finishing a degree in Journalism at the University of Leeds, Emma made the move into television production working on shows such as Xtra Factor (ITV), Britains Got Talent (ITV), Strictly Come Dancing (BBC), and Lets Dance for Comic Relief (BBC).
Emma quickly built a reputation as an excellent self shooter who could glean comedy and insight from contributors across a range of shows.
In 2009 she became a Producer Director at the age of 24 working on the successful BBC3 show Move Like Michael Jackson. She then went on to Produce and Direct both Louie Spence’s Showbusiness (Sky) and A Different Breed (Sky), Where she delivered some of the best shows of the series.
In 2011 she was awarded as one of Broadcast Magazines “Hot Shot Directors” which seeks to showcase industry names, under the age of 30 who are making their mark. After moving to Australia in 2012 Emma has worked across a huge range of shows…..The Amazing Race (Seven), Instant Hotel (Seven), I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here (ITV), The Voice (Nine), The Real Housewives of Sydney (Foxtel).
She served as Co-Executive Producer on ratings giant “Married At First Sight” (Nine) for four series, and was instrumental in making it one of the most successful shows in Australia.
Most recently she has Executive Produced, Netflix ANZ’s first original unscripted series, Byron Baes.
Emma is launching her production label Mischief Maker in an exclusive partnership with Dreamchaser.
Gil is an Emmy-nominated documentary director, producer and showrunner.
Living equally between the United States and Australia, Gil started his career as a producer, assistant director, and production manager across independent feature films, commercials and music videos. His debut as director came with documentary series “The Gymkhana Files” which launched globally on Amazon Prime in 2018 and was nominated for multiple awards, including Emmy nominations for directing, cinematography and sound design.
His acclaimed sophomore series, “Making Their Mark”, was the biggest sports docuseries in Australian history. Released in 2021, the series chronicled the coronavirus pandemic from the inside of the biggest sporting code in Australia, The AFL.
Other recent documentaries include 2021’s “Head Above Water”, which follows four Australian swimmers approaching the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and 2022’s Kick Like Tayla that chronicles the public and personal challenges that AFLW player and professional boxer Tayla Harris has faced in her career.
2023 sees the arrival of “United States Scandal” with Jake Tapper, a new six-part series executive produced by Gil that sees the CNN anchor and chief Washington correspondent interview individuals at the centre of political scandals, digging into what motivates them to break the rules, and what happens when they are caught.
Gil is thrilled to bring his production label Den Of Martians into an exclusive partnership with Dreamchaser to create more best-in-class documentaries for Australia and the international market.
In a decades-long career as a writer, producer, author & lyricist, Posie has created & produced thousands of hours of high-rating, much awarded-drama & entertainment that’s been seen, read & heard all over the world.
Known recently as the creator producer of the international hit “McLeods Daughters” – voted by Australian viewers in 2016 as the #1 Show of All Time” in 60 years of television, and winner of the “Great Aussie Drama TV Binge” during 2020 lockdown – Posie was also the co- creator & co-producer of twice-nominated daytime Emmy contender “Hi-5”. The author of six novels, all best sellers and published internationally by NY based Simon and Schuster, Posie has written lyrics for over 400 songs for “McLeods”, resulting in 3 albums.
A former Director of Drama at the Nine Network in Australia, Posie was SPA’s Inaugural Australian Independent Producer of the Year, and was included by Variety Magazine in its Annual Survey of “20 Significant Women working in Film and TV” along with Meryl Streep. That was almost day and date when her first novel was published and her first album was released. November 2002? A big month. Posie was stoked! A former board member of the Australian Film and Television School and Deputy Chair of Screen Tasmania, Posie was also chair of The Tasmanian Writers Centre. She speaks regularly about writing, creativity and how not to go crazy in a crazy world. In October 2016 she gave the “Hector Crawford Memorial Oration” at SPA’s annual conference. The first woman to do so.
CONTACT
US
Use the adjacent form for enquiries.
Building 26
Disney Studios Australia
38 Driver Avenue
Moore Park. NSW. 2021
Dreamchaser acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands and waters on which we live, work and play. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging.
"*" indicates required fields
© Dreamchaser Group Pty Limited | Privacy Policy
Please note, Dreamchaser Entertainment is not accepting or collecting unsolicited pitches or concepts at this time. You acknowledge and agree that any unsolicited communication and/or submission(s) (collectively, “Submissions”) made by you to us through this site or via email, including, but not limited to, any ideas, suggestions, pitches, concepts, artwork, photographs and sound and video files will become the property of Dreamchaser Entertainment and can be used by us in any manner or form by Dreamchaser Entertainment throughout the world without restriction.