Experience

Wooden Horse

• Australia
• Entertainment
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Development Executive

  • Oct 2022 - Present



Screen Australia

• Movies, Videos, and Sound
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Development Executive

  • Oct 2020 - Oct 2022



Australian Film Television and Radio School

• Australia
• Entertainment Providers
• 100 - 200 Employee

• Screenwriting Teacher

  • Jul 2018 - Oct 2020



Screen Australia - Developing The Developer 2019

• Participant

  • Nov 2019 - Dec 2019



Screen Australia - Talent LA Delegation 2019

• Delegate

  • Sep 2019 - Oct 2019



subtlenuance

• Playwright: TickTickBoom

  • Oct 2018 - Oct 2018

  It’s late 1996. Sydney’s about to stage its first big NYE fireworks display. The Internet is becoming a Thing. Jodie and Clara are entering their final year of school. And Clara has her whole life ahead of her. Jodie has a damaged heart. What can you learn of life if you’re given so little of it? ​ Bursting with heartbreak, humour and hope, this beautiful tale of female friendship won the 2015 Silver Gull Play Award. “Big existential themes are cogently woven together by Speyer, who presents her observations in a manner that is indelibly tender and benevolent.” Suzy Goes See “TickTickBoom” is a new work by Melissa Lee Speyer and it is a play with a great deal going for it. The themes, characters and narrative are well woven into an entertaining drama with two richly written women characters, a plot which carries an intellectual mystery within it and a lightly lingering existentialism. Sydney Arts Guide “Tick Tick Boom was entrancing in its direct dialogue between the characters … The play is insightful and full of truth. If you are yet to see a play this year, I recommend this be the one.” Weekend Notes “Writer Melissa Lee Speyer is a natural storyteller with a wicked sense of humour. She is also, as one of her former collaborators Michael Dean (Lies Lies & Propaganda) has called her, an amazing performance writer. Her ability to take the raw material of serious illness in one so young and weave it into such a stirring piece is impressive, she is brilliant at setting out the vast complexities of human experience with humour and warmth.” The Buzz From Sydney “An intimate two hander, TickTickBoom is a taut time bomb … It’s taken three years from page to stage and the wait has been worth it … TickTickBoom is a play that begins with charity, gestates in the faith of friendship and ends in hope.” Australian Stage



Ambience Entertainment

• Movies, Videos, and Sound
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Series Writer: forREAL! (multiple)

  • Aug 2018 - Oct 2018

  Series Writer on a live action comedy series for young people (currently in pre-production) Series Writer on a live action comedy series for young people (currently in pre-production)



Matchbox Pictures and ABC TV

• Writer: Season 1, Episode 23 of The Heights

  • Jan 2017 - Oct 2018

  Writer of Episode 23 of Season 1 of "The Heights" (currently in production) Writer of Episode 23 of Season 1 of "The Heights" (currently in production)



Ambience Entertainment and 10 Peach

• Series Writer: Random and Whacky Season 2 (multiple)

  • Feb 2018 - Jun 2018

  Series Writer on multiple episodes of "Random and Whacky", a live action television series for young people (currently in production) Currently airing 8am on Saturday mornings and on 10Play Series Writer on multiple episodes of "Random and Whacky", a live action television series for young people (currently in production) Currently airing 8am on Saturday mornings and on 10Play



Devised with Lies, Lies and Propaganda and adapted from the Charles Dickens novel

• Writer: A Christmas Carol

  • Dec 2017 - Dec 2017

  The Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future drag Ebenezer Scrooge on a magical journey, in a last ditch effort to save his soul. If he can be redeemed, is there still a chance for the rest of us? “Melissa Lee Speyer's adaptation is a brilliant blend of 19th Century and 21st Century worlds … a though provoking, humorous and captivating reinterpretation of a classic work and a perfect piece for the season.” Broadway World “It's refreshing to see woman-driven theatre — in this case, the adaptation by wry writer Melissa Lee Speyer (whose notes in the program are hilarious) is brought to life by women in the roles of Scrooge and Bob Cratchit … The play is hilarious, thought-provoking, and downright fun.” The Plus Ones “This adaptation of A Christmas Carol by Melissa Lee Speyer is a great fusion of satire, music and social conscious that will leave you laughing as you leave the Cross and contemplate the meaning of Christmas. Speyer has written a fantastically quirky yet relevant and entertaining version of the Dickens classic that is a wonderful example of performance writing.” The Buzz From Sydney “In adapting Charles Dickens’ classic 1843 novella A Christmas Carol for the modern age, Melissa Lee Speyer has done a great job of introducing all kinds of modern references – from climate change to Playschool to Centrelink – and yet retained much of the original story as well as Dickens’ style of writing and the uplifting sentiment that we all love so well … And when Scrooge awakes on Christmas morning, determined to mend his ways, and buys the giant turkey to share with the Cratchit family, the heart soars as it always does.” Limelight “The famous Mr. Scrooge is resurrected, in Melissa Lee Speyer’s retelling of A Christmas Carol. The notorious characteristics remain, but his story is updated for our times … It is a strong adaptation, poignant and accurate with its melancholic observations of contemporary life.” Suzy Goes See