To engage Zac for commissioned work, script reports or other for–hire screenwriting services, please contact him directly at zac@farmhandfilms.com.
Zac Gillam (LLB/BA)
(Grad. Dip. - Film and TV)
Writer/Director
Zac has an LLB & BA (English) from the University of Western Australia, and is a graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts, where he completed a Graduate Diploma in Film and Television (Narrative) in 2008.
LONGLISTED: 2005 INSITE Australian Writers Guild (AWG)/Adelaide Film Festival Unproduced Feature Screenplay Competition for The End of Work (Later optioned, developed and produced by White Hot Productions as The Menkoff Method.)
SHORTLISTED: 2006 Screenwest Bill Warnock Unproduced Feature Screenplay Award for Tough Love.
SHORTLISTED: 2011 Edward Albee International Playwriting Residency (New York) for Moon Unit.
SHORTLISTED: 2011 AWG Kit Denton Disfellowship for The Coal Face (TV concept).
SELECTED: 2014 AWG Platform X Development Lab for Corrosive Zone (Game concept). Inducted into the AWG Pathways Program.
SELECTED: 2015 ‘Post, Script & Direct’ Pitching Program Melbourne International Film Festival for The Cameleer and Chris Crucifix.
NOMINATED: 2016 Connect Short Film Festival, Best Australian Drama for Connection.
DEBUT FEATURE SCREENPLAY: 2016, The Menkoff Method produced by White Hot Productions, directed by David Parker, starring Noah Taylor, Catherine McClements, Lachlan Woods and Jessica Clarke. Theatrically released in Australia, December 2016. See trailer below.
SELECTED: 2018 Plot Twist Narrative Games Workshop.
SELECTED: 2018 Film Victoria Key Talent Placements Register (Writers)
FUNDING RECIPIENT: 2017, 2018 and 2019 - Film Victoria Development Funding support for The Cameleer .
SELECTED: 2021 ‘Post, Script & Direct’ Pitching Program Melbourne International Film Festival for Searching for Farhad and Crater Lake.
SHORTLISTED: 2022 Hubert Bals Fund - Script Development with Mohammed Reza Jahanpanah and Shirin Barghnavard for Searching for Farhad.
Zac uses allegory and heightened genre to explore social truths. He also likes to entertain! Key influences include Terry Gilliam, Guillermo del Toro, Bong Joon-ho and Jordan Peele.
Prior to establishing Farmhand Films Zac wrote, directed and produced several short films. These can be found at his Vimeo page here
“…weird in a good way. It’s engaging and funny and held together by fine performances.”
“Wilfully quirky and fast-paced. It’s a gonzo romp…”
“…an absolute original, slamming story, character and genre into a neat and beautifully frantic box of its own. Ironic, satirical, sardonic, rich, silly, fast paced and very satisfying.”