Originally from the junction of Wonnarua, Geawegal and Gamillaroi country, Hattie Archibald is an emerging director, writer and producer with a passion for drama and children’s content that aims to uplift, inspire and shift narratives.

After working for 10 years as a feature documentary impact producer, Hattie made the switch to directing on completing her Master of Arts: Screen in Directing (2018) at the Australian Film Television and Radio School. Her graduating project, Gut Feeling, a 3 x 12 minute comedy-drama web series, was picked up by ABC Comedy + iview in 2020. Awards of note include: the Audience Choice at Melbourne WebFest, Audience Choice at Minnesota WebFest, Best Series and Best Comedy Screenplay at Sydney Webfest, Best Lead Performance (Bridie Connell) at Toronto Webfest, Best Comedic Performance at Minnesota Webfest, and the Best Student Series at Melbourne and Santa Monica Webfests. The series was also presented at MIPCOM as part of the 2019 Best of Short Form showcase.

Since graduating, Hattie worked mostly as an assistant director before getting a break as a director on ABC’s Play School in 2022 for Down On The Farm, the first episode to be filmed on location since 1999. Other credits since include: the What’s Cooking series, Let The Games Begin series, Story Time Series 6, and World By Night (2 episodes).

Following her passion for family content, Hattie recently directed a live action adaptation of the beloved book by Mem Fox and Julie Vivas, Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge with an ensemble of actors and non-actors, including Benita Collings, Bruce Spence and Mark Haroutonian. The film premiered at the Chicago International Children’s Film Festival in 2023 and in Australia at Flickerfest 2024, before touring the country on the Flickerfest National Tour. Awards include: Best Casting of a Short Film (for Danny Long) at the 2023 CGA Awards and the Gold Award - Best Student Cinematography (for Pete Moses) by the Australian Cinematographers Society.

Other directing credits include a series of kids music videos for Zindzi and the Zillionaires for ABC music and several comedy sketches for We Interrupt This Broadcast, a primetime sketch show for Channel 7 on which she also worked as a 1st AD. Other roles as a 1st AD include for the AACTA award-winning feature Ellie & Abbie (& Ellie’s Dead Aunt); the short film MumLife that was in official competition at La Cinef 2022 at Festival de Cannes; and Rocky & Me, a CJZ film for ABCMe DisRupted for which she was an associate producer. Projects as a 2nd AD include: Limbo directed by Ivan Sen, The Moth Effect for Bunya Productions, Rachel Perkins’ The Australian Wars for SBS and NITV, and Limitless With Chris Hemsworth for Disney+.

Hattie is grateful to have had director’s attachment opportunities with Nash Edgerton on Season 3 of Mr Inbetween and David Gould on Home & Away.

She has a slate of drama, comedy and kids projects in development through her production company, Staircase Productions and loves to talk about how we can work to make more wonderful, meaningful, powerful content in Australia.