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Fox Studios Australia hires Ausfilm exec

Ausfilm executive Kristy Officer is joining Fox Studios Australia as head of production services, responsible for supporting international film and TV companies with productions in Australia.

She succeeds Catherine McDonnell,  who resigned recently after 19 years in the role and has been retained by the Walt Disney Studios as the local rep for Pirates of the Caribbean 5.

Officer will start at Fox Studios in late November after three years as head of marketing and business development for Ausfilm.

Fox Studios  MD Wayne Borg said, “We are very pleased that Kristy will be joining Fox Studios Australia in this key role. Kristy has an extensive breadth and depth of knowledge and experience working within the international screen sector from her time at Ausfilm. She is highly regarded in the industry and will be a great addition to our team.

“She will play a significant role in supporting positioning Fox Studios as the first choice for international, regional and local producers seeking to undertake production, visual effects and post production in Australasia and the Asia Pacific region.”

Officer has spent more than 15 years in the development and implementation of international business strategies in the film and leisure industries.

Ausfilm CEO Debra Richards said, “We thank Kristy for her passionate work at Ausfilm over the past three years and wish her every success in her new role.”

Now shooting at the Fox Studios is Truth, a US-set political drama starring Cate Blanchett,  Robert Redford and Topher Grace, which follows the scandal that ensued after Dan Rather reported on 60 Minutes in 2004 that George W. Bush’s father arranged for him to serve in the National Guard to avoid the Vietnam War draft. Blanchett plays his producer Mary Mapes, who was fired for so-called lapses in judgment.

Before that the studios housed Unbroken, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Water Diviner and Gods of Egypt.