OUR TEAM
EMMA FITZSIMONS
Emma Fitzsimons has been working in the film and television industry for 17 years as an executive producer and lawyer. She is a partner at Princess Pictures and works across its entire slate as Managing Director.
Emma has executive produced landmark unscripted series My Year 12 Life and My Year 7 Life as well as a number of scripted projects including Yolo Crystal Fantasy, The Divorce, Superwog, How to Stay Married, The Slot and the Emmy Award nominated Wrong Kind of Black.
Having previously worked for UK broadcaster Channel 4, global production company ITV/Granada and children’s TV production and distribution specialists, the ACTF, Emma is experienced in all aspects of content development and financing.
MANAGING DIRECTOR
Mike is a TV and film producer whose recent credits include YOLO CRYSTAL FANTASY for Adult Swim, SMILING FRIENDS for Adult Swim, SUPERWOG (season 2) for ABC, KOALA MAN for Hulu, PARKED for YouTube & Screen Australia, and audio drama THE ORCHARD for Amazon Audible, starring Eric Bana.
Mike worked at Screen Australia since it was founded in 2008 and before that with predecessor agency the Australian Film Commission since 2005. In his role as Investment Manager at the Federal Government’s key screen agency, Mike managed many award-winning projects including online content, TV series, feature films, apps, interactive drama & documentary, and video games, and conceived and ran many initiatives, conferences, and training opportunities. Mike had special responsibility for innovative digital production, exploring new platforms, finance, and revenue models. Amongst several special programs, Mike initiated and managed SKIP AHEAD with Google/YouTube to support content creators to grow online subscribers, and FRESH BLOOD with ABC TV/iview to find the next wave of comedy filmmaking talent. Prior to joining the agency, Mike held positions with the UK Film Council and the South Australian Film Corporation, and worked with production companies Picture Palace North (UK) and animation studio Monkeystack.
MIKE COWAP
SUPERVISING PRODUCER
LAURA WATERS
PRINCESS PICTURES FOUNDER
Laura Waters founded Princess Pictures in 2003 driven by a vision to support creative ideas, pushing audiences to see the world in new ways.
Born in the US, she studied at Boston University and produced current affairs and documentary television in London and LA.
Laura has overseen the production of a range of groundbreaking series with recent productions including: ABC ME’s ‘vlogumentary’ series My Year 7 Life and My Year 12 Life; the award-winning documentary, The Graceland Happiness Project; Foxtel’s sketch comedy show Open Slather; landmark series from John Clarke, Sporting Nation and The Sounds of Aus; Jonn Safran’s look at cross-cultural love, Race Relations and his documentary on the 2016 Australian vote The Goddam Election!; Peter Helliar’s acclaimed comedy anthology It’s a Date and feature film I Love You Too; Australia’s first Aboriginal sitcom, 8MMM; and Outland, a comedy series about gay science fiction fans. Currently she is delivering a unique comedy/documentary/musical series to the ABC written by Andrew Hansen and Chris Taylor from The Chaser and developing as many mind-boggling things as she can handle.
Recently Princess partnered with the acclaimed animation company Bento Box to not only produce original Australian adult animation, but also establish a studio based in Melbourne. Currently Princess Bento is in production on several animated series, including Yolo and Smiling Friends for Adult Swim, and Koala Man for Hulu.
Laura started her career in animation in London, back in 2000. During her twenty something years in production, Laura has worked with numerous animation studios on a variety of animation styles utilising a number of different production methodologies! Shows such as Bob the Builder, PINGU, Fireman Sam, Bluey, Kitty is Not a Cat, Ginger Snaps and Angelina Ballerina. She produced an award winning short film called The Meek and an online series culminating in a playable game, called Dan the Man. She's also worked on The Diary of Anne Frank, Smiling Friends, YOLO: Silver Destiny, Koala Man, Hazbin Hotel and a few more too.
At Princess Bento, Laura assesses all new projects for the studio, she supervises the productions from start to finish and oversees the operational side of the business. Laura loves seeing a happy crew and feels like she's working her dream job.
LAURA DIMAIO
HEAD OF PRODUCTION
SUE SKINNER
HEAD OF FINANCE
Sue started off her career as a Chartered Accountant and moved to industry working at various large corporations across several very different industries, such as book publishing, steel manufacturing and stockbroking, giving her a broad range of finance experience. She entered the world of TV in 2011 and hasn’t looked back.
Sue has worked as a Finance Manager and Head Production Accountant in both Entertainment and Drama on many fun shows. Sue joined Princess Bento in early 2021. She is across the slate for all shows in the animation studio including the ones in development, the ones in production and the ones now completed and on air. Working with our amazing broadcasters, strategic partners and creators is a highlight. She is inspired by the clever people in the world of animation. Sue is flexible and adaptable, enjoys a good laugh, loves working with great people and is powered by coffee. When she is not working Sue spends her time with her family, friends and planning her next overseas holiday.
Adrian has over 20 years experience within animation, visual effects and games industries. In that time his roles have included I.T. Systems Administration, Head of CG, 3D Pipeline Developer, Lead Artist and 3D Generalist.
With Adrian's wide range of experience he is uniquely suited to be able to find technical solutions ensuring productive work across all departments... and he loves golf!
ADRIAN OOSTERGETEL
SENIOR TECHNICAL DIRECTOR
JESS HOPCRAFT
DEVELOPMENT PRODUCER & TALENT ACQUISITION MANAGER
While studying the Advanced Diploma of Screenwriting at RMIT Jess turned 3 weeks of placement into a year and a half of employment and a crash course in animation production. After this she landed a job at BES Animation and in her six years there, she worked across several projects, including three seasons of Kitty Is Not A Cat where she was a writer, script editor and production manager.
After going freelance in early 2020 she has worked across the development of several animated projects with different studios, received development funding for her own adult animated series from Film Victoria and was a writer and the script producer on the series Big Words Small Stories.
Jess thoroughly enjoys working in animated content production and her experience gives her unique insight into the intersection of creativity and production. Something she has also made a part of her roles over the years is championing diversity in crews and encouraging quieter voices into new and different opportunities. This is how she found herself in the role of Development Producer and Talent Acquisition Manager at Princess Bento, where she is working across the incredible animated slate and curating harmonious and talented teams for each project.
Anaiwan woman Naomi has loved cartoons for as long as she can remember and was pretty excited to learn you could make a career out of creating them. She studied the Advanced Diploma of Professional Screenwriting at RMIT, and since then has worn many hats in the industry.
She has written for children's animation series, including Kitty is Not a Cat, and worked in development with clients like eOne as a writer, producer and director. Most recently, she has worked as a Production Manager on HULU series Koala Man.
As an Associate Producer, Naomi is passionate about creating harmonious work environments where people feel welcome and empowered to carry out their roles in order to bring series and features to life. She's also not bad with a budget and schedule!
In her spare time, she indulges her loves of photography, interior decorating and making up catchphrases for her cat.
NAOMI HOLMES
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER
SOPHIE WENTZEL-LEWIS
As the Studio's People & Culture Coordinator, Sophie provides crewing and production support across all Princess Bento shows. She works closely with the Head of Production and the Talent Acquisition Manager in launching new productions, sourcing amazing crews and running the Princess Bento Graduate Program.
Before joining the Princess Bento team, Sophie studied screenwriting at AFTRS while working primarily in live action short films and comedy community channel productions.
Sophie lives and breathes reading (and writing!) screenplays... and ramen too.
PEOPLE & CULTURE COORDINATOR
As the Studio Manager, Esther is the first point of contact. Esther is a typical Gemini who loves to connect with and assist others. When she’s not talking about astrology, you can find her assisting the Princess Bento staff with whatever they need. She loves to laugh, dance, and be in nature.
ESTHER JONES
STUDIO MANAGER