Want to be a writer/director? Joy Hopwood says ‘start on short-term projects’

From becoming the first regular Asian presenter on Play School, to having a feature film broadcast on Channel 9, Joy Hopwood talks us through her life as a 'slashie'.

Hi Joy, can you tell us a bit about who you are and what you do?

I then went on to write stories, and a few of my pieces have been published in an anthology, Growing Up Asian in Australia, edited by Alice Pung (Black Inc books) and Chinese Australian Women’s Stories. And because of the lack of diversity in the entertainment industry in the late 90s and noughties, I decided to ‘be the change you want to see in the industry’ and started writing my own short films, and then eventually feature films and plays.

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Silvi Vann-Wall is a Melbourne-based journalist, podcaster, critic and filmmaker who loves frogs and improv comedy. They were the ScreenHub Film Content Lead from 2022 to 2025. Twitter (X): @SilviReports / Bluesky: @silvi.bsky.social‬ / Website: silvireports.com