Amanda Duckworth, independent filmmaker

She’s 19. She could have just finished the first year of a double degree in arts and teaching, instead she is preparing to premiere the pilot episode of Clique, the television series she wrote, directed and produced. Clique was one of two feature-length films that she scripted doing her VCE. Yes, in that year that is so frantic and neurotic that all most of us can do is freak out and hope to pass, Amanda Duckworth found time to pass and pass well, and write screenplays for two films as well. One of them was Clique, which she decided worked better adapted to the small screen. She found all the material for Clique from the lives of the people around her. When you think about it, any self-respecting VCE class should be capable of producing a cast that ‘battle with substance abuse, mental illness, sexuality, friendships, dysfunctional relationships, crime and death,’ as she says.