ABC Open: From Page to National Stage – writing for the national broadcaster
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Meet ABC Open Producers Vanessa Milton and Emily Bissland as they discuss the ABC Open project, the mentoring they offer regional writers and explain how ABC Open can bring your writing to a greater audience.
ABC Open Supervising Producer Ian Walker will share his theories on how good stories find an audience across the ABC’s networks – and beyond. Newcastle writer and ABC Open contributor Jessie Ansons will explain how she got her start with Open, and how it led her to bigger and brighter writing opportunities.
About ABC Open: an audience generated content project – real stories by real people published on the ABC. Started in 2010, ABC Open has so far received 67,500 contributions. Anyone can publish a story on the ABC Open website – and the best ones are shared across ABC radio, social media, TV and
on abc.net.au.
From memoir-style writing in the non-fiction project ‘500 Words’, to opinion pieces on current affairs for Open Drum, ABC Open invites writers to share their personal experiences on themes as diverse as racism, mental health, secret fears and relationships. Each month new writing themes are published to challenge and inspire.
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Artists in this event:
Vanessa Milton – ABC Open Producer, Bega NSW
Before joining ABC Open in 2010, Vanessa worked as a documentary editor, receiving the Australian Film Institute award for her work on the documentary “Forbidden Lie$”. Vanessa Milton co-developed ABC Open’s first writing project, 500 Words. She is passionate about non-fiction storytelling in any medium.
Ian Walker
Ian Walker – Supervising Producer ABC Open, Sydney NSW
Ian is a key part of the editorial team at ABC Open, moderating, editing, curating and crowdsourcing all manner of user-generated content from people all across the country. He distributes the best of it across ABC’s networks and platforms. His background is as a TV and radio documentary maker and is a former newsreader on triple j.
Emily Bissland
Emily Bissland – ABC Open Producer, Warnambool, VIC
Emily has worked in the fields of outdoor and environmental education, town planning and animation. In 2011 she joined ABC Open in North West Queensland (based in Mount Isa) and then took up the Warrnambool Open Producer in 2013. Emily loves a challenge and the power of personal stories.
Jessie Ansons
Jessie Ansons – ABC Open contributor, writer and blogger, Newcastle, NSW
Jessie Ansons has been contributing to ABC Open’s 500 Words project for the past 2 years. In that time, she has published over 20 stories, or as she describes it, “an accidental memoir in 10,000 words.” Jessie’s short stories have been published in three hard-copy books and five eBooks and she’s now working on her first novel.