Karen Bryson

Karen’s passion for film craft and strong narrative informs her work across cinema, television and digital platforms. In 2003, Karen won Tropfest with the black comedy BURIED . Karen began her career producing for major Australian advertising agencies including The Campaign Palace, Clemenger BBDO, Saatchi & Saatchi, GPY&R, BWM & Lowe. Karen has been recognized with top honors at major creative festivals including AWARD, D&AD, Cannes, One Show & the New York Festivals.

In 2007 Karen joined the upstart transmedia company radical.media as Head of Production, moving up to Managing Director in 2009, when a significant stake of the company was sold to entertainment juggernaut Fremantle Media Enterprises. In 2011 Karen joined FINCH as Executive Producer, and in 2015 Karen accepted a role on the management board.

Karen’s work on the New Zealand Traffic Authority commercial Mistakes became an internet sensation and created one of the most awarded television commercials of the decade.

Karen’s recent project, Stop it at the Start , an anti-domestic violence campaign for Australia, attracted 14,000,000 hits in its first month and topped the YouTube Ad Leaderboard, making it the most popular Australian commercial of 2016.

In 2016 Karen produced Derin Seale’s short film ‘The Eleven O’clock’ which has attracted global recognition across the short film circuit including top awards at FLickerfest, LA Shorts Fest & Cleveland International Film Festival. The Eleven O’clock also made Official Selection at Toronto International Film Festival, Valladolid International Film Festival, St Kilda International Film Festival, Palm Springs International Film Festival and Sydney Film Festival Dendy Awards. Most recently it has been nominated for an AACTA.

Earlier this year, Karen partnered the Australian Director’s Guild, the CPC and FINCH to create a paid internship program to mentor women for film director roles within commercial production companies. Karen is CoChair of the Australian Commercial Producers Council, an active member of AFI/AACTA, Women in Film and Television NSW, SPAA and D&AD.