About
With a commitment to diversity, genuine relationships, empowerment and collaboration, Ned Lander Media (NLM) has broken new ground, tackling complex subjects in powerful, accessible and joyful ways. It was established in 2009 by producer Ned Lander, former SBS Commissioning Editor and then General Manager, SBS Independent.
Credits include the ABC telemovie Dangerous Remedy written by Kris Wyld and directed by Ken Cameron, starring Jeremy Sims, Susie Porter and William McInnes. Porter received an AACTA Best Supporting Actor nomination for her role as Peggy Berman. Box Office hit, Last Cab To Darwin starring Michael Caton, Ningali Lawford Mark Coles Smith and Jacqui Weaver. The film received eleven nominations and won AACTA’s for Best Adapted Screenplay for writer Reg Cribb and Best Actor for Michael Caton. Monsieur Mayonnaise for ARTE.tv. (Official Selection, Berlin Int FF and Melbourne Int’l FF).
Currently, NLM is delivering the fourth season of Little J & Big Cuz, (ABC Kids, NITV, Netflix) a children’s series written and directed by First Nations Creatives and voiced by Deborah Mailman (Total Control) and Miranda Tapsell (Top End Wedding, Love Child). The first season won the Logie, Atom, AWGIE and SDIN Awards locally. Internationally the show was in Official Selection at Chicago International Children’s Festival, nominated for the Prix Jeunesse and runner up for the NHK Japan Prize. The show has been re-voiced in seventeen Australian Indigenous languages.
In development, Byrd & Kovak, 6 x 1 hour drama series co-developed with director Beck Cole, actor Ursula Yovich (Helpman Award winner). Two lawyers are on a collision course to redemption as they battle to save their respective young adult children. Also in development, feature film M.A.M, an action musical about an invincible spy who struggles to get her five- year-old out the door to childcare, M.A.M. will be directed by Ruby Challenger, whose short musical about post-natal anxiety, MumLife, was invited to La Cinef, Official Competition Cannes.
Ned Lander
CEO & Producer
Ned works collaboratively to find new ways to inspire, challenge and engage Australian and international audiences. As a writer, director and producer, Ned has won prestigious awards and launched high profile careers and as a broadcast executive he has overseen more than a thousand hours of independent production across multiple genres.
Ned is currently developing the action feature M.A.M. with Ruby Challenger whose short film MumLife was in Official Selection, Cannes Film Festival 2022. He is also developing a 6 x 1 hr series
Byrd & Kovak with director Beck Cole (Deadloch) and actor, Ursula Yovich, (Total Control).
Ned is currently producing the fourth season of his high-rating animated ABC/NITV children’s series Little J & Big Cuz. Winner, LOGIE, ATOM, AWGIE Awards, Little J & Big Cuz was invited to the Chicago Int Children’s Festival, was a finalist for the Prix Jeunesse (Munich) and runner up for the Japan Prize. The show has been revoiced in seventeen Australian Indigenous languages.
Ned was Executive Producer of the box office hit Last Cab to Darwin starring Michael Caton (Best Actor AACTA Awards), Jacqui Weaver (AO) and Ningali Lawford.
Ned developed and produced the telefeature crime drama, Dangerous Remedy, starring Jeremy Sims, Susie Porter (AACTA nom’d for Best Actress) and William McInnes. Ned also produced the
feature doc Monsieur Mayonnaise (for ZDF/ARTE (Official Selection MIFF, Berlin IFF) about Hollywood Filmmaker Philippe Mora and his family.
He was Executive Producer of the feature drama doc Singapore 1942: End of Empire (BBC, Discovery Asia).
Much of Ned’s work has been with new talent, he produced the feature film Radiance (Most popular film Sydney, Melbourne Int Film Fests) starring Deborah Mailman in her debut role, winning her an
AFI/AACTA Best Actor. It was Rachel Perkins’s first film as director and Warwick Thornton’s as cinematographer.
Projects Ned oversaw as Broadcast Executive include; drama series, East West 101 (AACTA Winner Best Mini Series) starring Don Hany, Susie Porter, Aaron Fa’aoso, and The Circuit starring Aaron Pedersen (Silver Hugo, Best Television Series, Chicago International Film Festival, U.S), also factual series: First Australians, Who Do You Think You Are (Australia) Seasons 1 – 3, and feature documentary The President Vs David Hicks, (AFI/AACTA & Logie Best documentary).
Ned directed and produced the AACTA and Logie winning documentary 50 Years of Silence about Jan Ruff-O’Herne, the first European woman to speak out about her World War II enslavement as a so-called 'Comfort Woman'. Broadcast in 30+ countries.
Ned directed the ground breaking feature film, Wrong Side of the Road (Winner AFI/AACTA Jury Prize, & nom’d for Best Film & Best Original Music Score).
Ruby Challenger
Development Executive
Ruby's short film, MumLife, screened in official competition in the 2022 La Cinef section at Cannes Film Festival and then enjoyed a successful festival run including an ADG nomination and APRA Screen Music Awards nomination for Best Original Song Composed for the Screen. MumLife is a 15 minute musical about post-natal anxiety.
Currently, Ruby is developing M.A.M., an action/musical with a mother protagonist as well as a horror about three generations of women and their mother/daughter relationship.
Ruby directed, co-produced and was one of the story creators on the episodic show Next - a drama episodic filmed specifically for release on social media. See it @nexttheseries on Tiktok or Instagram.
Ruby completed her Masters of Screen Arts in Directing at the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) in 2021. She wrote her thesis on motherhood and the cinema, looking at mothers in front and behind the screen. She has continued to further the discussion about mothers in film through her podcast Mums In Film. Listen on any podcast platform and find us @mumsinfilm.
In her first year at AFTRS, she directed a horror short film, Hyde, which screened around the world in festivals. Her first short film as Director/Producer/Writer, Daily Bread, a WW2 drama, played at festivals around Australia and the world and winning awards including the St Kilda Film Festival People’s Choice.