A partner in the film and television production company Grace Films, Josh Wakely is a director, screenwriter, producer and published author.
One of Josh's earlier works - "Pearl Brothers" which he co-wrote - was a finalist in the Paramount Pictures sponsored Chesterfield Writers fellowship. His play, "Missing", was shortlisted for the influential Patrick White Award, making him the youngest finalist ever.
Since then, his relentless creative energy has generated feature films, short dramas, books, plays and television series.
My Mind's Own Melody is a musical collaboration between Josh and Daniel Johns - frontman of the Australian supergroup Silverchair. It stars David Lyons in the lead and features the voice of Golden Globe winner Lisa Gerrard. The development of the project has seen Josh and Daniel speak at the prestigious TED conference about their powerful collaboration.
My Mind's Own Melody will be screened as a short film in NY and LA this June, followed by a Sydney premiere in July 2012. A feature version is in development and slated for production in 2013.
Mixtape, a feature written by Josh and to be produced by Rosemary Blight of Goalpost Pictures Australia, is in pre-production with a shoot date scheduled for late 2012.
Josh will make his feature film debut with Born to Run, scheduled to begin principal photography in November of this year. Based on his own original screenplay, Born to Run is a coming of age road movie set in the 1960s.
Also in development is the feature film Birthright, with key creative attachments including leading Australian actors Don Hany and David Lyons.
His debut novel, a thriller entitled A Type of Remembering, will be published shortly by Pan Macmillan/Picador.
Josh studied acting at the prestigious Western Australian Academy of Dramatic Art (WAAPA). While at the Academy, Josh transitioned into working behind the camera, winning several prizes at the Adelaide Short Film Festival, and garnering seven WA Screen Award nominations for short films which he wrote, directed and produced. Josh served as a writer on the acclaimed family series Lockie Leonard, which was nominated for a BAFTA and won an Australian Film Institute Award for Best Children's Drama.
