Jodi Matterson
{{Short description|Australian producer}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Jodi Matterson
| image =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{birth year and age| 1976}}
| birth_place = Australia
| nationality = Australian
| occupation = Film producer; Managing Director, Australia of Made Up Stories;
Founder of Silent Firework
| works =
| yearsactive = 2004 – present
| parents =
| spouse = Michael Napthali
| children = 2
}}
Jodi Matterson is an Australian producer{{Cite web |date=2023-08-02 |title=Mash welcomes leadership appointments of Tanya Drerup and Ollie Salisbury |url=https://www.mediaweek.com.au/mash-welcomes-appointments-of-tanya-drerup-and-ollie-salisbury/ |access-date=2023-10-15 |website=Mediaweek |language=en-AU}} who has produced films and TV series including Penguin Bloom (2020), The Dry (2020), Wolf Like Me (2022) and Nine Perfect Strangers, with Nicole Kidman.{{Cite web |last=Hooton |first=Amanda |date=2023-10-13 |title='You want Jodi in your tight circle': The Aussie producer adored by Kidman and co |url=https://www.smh.com.au/culture/movies/you-want-jodi-in-your-tight-circle-the-aussie-producer-adored-by-kidman-and-co-20230918-p5e5np.html |access-date=2023-10-15 |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Manning |first=James |date=2023-08-21 |title=Behind the scenes on the hit Prime Video drama The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart |url=https://www.mediaweek.com.au/behind-the-scenes-on-the-hit-prime-video-drama-the-lost-flowers-of-alice-hart/ |access-date=2023-10-15 |website=Mediaweek |language=en-AU}} Matterson was managing director, Australia of film production company Made Up Stories alongside Bruna Papandrea and Steve Hutensky.{{cite web | url=https://www.smh.com.au/culture/movies/you-want-jodi-in-your-tight-circle-the-aussie-producer-adored-by-kidman-and-co-20230918-p5e5np.html | title='You want Jodi in your tight circle': The Aussie producer adored by Kidman and co | date=13 October 2023 }} Matterson exited Made Up Stories in April 2024 and launched her new film production company, Silent Firework.https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodi-matterson-622396130/?originalSubdomain=au
Career
Matterson started her career at university, putting on children's parties, and organising events. She met a film producer at a Starlight Foundation event, who offered her a role as a producer's assistant, after noticing her high level organisation skills.{{Cite web |title=FROM PANTOMIMES TO HOLLYWOOD Jodi Matterson |url=https://issuu.com/sceggs/docs/sceggs_span_news_october_2022_final/s/16917483 |access-date=2023-10-15 |website=issuu |language=en}}
In 2017, Matterson joined film and television production company Made Up Stories alongside Bruna Papandrea and Steve Hutensky as managing director, Australia.
It got to the point where I was getting more and more frustrated because I felt like I wasn’t getting to the next level,” she admits. “I’d made a bunch of things and I knew what I was doing, but I just needed that …” she makes a sprinkling motion “… whatever it was.
Matterson has been involved in the production of TV series such as The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, based on the book by Holly Ringland, and starring Sigourney Weaver. She was also producer of Wolf Like Me, starring Isla Fisher, as well as Nine Perfect Strangers, written by Australian author Lianne Moriaty and starring Nicole Kidman.{{Cite web |date=2021-08-13 |title=How Byron Bay became the home for Nine Perfect Strangers |url=https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury/arts-and-culture/nine-perfect-strangers-paves-the-way-for-a-post-covid-film-industry-20210812-p58i5r |access-date=2023-10-15 |website=Australian Financial Review |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Nine Perfect Strangers |url=https://press.hulu.com/shows/nine-perfect-strangers/ |access-date=2023-10-15 |website=Hulu |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2019-04-10 |title=Wavemaker promotes Philippa Noilea-Tani to national head of investment |url=https://www.mediaweek.com.au/wavemaker-promotes-philippa-noilea-tani-to-national-head-of-investment/ |access-date=2023-10-15 |website=Mediaweek |language=en-AU}} Her credits include producer, actress, and casting. Other productions include Roar (2022), and Little Monsters (2019).{{Cite web |title=IMDB - Matterson | website=IMDb |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1166241/?ref_=nmbio_ov}}
Matterson has been listed as an actress for productions including Down Under (2016), Water Rats (1996), and G.P. (1994).
Patterson is part of a production company called Made Up Stories,{{Cite web |last=Quinn |first=Karl |date=2022-12-01 |title=How Harvey Weinstein's lawyer became one of Australia's biggest film and TV producers |url=https://www.smh.com.au/culture/movies/how-harvey-weinstein-s-lawyer-became-one-of-australia-s-biggest-film-and-tv-producers-20221124-p5c16b.html |access-date=2023-10-15 |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |language=en}} with Bruna Papandrea, which has created a series of TV and films. The production company created a number of films and TV series during the pandemic lockdown.
The company’s television roster includes Hugh Grant and Nicole Kidman thriller The Undoing, Pieces of Her with Toni Colette and Nine Perfect Strangers, which reunited Papandrea and Kidman with their Big Little Lies author Liane Moriarty. On the film side, it just saw Luckiest Girl Alive, starring Mila Kunis, top the Netflix Top 10 chart globally while Eric Bana vehicle The Dry and Naomi Watts starrer Penguin Bloom were responsible for bringing the Australian box office back to life in 2021. All of this achieved against the backdrop of a pandemic, nonetheless.{{cite web | url=https://deadline.com/2022/12/international-disruptors-anatomy-of-a-scandal-nine-perfect-strangers-producers-bruna-papandrea-jodi-matterson-talk-building-made-up-stories-ambitions-for-growth-taking-risks-1235174849/ | title=International Disruptors: 'Anatomy of a Scandal' & 'Nine Perfect Strangers' Producers Bruna Papandrea & Jodi Matterson Talk Building Made up Stories, Taking Risks & Ambitions for Growth | date=7 December 2022 }}
Matterson described the empowerment and opportunities she hopes her production company, Made Up Stories provides:
“For me, Made Up Stories is also about empowerment and giving people opportunities. We have an amazing young filmmaker who just made a short film that knocked us out and we’ve been working on developing her for the last few years to make her feature debut. The editor we have on Penguin Bloom is a super-talented young girl and we want to give her an opportunity. The production designer we had on The Dry is another young girl, incredibly gifted and it was a big step up for her to do a movie of this scale. It’s such a rewarding thing to be able to facilitate.”{{Cite web |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.17658/issn.2058-5462/issue-11/choreography/p3 |access-date=2023-10-15 |doi=10.17658/issn.2058-5462/issue-11/choreography/p3 }}
Gender equity
Matterson is a supporter of diversity and equity,{{Cite web |last=Gannon |first=Genevieve |title=EXCLUSIVE: Meet the Australian women creatives shaking up the scene in Hollywood, from Unjoo Moon to Karen Murphy |url=https://www.nowtolove.com.au/women-of-the-future/the-weekly/australian-women-in-film-71175 |access-date=2023-10-15 |website=Now To Love |date=7 March 2022 |language=en}} including staff in their production teams who have disabilities involved. She had, during the production of Penguin Bloom, a staff member called a director's attachment, who had cerebral palsy and is in a wheelchair, "she’s been so incredibly additive to our process.”{{Cite web |title=Vogue - Australian Producer |work=Vogue Australia |date=18 December 2019 |url=https://www.vogue.com.au/culture/features/how-australian-producer-bruna-papandrea-is-championing-women-on-and-off-screen/news-story/da4bfe6ae2f812de9fc0f23431c57c4e}} Their production company claims to champion gender equity and women in film, 'putting women at the centre of film'.{{Cite web |date=2023-08-02 |title=Mash welcomes leadership appointments of Tanya Drerup and Ollie Salisbury |url=https://www.mediaweek.com.au/mash-welcomes-appointments-of-tanya-drerup-and-ollie-salisbury/ |access-date=2023-10-15 |website=Mediaweek |language=en-AU}}
Personal life
Matterson is married to Michael Napthali. They have two daughters, the eldest was born in 2012.
Napthali is a lawyer, policy advisor and consultant. He currently is board member of Bell Shakespeare.{{cite web | url=https://www.bellshakespeare.com.au/staff-and-board | title=Staff and board }} Napthali is Director of Business Affairs at Matterson's production company, Eddie Wong Films.https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-napthali-4899b667/ He was previously consultant at Made Up Stories.
In November, 2023 both Matterson and Napthali signed an online pledge on the Australian website, 'Say No to Antisemtism',https://www.saynotoantisemitism.org/ that cites The Executive Council on Australian Jewry's statement that antisemtism has risen '482%'https://www.theaustralian.com.au/subscribe/news/1/?sourceCode=TAWEB_WRE170_a&dest=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theaustralian.com.au%2Fnation%2Fpolitics%2Fno-citizen-is-safe-if-tide-not-turned-on-rising-antisemitism-says-peter-wertheim%2Fnews-story%2Fd6d1c119f8d5aacd7ee15f00f79f3193&memtype=anonymous&mode=premium&v21=HIGH-Segment-1-SCORE&V21spcbehaviour=append{{cite web | url=https://www.ecaj.org.au/antisemitism-report/ | title=Antisemitism Reports | date=14 August 2019 }} six weeks after the events of October 7.{{cite web | url=https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/what-we-do/where-we-work/palestine | title=Palestine }} The signatories include Matterson's Made Up Stories colleagues, Papandrea and Hutensky. Independent Australian media company Crikey refutes this data.{{cite web | url=https://www.crikey.com.au/2023/12/06/anti-semitism-redefine-israel-palestine-gaza-stc/ | title=Anti-Semitism's capacity to spread is extraordinary, but it's dangerous to try to redefine it | date=6 December 2023 }}
Napthali was included in the 'z600' list, a group of over 600 individuals in a WhatsApp group chat whose members identified as Zionists.{{cite web | url=https://michaelwest.com.au/doctors-doxed-albanese-to-criminalise-doxing/ | title=Doxing hypocrisy: Pro-peace doctors doxed en masse | date=14 February 2024 }} The group were industry professionals working in creative industries (music, arts, museums, film, etc.). The private group chat was leaked and its contents shared.{{cite web | url=https://everythingisfine.beehiiv.com/p/highlights-from-the-leaked-zionist-groupchat | title="Can we get lawyers onto it?" }} The group was heavily criticized for encouraging the doxxing of pro-Palestinians living in Australia.
Awards
Matterson has been nominated for and won a number of awards, including AACTA and FCCC awards, for her various film and TV series.{{Cite web |title=Jodi Matterson |url=https://www.asiapacificscreenawards.com/apsa-academy-members/jodi-matterson |access-date=2023-10-15 |website=Asia Pacific Screen Awards |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=2021-12-05 |title=AACTA Awards 2021: All The Winners |url=https://10play.com.au/10-play-trending/articles/aacta-awards-2021-all-the-nominees/tpa211202ocgwl |access-date=2023-10-15 |website=10 play |language=en-AU}}
- 2022 - Wolf Like Me, AACTA award, best drama series.{{Cite web |date=2022-05-15 |title=The 2022 Australian Cinematography Awards |url=https://www.stefanduscio.com/blog/2022/5/15/the-2022-australian-cinematography-awards |access-date=2023-10-15 |website=STEFAN DUSCIO ACS |language=en-GB}}
- 2021 - The Dry, best film, FCCC award, nominee.
- 2021 - Penguin Bloom - AACTA award, nominee.
- 2014 - Twisted, Tropfest, 3rd prize, shared with Stuart Bowen, Ilana Lazar.
- 2013 - Not Suitable for Children, FCCC award, Best Film, nominee.{{Cite web |title=Jodi Matterson - Awards |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1166241/awards/ |access-date=2023-10-15 |website=IMDb |language=en-US}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matterson, Jodi}}
Category:Australian women film producers
Category:Australian film producers
Category:Australian women television producers