EMILY VERDOUW

ABOUT EMILY

I’ve spent my career finding the human story inside complicated subjects

I’m an award-winning filmmaker, journalist and communications specialist based in Perth, Western Australia, working across Australia and internationally.

For more than a decade, I’ve worked across newsrooms, television, documentary and communications. I’ve covered politics, science, sport, mental health, culture and social change, and I’m drawn to stories that are complicated, personal and worth paying attention to.

Whatever the subject, I’m usually looking for the same thing: the human experience inside it.

HOW I GOT HERE

I started out doing everything

I began as a video journalist, which meant finding the story, interviewing people, shooting it, producing it and editing it myself.

I worked across HuffPost, BuzzFeed, SBS and television current affairs, making stories with people in complicated or sensitive situations where trust was essential to making an honest film. I often worked solo, shooting stories across Australia and overseas.

It taught me to follow curiosity, ask better questions and keep looking past the obvious version of a story.

And because I spent years behind the camera and in the edit, I still think visually when I direct now. I understand what a cinematographer needs, what coverage will matter later in the edit, and how decisions made on a shoot will shape the final film.

Then I moved into bigger productions

My work then expanded in two directions: into network television, and into directing my first feature documentary.

At The Project, I worked with camera crews, editors, producers and talent, with different people bringing their expertise to the same story. My role became increasingly focused on producing, directing and interviewing: holding the story in my head, knowing what we needed to capture, helping people speak honestly and bringing all the moving parts together.

I often produced and directed stories remotely, interviewing people from one location while a camera crew filmed on the ground. It taught me to direct without needing to be the person behind the camera.

Around the same time, I began making The Seaford Experiment, my first feature documentary. That meant working at another scale again, building a film over years rather than days, collaborating closely with a cinematographer and crew, and following a story without knowing exactly where it would lead.

Those experiences still shape how I work now. I bring the technical understanding that comes from years of shooting and editing, but my focus is on the bigger picture: the story, the people and making sure every part of the production is working towards the same thing.

Communications gave me a new brief

Later, I moved inside organisations and into senior communications roles.

That gave me a different view of storytelling.

Organisations rarely need a film just because they need a film. There’s usually something underneath it: a change they need people to understand, an idea they want people to believe in, a story about their impact, a group they need to reach, or something complicated they haven’t quite worked out how to explain.

Working in communications taught me to think about that bigger problem before jumping to the output.

So now, when an organisation comes to me about a film, I’m thinking about the audience, the communications goal and the story at the same time.

That’s the work I do now

Today I direct and produce documentary-led films for organisations.

I bring the journalistic instinct to find the story, the documentary experience to tell it through real people, and the communications background to understand what the film needs to do.

I don’t arrive expecting the story to already be figured out.

Finding it is part of the job.

AWARDS

Walkley Awards for Excellence in Journalism, 2019 Finalist - Television/Video Current Affairs Short:
“Here’s What Refugee Kids Suffering From A Rare Syndrome In Sweden Can Tell Us About Australia’s Offshore Detention Centres” (Short Documentary, BuzzFeed Australia)

Young Walkley Australian Journalist of the Year Awards 2018 Winner - Visual Storytelling
Dangerous Games? (Short Documentary, SBS VICELAND ‘The Feed’)

Young Walkley Australian Journalist of the Year Awards 2018 Finalist - Public Service Journalism
Can An Abusive Man Change? (Short Documentary, HuffPost Australia)

Young Walkley Australian Journalist of the Year Awards 2017 Finalist - Long Form
The Toxic Relationship Between Men and Suicide (Short Documentary, HuffPost Australia)

WORK WITH ME

Got a story, idea or problem you’re trying to communicate?

You don’t need to arrive with a finished brief.

Tell me what you’re working on and we can start with the story.