Amanda Brotchie

Amanda Brotchie, born in Melbourne, Victoria, is an Australian director known for Picnic at Hanging Rock (2018), Mr Black (2019), Girlboss (2017), and Lowdown (2010–2012). She is also a writer, producer and linguist.

Amanda Brotchie
Born	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Occupation(s)	director, writer and linguist
Known for	Picnic at Hanging Rock (2018), Girlboss (2017), and Lowdown (2012).

Career

Brotchie co-created the multi-award-winning series Lowdown (ABC, BBC 4), through the company High Wire Films, which she founded with producer, Nicole Minchin, and her husband, writer, producer and actor, Adam Zwar.^[1][2][3]

Other TV shows Brotchie has directed include Picnic at Hanging Rock (Showcase, Amazon), Girlboss (Netflix), A Place to Call Home (Showcase, Acorn TV), The Letdown Series 2 (ABC,^[4] Netflix), Squinters (ABC), and Mr Black (Network 10), created by Adam Zwar, which she wrote on and set up.^[5]

Theatre credits include The Inner Sanctum, which she directed, and Headlock, which she wrote and directed, and which was nominated for a Green Room Award for Writing.^[6]

Brotchie directed the multi-award-winning short film Break & Enter (1999). Her awards include an AFI award for Best Short Film, and the Film Critics Circle of Australia Award for Best Short Film. Break & Enter screened at numerous international festivals and, rare for a short film, had a cinema release in Australia through Palace Cinemas, supporting Happy, Texas.

Brotchie has a PhD in linguistics, from the University of Melbourne.^[7] In researching her PhD, she lived in a remote village on an island in Vanuatu, filming and documenting the local language and culture.^[8]

Filmography

• Doctor Who (2025) (2 episodes)
• Gentleman Jack (2022) (2 episodes)
• The Letdown (2019) (2 episodes)
• Mr Black (2019) (4, episodes, set up director)
• A Place to Call Home (2018) (2 episodes)
• Picnic at Hanging Rock (2018) (1 episode)
• Squinters (2018–2019) (12 episodes)
• Girlboss (2018) (2 episodes)
• This is Littleton (2014) (4 episodes)
• Zuzu & the Supernuffs (2013) (8 episodes)
• Lowdown (2010–2012) (16 episodes)

Awards and nominations

• Screen Producers Australia Awards: This Is Littleton nominated for Best Comedy Series (2014)
• The AWGIE Awards: This is Littleton nominated for Best Television Comedy (2014)
• New York Television Festival: Bronze Award for Lowdown Series 2 (2013)
• New York Television Festival: Gold Award for Lowdown Series 1 (2011)
• AWGIE (Australian Writers Guild) Award: Best Comedy – Situation or Narrative for Lowdown. Episode 3 – "One Fine Gay". Won with Adam Zwar and Trudy Hellier (2012)
• Monte Carlo Television Festival: Best International TV Comedy (Lowdown nominated) (2013)
• Accolade Competition: Award for Excellence in Comedy – Lowdown^[9]
• Accolade Competition: Award of Merit in Direction – Amanda Brotchie^[9]
• AWGIE (Australian Writers Guild) Award: Best Comedy – Situation or Narrative for Lowdown. Episode 7 – "Who's Your Baddy?" Won with Adam Zwar^[10] (2010)
• Australian Film Institute Awards: Best Television Comedy Series – Lowdown (2010) (Nominated)^[11]
• Australian Directors Guild Awards: Best Direction in Television Comedy – Amanda Brotchie (2010) (Nominated)^[12]
• Australian Film Institute Awards: Best Short Fiction Film. Break & Enter ^[13]
• Film Critics Circle of Australia: Best Short Fiction Film. Break & Enter ^[14]
• The Green Room Awards (Theatre): Outstanding Achievement in Writing (2002) – Headlock (Nominated)^[6]