Genevieve
Clay-Smith

Director

About Genevieve

Growing up in Newcastle, my fondest memory from childhood is writing a fantasy novel. Filled with inspiration and eager to empty my imagination onto the page, I happily sacrificed many of my lunches at school in favour of filling my exercise books with a wild story, about heroism, courage, hope and good triumphing over evil. Storytelling has always been a part of me and I honestly can’t image doing anything else…

As a filmmaker, my practice begins with a simple belief: storytelling is a human right. Throughout my career, I have sought to create pathways for people who have been historically excluded from the screen industry, not as an act of charity, but as an act of creative expansion. Because when more people are part of the process, the stories themselves become richer, more surprising and more authentic.

My career has unfolded as a tapestry of storytelling and leadership, from writing and directing for film and television to guiding strategy and creative direction across advertising, the not-for-profit sector and the screen industry.

As a writer, director and producer of film and TV, I am drawn to characters who exist on the edges of expectation, people who are underestimated, overlooked, or navigating the world in ways that don’t fit neatly into what we’re used to seeing on screen. Their stories hold tension, humour, contradiction and grace. I believe audiences are ready for these stories because they are compelling and they offer something unexpected and honest.

As the co-founder and former CEO of Bus Stop Films, I pioneered inclusive filmmaking in Australia and globally. For over a decade, I forged a space where people from diverse and marginalised communities could step into filmmaking. What emerged was not only a training ground, but a community of storytellers whose voices continue to shape the industry in and profound ways. Bus Stop continues to this day, and I am its biggest fan!

Through Taste Creative, where I am co-founder and director, I explore the meeting point between craft and culture; creating work that is considered and alive to the world around it. Within this space, inclusion is not an added layer, but part of the fabric of how we work. At Taste, I developed new ways of bringing neurodivergent people and those with intellectual disability onto sets in meaningful, paid roles, and I incubated the first employment pathways for people with disability to gain professional jobs in film crews.

Inclusively Made grew from a desire to translate over 17 years of lived practice into practical tools to empower all producers, production managers and director to be inclusive in their productions. It is a framework, a language and a set of tools designed to support the industry to work differently, to embed inclusion into production methodology. At its heart is a simple idea: that the way we make stories matters just as much as the stories we tell.

For me, filmmaking is a way of building bridges. It allows us to step into lives beyond our own, to sit in complexity, to feel connection where there might otherwise be distance. It is one of the most powerful tools we have to shift perspective and deepen understanding.

At its best, storytelling doesn’t just reflect the world, it expands it.

Accolades

2019 NSW Telstra Business Women Awards – Emerging Leader category winner / 2016 B&T’s 30 under 30 winner – Entrepreneurial category / 2015 B&T Women in Media Award for Best Creative / 2015 NSW Young Australian of the Year / Young Leader Award in Westpac and Financial Review’s 100 Women of Influence Awards / Australian Director’s Guild 2015 Best Direction in a Student Film / Judges Choice 2015 Women’s Weekly Woman of the Future

Taste Creative

Taste Creative is an award-winning creative agency and production company, crafting work across film, design and digital in collaboration with a trusted network of partners spanning PR, media and strategy. We bring campaigns to life with a balance of creative ambition and strategic intent, working fluidly across film production, print and design.

Our work is grounded in storytelling; creating high-quality content that connects with audiences in meaningful and lasting ways. We have partnered with a diverse range of clients, including BBC Studios, ABC Kids, Sesame Street Workshop, Sydney Opera House, Woolworths, NAB, Australia Post, Special Olympics and Carnival, delivering projects that are both engaging and culturally resonant.

Inclusion sits at the core of our practice. We believe the creative industries should be accessible to everyone, and we actively create pathways for people with disability to participate in, and shape, the work we make. Through our commercial productions, we developed and incubated Australia’s first inclusive employment model for the screen industry — embedding meaningful, paid opportunities within real-world projects.

Inclusively Made

Inclusively Made is a global certification and consultancy platform dedicated to transforming how the screen industry works. Founded from over 17 years of lived practice in inclusive filmmaking, Inclusively Made exists to shift inclusion from intention to action, embedding it as a standard, not an exception. It offers a clear framework for producers, studios and organisations to create work that is not only accessible, but genuinely inclusive at every stage of production.

At its core, Inclusively Made is about reimagining the systems behind storytelling. From development through to delivery, it provides the tools, language and methodologies needed to build environments where people of all abilities can contribute meaningfully, as creatives, crew and leaders.

The platform brings together certification, consultancy and practical resources, supporting teams to implement inclusive practices in ways that are both achievable and sustainable. It is grounded in the belief that inclusion strengthens creativity, that when more voices are present in the process, the work itself becomes richer, more original and more reflective of the world we live in.

Bus Stop Films

Bus Stop Films began with a meeting that changed everything.

The meeting was with Gerard O’Dwyer, a man with Down syndrome (and one of my dearest friends to this day.) I was visiting him for a documentary that I was making for Down syndrome NSW. When he greeted me on his door step, he launched into the entire balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet. It was electric and it revealed a talent that deserved to be seen.

Not long after, we set out to make a short film together, Be My Brother. But it quickly became clear that casting Gerard in the lead role wasn’t enough. If we were going to tell this story, we needed to make it inclusively; to open the process up, not just the screen.

So, in a friend’s living room, I held a filmmaking workshop for people with disability. We gathered to learn, to experiment, and to understand the roles each person would take on in bringing the film to life. That room became the beginning of something much bigger than a single project.

Be My Brother went on to win Tropfest in 2009, with Gerard awarded Best Actor, but the real achievement was what it set in motion.

From that moment, Bus Stop Films was born. The vision was simple: to create inclusive productions, provide access to film education, and advocate for an industry that reflects the diversity of the world around us. What began as a grassroots idea grew into a community, a pathway, and a movement that continues to open doors for people with disability to build meaningful careers in the screen industry.