Fremantle Australia has promoted Ellie Madritsch to Head of Development and Anna Curtis to Creative Producer, strengthening its scripted division with homegrown talent. The move reflects Fremantle’s commitment to nurturing future industry leaders as the company wraps Heartbreak High and prepares for the final episodes of Neighbours, marking a major creative transition.
Fremantle Australia’s creative engine room is entering a new chapter with the elevation of two of its key talents, marking a moment of both renewal and continuity within one of the country’s most influential scripted production houses. The promotions of Ellie Madritsch to Head of Development and Anna Curtis to Creative Producer signal a strategic strengthening of the company’s vision at a time when Australian drama is experiencing newfound global resonance. Fremantle, home to some of the nation’s most recognisable scripted titles, is reaffirming its long-held commitment to nurturing homegrown talent—an ethos that has shaped its projects, partnerships and industry impact for decades.
For nearly ten years, Ellie Madritsch has been an integral part of the Fremantle ecosystem, helping mould its scripted DNA from the inside. Her journey is emblematic of a modern creative success story: she began at the company as a Development Executive, learned the rhythms and pressures of production as an Associate Producer, and later stepped into the role of Development Producer where she sharpened her editorial instincts and long-form storytelling craft. Now, as Head of Development, she moves into a leadership role that places her at the creative gateway—guiding projects from their earliest spark to the crucial moment of greenlight.
Madritsch’s fingerprint can already be found across Fremantle’s slate. She played a key role on the Stan/AMC series Totally Completely Fine, a dark-comedy drama that showcased Fremantle’s appetite for bold, tonally adventurous storytelling. She also contributed to Wentworth: The Fall Girl, the podcast extension of one of Australia’s most globally successful drama franchises. Behind the scenes, she has been instrumental in shaping a diverse spread of developing projects—some that lean into familiar Australian narratives and others that push the boundaries of genre and format.
Carly Heaton, Fremantle Australia’s Head of Scripted, described Madritsch as the embodiment of locally cultivated talent. Her words underline not just a professional appraisal but a sentiment about the culture Fremantle is striving to protect and extend. “Ellie is a local industry success story,” Heaton said, emphasising that Madritsch had “climbed every rung with creativity, care and sheer determination.” For Heaton, Madritsch’s storytelling instincts—her so-called “superpowers”—and her commitment to creative partnerships are essential to Fremantle’s future. Her leadership will help ensure the slate continues to “surprise and delight audiences both here and around the world,” a goal that aligns with Fremantle’s reputation for balancing distinctively local narratives with international appeal.
In parallel to Madritsch’s ascension, Fremantle has also elevated Anna Curtis to the role of Creative Producer, a position that places her at the centre of late-stage development, production, and final delivery. If Madritsch’s role governs the earliest phases of a show’s life, Curtis’s work begins as those ideas crystallise and move toward execution. She becomes, in essence, the guardian of the project’s creative integrity—ensuring that the final screen experience remains true to the initial vision that inspired it.
Curtis has already demonstrated her ability to navigate the complex world of production. She served as Co-Producer on Netflix’s Heartbreak High, the reboot series that became a global phenomenon and introduced a new generation of viewers to Australian youth storytelling. Her earlier work on Home and Away and Back to the Rafters gave her a broad foundation in both long-running serial drama and multi-platform storytelling, widening her understanding of the industry’s creative and logistical realities. The new role adds weight to her voice in shaping Fremantle’s next wave of drama titles.
Carly Heaton described Curtis’s rise as a joy to watch, reflecting admiration not only for her talent but also her temperament. “She pairs beautiful instincts with real production rigour, and she does it with kindness and calm,” Heaton said—a combination of qualities that, in the pressure-heavy world of production, can be critical in guiding teams through late-stage development and shooting. Heaton believes Curtis’s approach will help ensure Fremantle’s productions maintain authenticity from concept to completion, allowing the “spark” that begins each project to remain visible on screen.
Fremantle Australia CEO Greg Woods echoed these sentiments, framing both promotions as the result of years of dedication and consistent creative output. He reinforced the company’s philosophy that development from within is more than an HR strategy—it is a cultural cornerstone that fuels stronger storytelling and more cohesive teams. “The hard work, passion and growth of both Ellie and Anna has led to their new roles at Fremantle, setting our team up for great future success,” Woods said. He emphasised that internal growth is “a key element of our culture,” and described both women as “future leaders of our industry,” marking their promotions as milestones not just for Fremantle, but for the broader Australian screen sector.
These moves come at a transitional moment for Fremantle as the company closes major chapters and prepares new ones. The third and final season of Heartbreak High—a flagship streaming success—has recently wrapped, marking the end of a project that helped bolster Australia’s global presence in youth-driven drama. At the same time, Fremantle is guiding the iconic Neighbours toward its final episodes, closing a 40-year legacy on Ten and Prime that has defined Australian television for multiple generations. The end of Neighbours is more than the closing of a long-running show; it signals the end of an era, opening space for fresh creative ventures at a time when the industry is actively reimagining what Australian storytelling can be.
Against this backdrop, the promotions of Madritsch and Curtis feel strategically timed. They represent an investment in new leadership, new voices and new approaches just as Fremantle enters a period of reinvention. The company’s scripted division has long been a powerhouse, but the shifting narrative landscape—where audiences fragment across platforms and global distributors compete for distinctive regional voices—demands leaders who understand both the tradition and the future of Australian drama. Madritsch and Curtis fit that profile precisely: storytellers shaped inside Fremantle’s own creative walls, who understand its culture, its ambitions, and the evolving expectations of audiences.
Their promotions also reflect a growing movement within the Australian industry to cultivate talent at home rather than relying on the traditional pipeline of overseas recognition or freelancing pathways. Fremantle’s approach reinforces a model where careers can grow vertically within organisations, allowing creative leaders to develop institutional memory and long-term vision—assets that are increasingly valuable as production cycles accelerate and global competition intensifies.
As Fremantle prepares for the next phase of its scripted journey, the company’s renewed emphasis on internally grown leadership sets the stage for innovation rooted in continuity. For Ellie Madritsch, the task ahead involves identifying, nurturing and shaping the stories that will define Fremantle’s next decade. For Anna Curtis, the challenge lies in bringing those stories to life with clarity, authenticity and creative courage. Together, they represent the creative heartbeat of a company ready to evolve—proving that sometimes the most powerful way to move forward is to elevate the people who have been shaping the path all along.
