Selected footage from Ren Thackham's reel.
writer/director ren thackham
Ren's background is in marketing in London's live comedy scene, working with comedy venues, clients, and top agencies for large stand-up events across England and Scotland before studying film at Raindance Film School London and New York Film Academy, Sydney.
Working on a TV pilot opened her eyes to filmmaking, she studied at Raindance and then ran a boutique video agency servicing cage fighting events and creating content for UFC TV for several years. Inspired by an idea, Ren returned home and studied screenwriting at New York Film Academy, Sydney. Since then she's created ambitious shorts, commercials, and VR content for clients while honing her craft.
Ren is proven, passionate, and set to make a spectacular
debut with 'Ridgy Didge'.
Ren wrote Ridgy Didge with a genuine love for Australiana, road tripping to over 30 regional towns, visiting farms, homesteads, and playing pub poker tournaments with the locals into the night. Her screenplay is a testament to the five years she poured into it.
"If the Australian film industry wants a new champion then give Ren Thackham a decent budget and watch her thrive. That’s not a director,
THIS is a director."
~ Screen Critix
ACCOLADES
Ren Thackham's Awards and Nominations in recent years.
WRITING
DIRECTING
BEST FILM
BEST IN GENRE
TECHNICAL SKILL
SPECIAL
ARTIST
2ND PRIZE
BARCELONA INTERNATIONAL
ART FAIR 2016
ren's reel
award winning short films
To ensure the spectacular visuals, emotional beats, stunts, and comedy of Ridgy Didge were all well within her experience before she took on her ambitious debut, Ren has been writing and directing short films for over 7 years that have proven her range and festival appeal.
This is her most recent and most successful short film Round Trip (6mins):
More of Ren's short films are available to watch at renthackham.com.au including:
feature length docudrama
the Tiwi warrior & the samurai from the sky
screenwriter
first assistant director
poster artist
Ren's recent contract with Military Myths Defeated to write the feature length screenplay for The Tiwi Warrior and The Samurai from the Sky was a success and the producers were thrilled with the script, she joined the crew in the Northern Territory as First Assistant Director and wrapped June 2021.
Working with military historian Dr Tom Lewis OAM and the true account of Tiwi Islander Matthias Ulungura, Ren wrote the screenplay for this incredible story. Produced by Military Myths Defeated, with the support of Screen Territory for the 80th Anniversary of the bombing of Darwin.
This thought-provoking docudrama was shot by the keen eye of DOP Andrew Hyde, and Ren traveled to the Tiwi Islands and Darwin with the crew and helped craft memorable scenes of the Tiwi Islanders who captured a WWII Japanese zero pilot who became Australia's first prisoner of war.
