Biography
Declan is a Canberra-based screenwriter, director, producer and editor known for his comedic dialogue, hilarious characters and unique vision. He completed his debut feature "People Sitting and Talking" (2012) in between semesters studying his Bachelor of Media Arts and Production at the University of Canberra.
His follow-up feature film, "Me and My Mates vs. the Zombie Apocalypse" (2015), an Australian zombie comedy film starring Jim Jefferies, Greg Fleet, Adele Vuko and Alex Williamson, made him one of Australia's youngest ever filmmakers to receive production funding from an Australian state film body, when Screen Canberra funded him at the age of 21.
The film went on premiere internationally at the prestigious Sitges Film Festvial in Spain, broke Australian records for the most requested film during its cinema-on-demand release, and earned distribution in the US, UK, Japan and South Korea. For his work on the film, Declan won Best Director and the 2016 Deadwalk Fest in the USA, and a Canberra Critics Circle award for Contribution to Film.
He has written, directed, produced and edited three short films that were selected for the Lights Canberra Action finals:"Jarred's Powell-Wow" (2016), "MIPST: The Right Thing" (2017) and "Out of the Loop" (2024) and two shorts that were back-to-back Tropfest shortlisted - "Shoes" (2018) and "Remarkable" (2019).
Declan has directed more than 13 music videos, an award-winning web series pilot "At the Phoenix", an independent TV sketch comedy comedy pilot "Make Canberra Great Again", and was a top 30 finalist for Image Impact's 2020 program. In 2023, he directed a segment of Maura Pierlot's "Fragments," an experimental theatre/film anthology produced by Sanguineti Media, which was released as a feature film.
He has worked for Screen Canberra as a paid development mentor in a number of their pod programs, produced videos for the Federal Government, and continues developing televisions series for the Australian market.
