Jo de Fina

Jo de Fina is an award-winning Australian producer and storyteller whose career has spanned advertising, film and television across Melbourne, London, New York and Sydney.

Over more than two decades, Jo has built an international career producing award-winning creative work at the highest levels of the global advertising industry. Beginning her career in London before moving to New York and ultimately returning to Melbourne to found the independent production company OTTO, she has collaborated with internationally recognised directors, agencies and creative teams on projects that have reached audiences around the world.

Throughout her career, Jo has led complex productions across continents, bringing together exceptional creative talent to realise ambitious ideas. Her work has earned industry recognition not only for creative excellence, but for the collaborative leadership and trust that underpin every successful production.

Jo has been recognised as Australia's Creative Producer of the Year and Social Change Maker of the Year at the B&T Women in Media Awards. She has served as a judge for many of the world's leading creative awards, including D&AD, The One Show Young Ones, AWARD Australia, Ciclope Europe and Latin America, the Cannes Young Director Award and Spikes Asia, where she was Jury President for Film Craft. She has also spoken at international creative conferences including Semi Permanent and Spikes Asia.

Alongside her commercial work, Jo has always been drawn to stories with the power to connect people and create meaningful cultural conversations. Whether producing campaigns, mentoring emerging talent or developing original ideas, she has consistently been interested in the emotional truth that lies beneath great storytelling.

Today, that curiosity has found a new expression in original long-form work for page and screen.

Her writing explores family, identity, memory, resilience and the complex ways people love, protect, betray and ultimately find one another. Her debut novel, DAWN, examines the collision of dementia and family manipulation, while her developing slate of original screen projects continues her exploration of stories that reveal the extraordinary within ordinary lives.

Today, Jo continues to divide her time between producing and developing original intellectual property for page and screen. Across every medium, her work is driven by a belief in the power of stories to help us better understand ourselves — and one another.