Mad Ones Films was founded by producers Cyna Strachan and Liam Heyen, who met studying at AFTRS in and have been producing for exciting emerging talent ever since. Mad Ones is passionate about telling female-lead stories and those with a LGBTQI+ and disability focus.

Mad Ones has produced a catalogue of award-winning short films that have screened at top festivals including TIFF, SXSW, Tribeca, MIFF and Sydney Film Festival. Credits include YOU AND ME, BEFORE AND AFTER directed by Madeleine Gottlieb and starring Yael Stone and Emily Barclay, VOICE ACTIVATED, directed by Steve Anthopoulos, and ADULT, directed by Jamieson Pearce. Their latest short INCORRUPTIBLE, directed by Vanessa Gazy, has been funded through the SNSW Short to Feature Fast Track initiative and is due for completion in mid-2025.

In 2022 Mad Ones produced the acclaimed series LATECOMERS with Lazy Susan which won a 2023 ADG Award, the 2023 SPA Award for Best Online Series, the 2024 AACTA Award for Best Online Drama or Comedy as well as the SDIN Award for its “groundbreaking portrayal of the Cerebral Palsy experience”.

In 2024 Mad Ones produced their first feature JIMPA, an international co-production with Closer Films and Viking Films. Directed by Sophie Hyde and starring Olivia Colman and John Lithgow, JIMPA will have its World Premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. 

They have an eclectic slate of film and television projects in development including the feature directorial debuts of Madeleine Gottlieb, Vanessa Gazy and Tilda Cobham-Hervey, and an adult animation series WILLY created by Samuel Leighton-Dore and Bradley Tennant and produced with the acclaimed Ludo Studio.

We are passionate about telling female-lead stories and those with a LGBTQI+ focus and are always excited about putting dynamic, untold stories on screen. We believe that there is universality in specificity, and we want to facilitate telling niche stories in a compelling and commercially minded way.

We are currently supported by Screen Australia’s Enterprise program.