Wooden Horse is a dynamic, award-winning producing partnership between Australian entertainment industry executives Jude Troy and Richard Finlayson. Bringing together their extensive international and local networks and working with the best creative talent on and off screen, Wooden Horse is focussed on distinctive, provocative storytelling for global audiences.
Wooden Horse produced the critically-acclaimed eight-part psychological thriller The Clearing for Disney + globally starring Teresa Palmer (Discovery of Witches, The Fall Guy), Miranda Otto (Homeland, The Portable Door), Guy Pearce (Jack Irish, Mare of Easttown), Hazem Shammas (The Twelve), Mark Coles Smith (Mystery Road), Erroll Shand (One Night, The Twelve S2) and a stellar ensemble cast including Kate Mulvany (The Twelve), Julia Savage (Blaze), Ewen Leslie (The Cry), Claudia Karvan (Bump), and Anna Lise Philips (Fires) and Lily La Torre (Run Rabbit Run). Co-created and written by Matt Cameron (Jack Irish, Prosper) and Elise McCredie (Stateless) alongside Osamah Sami (Ali’s Wedding) and directed by Jeffrey Walker (Lambs of God, Young Rock, Artful Dodger) and Gracie Otto (Heartbreak High, Artful Dodger), it is based on J.P. Pomare’s novel In the Clearing and inspired by cults throughout history.
Season 1 of the eagerly anticipated reimagining of the iconic Australian classic hit comedy Mother and Son premiered on the ABC in August 2023. Lovingly recreated by Matt Okine (The Other Guy Season 1 & 2 for Stan and Hulu) and written by Matt Okine, Sarah Walker (The Twelve, The Secret She Keeps), and Tristram Baumber (The PM's Daughter, The Unlisted), and starring Matt Okine alongside beloved Australian comedian and actor, Denise Scott. The series is directed by Neil Sharma (Heartbreak High, Appetite) and Kriv Stenders (Bump, Jack Irish) and features a host of Australia’s finest talent including Jean Kittson, Angela Nica Sullen, Cat Van-Davies, Andrea Demetriades, Tiriel Mora, Virginia Gay, Justin Amankwah, Jenna Owen. Ferdinand Hoang, Contessa Treffone, Maria Thattil, Krew Boylan, Joseph Althouse, Veronica Milson and JJJ’s Bryce Mills and Concetta Caristo. International sales are handled by ABC Commercial and Season 2 is now in development.
The company produced Series 1 and 2 of the hit factual series Stuff the British Stole with award winning journalist Marc Fennell and production partners WildBear TV and Cream Productions for the ABC and CBC in Canada. Season 2 will premiere on the ABC in early 2024. Fremantle Media will handle sales outside Australia and Canada.
In 2023, Wooden Horse also delivered two premium, feature length documentaries to complement the slate.
The Cape, which premiered in official competition at the Sydney Film Festival before launching on STAN, is based on a true crime that took place in Australia’s deep north. The film is directed by Emmy-nominated filmmaker and former Time Magazine and CNN war correspondent, Michael Ware (Only the Dead) alongside Justine M. Rosenthal and captured beautifully on camera by DOP Eric Murray Lui. International sales are handled by Fremantle Media.
Rose Gold, which premiered at the Melbourne International Film Festival before a theatrical release through Madman Entertainment, is the story of The Boomers, Australia’s men’s basketball team, and how, best friends and NBA stars, Patty Mills and Joe Ingles built a culture that finally secured a medal at the 2020 Olympic Games. Directed by former pro basketballer, Matthew Adekponya (Building Titans) alongside consulting director, Kriv Stenders (Brock, Slim and I) and writer Allan Clarke (Blood on the Tracks, Dark Emu). The documentary will premiere on the ABC later this year and international sales are handled by Escapade Media.
Wooden Horse has produced, with Aquarius Films, two seasons of The Other Guy for Stan & Hulu; and executive produced factual series Waltzing the Dragon with Benjamin Law for the ABC and AACTA Award winning documentary All this Mayhem from the team behind Amy (James Gay Rees and Chris King).
Wooden Horse is working across an exciting and diverse slate of projects for local and international partners with Australia’s finest creatives including Elise McCredie, Sarah L Walker, Matt Okine, Matt Cameron, Marc Fennell, Beatrix Christian, Jeffrey Walker, Giula Sandler, Corrie Chen, Liselle Mei, Nas Campanella, Kate Mulvany, Niki Aken, Kim Ho, Michael Ware, Penny Chai, Pete McTighe, Jane Allen, Ben Chessell, Tristram Baumber, Osamah Sami, Nathan Maynard, Christiaan Van Vuuren, Kodie Bedford, Sarah Lambert, Denise Scott, Jamie McCaskill, Kriv Stenders, Neil Sharma, Hau Latukefu and Gracie Otto amongst others.
Jude and Richard brought their IP and businesses together in a creative partnership under the Wooden Horse label in 2019. Jude had founded Wooden Horse in 2018 following a successful seventeen-year career at global media group Entertainment One (eOne) and iconic Australian film company, Hopscotch Films, where she was a partner.
Working in acquisitions across film and television, she built a catalogue of titles that included the Oscar winning documentary Amy, and TV series Peaky Blinders, Catastrophe, The Inbetweeners and The Slap. Jude was also an Executive Producer on AACTA Award-winning feature documentary All This Mayhem. In launching eOne’s Australian TV production arm, she co-produced The Other Guy Season 1 in partnership with Aquarius Films for Australian streamer, Stan
Under the Wooden Horse banner, Jude went on to co-produce with Aquarius Films, The Other Guy Season 2. Both seasons have sold to Hulu in the US and Super Channel in Canada. Jude also brought the slate she had been developing at eOne into the Wooden Horse stable.
Having collaborated with Wooden Horse on projects under his label, Headland Media, Richard Finlayson and Jude came together as Directors and joint CEOs of the company in December 2019. At Headland, Richard consulted on content strategy to global media companies, created and produced the Ben Law two-part series Waltzing the Dragon for the ABC (in association with WildBear Entertainment) and shepherded a number of scripted projects into funded development which he has taken forward with Wooden Horse.
As the Director of Television at the ABC from 2012 to 2017, Richard was responsible for commissioning hundreds of hours of ground-breaking drama and comedy, and pioneering a raft of successful international co-productions including Cleverman (AMC Sundance), Glitch (NBC, Netflix), The Code (Sony) and The Adventures of Monkey Magic (Netflix). Prior to the ABC he was Chief Operating Officer at public broadcaster, SBS and Director of Acquisitions at XYZ Entertainment.
Executive producer for Wooden Horse, Matt Okine, is an award-winning comedian, actor and writer. He has performed stand-up comedy around the world, co-hosted Australia’s number one national radio breakfast show on Triple J and created, written and starred in two seasons of the semi-autobiographical comedy series, The Other Guy, for Stan and Hulu.
In his creative producing collaboration with Wooden Horse, Matt’s brief is to be bold and delinquent; to hunt down the stories he loves, from authentic and diverse voices in comedy and drama. Matt is currently executive producing and curating an exciting, provocative slate of projects under the Wooden Horse banner; including the re-imagining of the iconic Australia series Mother and Son. He is also writing the feature adaptation of his debut novel, Being Black n’ Chicken n’ Chips in partnership with Wooden Horse and Aquarius Films.