Matt Vesely is an emerging South Australian writer/director. He has spent the last several years working with award winning creative collective Closer Productions. Often combining his love of science fiction with a sincere, comedic view of human relationships, Matt has directed a number of successful shorts and worked as a writer across TV & film.
Matt’s latest short, My Best Friend Is Stuck On The Ceiling, starring Tom Ward (Please Like Me) and Erin James (THE LITTLE DEATH) and produced by Sophie Hyde, Christine Williams and Closer Productions, premiered at the Adelaide Film Festival in 2015. It was nominated for the DENDY Award for Best Australian Short at the Sydney Film Festival, receiving a special mention for the Short Screenplay Award. The film also won Best Script at the Heart of Gold International Short Film Festival 2017 and the Grand Prize for Best Science Fiction Short Film at the 2017 Flickers’ Vortex Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Horror Film Festival 2017 in Rhode Island. The film had its international premiere at Palm Springs International ShortFest 2016, before playing MIFF, Flickerfest and St Kilda Film Festival.
As a screenwriter, Matt has worked across Australia and become a skilled storyteller. In 2011, Matt entered development with the SAFC on his second feature screenplay, the surreal sci-fi-rom-com Living Out Of A Suitcase. In 2013, he continued his development as a screenwriter, gaining work experience in writer’s rooms with Matchbox Pictures, as well as being part of the writing team for the ABC’s flagship iView series, the post-apocalyptic, sci-fi Epic Wastelander Panda. In 2014, Matt was the recipient of the Colin Thiele Scholarship for Creative Writing.
Since 2013, Matt has also performed regularly as a stand-up comedian. He made the State Final for Triple J’s RAW COMEDY Competition in 2013 and 2014, and won Adelaide Comedy’s Rising Star Award for Best New Comedian 2014. In 2016, Matt completed a six-week internship on ABC Comedy series The Weekly With Charlie Pickering, and returned as a Clip Producer and Writer for the full 2017 season.
Matt now works with Adelaide collective Closer Productions. Matt worked as a script supervisor and production manager on Closer’s first dramatic feature, 52 Tuesdays (dir. Sophie Hyde, Sundance 2014, Berlinale 2014). He now works as Closer’s Development Manager under the mentorship of Sophie Hyde and Rebecca Summerton, and recently wrote an episode for and was a script editor across the entirety of Closer’s upcoming ABC iView comic drama Fucking Adelaide.
Projects on file
