Bruna Papandrea on the stories that make her tick

Producers are often the people that work in the background; we don't know their names, and they're hidden behind the star power of their directors, or their cast. But Bruna Papandrea brings all the star power of her own. 

After all, she co-founded a production company with Reese Witherspoon and produced blockbuster productions like Big Little Lies and Gone Girl, and then five years later she launched her own production company Made Up Stories which has been behind award-winning television like Nine Perfect Strangers, Pieces Of Her, Anatomy of a Scandal, and The Dry (just to name a few).

On this episode of Under The Gloss, Phoebe Burgess is sitting down with one of the most powerful women in Hollywood to talk about her story; how Bruna got to where she is today, how she goes about selecting the stories she wants to produce and why she's committed to championing diversity in film. 

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Lucia Hawley is only 25, but she's already the host of 7Bravo and face of Live From E! - taking centre stage as a journalist on the red carpet and nabbing some of the best quotes from the stars. But while she admits it did take a lot of hard work to get here, she credits the powerful women in her life with 'lifting her up' - something that she is constantly trying to do in her own right.

It's no secret that Lucia's mother is Antonia Kidman, and Oscar-winner Nicole Kidman her aunt, and on this episode of Under The Gloss, she opens up about her complicated relationship with privilege and what the women around her have taught her about stepping into her power.

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Bella Heathcote has been working as an actress for almost two decades, but it's only now that she has found confidence in her craft.

On this episode of Under The Gloss, Phoebe and Bella sit down for a conversation that covers everything from the role tall poppy syndrome has played in Bella's career to how the death of her mother when she was 12 continues to influence her characters, more than 20 years on. 

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For a woman who died at just 70 years old, Lee Miller seems to have squeezed a hundred different lives into one lifetime. After all, who else could say that they had been pulled from the path of a car by Condé Nast himself, modelled across the pages of Vogue, studied photography and collaborated with famous surrealist Man Ray in Paris, as well as becoming one of the first and only female frontline photographers in World War II.

And yet, it wasn't until her son Antony went through her attic after her death that anyone knew anything about this incredible woman. 

On this episode of Under The Gloss, Phoebe dives into a story that has captivated the Vogue Australia team amid the opening of a Lee Miller exhibition at Victoria's Heide Museum of Modern Art.

Speaking with Antony Penrose, Lee Miller's son, and Kendrah Morgan, Head Curator at the Heide, Phoebe unpicks the incredible life of Lee Miller and asks the question: why is it only now that we are learning this woman's name? 

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Michelle Battersby is, by her own admission, a career girl. After flying through uni on a rowing scholarship, she got a “good” job at an esteemed company - but at 24, after doing everything “right”, she wasn't happy. And so she took a leap of faith, and started working with an app that, at the time, was very new to Australia - Bumble. The rest, as they say, is history. 

In 2023, Michelle is the co-founder of another app that is disrupting the status quo. Her tech start-up, Sunroom is revolutionary, not just because it's a new way to look at monetising content, but because women and non-binary people are the centre of it. It was founded by women, for women, in a very male-centric industry.

Michelle has been incredibly honest about the way Sunroom (and work generally) has been her primary focus. As an ambitious woman, she wanted to put her company and her career first. Which is why when she fell pregnant, she wasn't necessarily excited - in fact, she was terrified. 

On this episode of Under The Gloss, Michelle joins Phoebe in the Vogue studio to unpack and unpick the past eight years; why Sunroom has been the best and hardest thing she's ever done, the things she's sacrificed along the way for her career and of course, why she chose to publicly announce her pregnancy with a video diary that documented her complete and utter terror at falling pregnant. 

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Ellie Goldstein has been modelling since she was 15, when she went to a casting in London for inclusive talent agency Zebedee. And from the moment she stepped in front of the camera it was clear she had the IT factor. And now, only six years later, she’s made history as the first model with Downes Syndrome to appear on the cover of British Vogue - a feat that many models would consider to be the pinnacle of their career. 

On this episode of Under The Gloss, Phoebe is joined by the woman who made this viral moment possible: Ellie, her mum Yvonne, and Zoe Proctor, who co-founded Zebedee. Together, they talk about the importance of representation, the reality of diversity in the ruthless world of fashion and what it takes to get someone with a disability on the cover of Vogue in 2023. 

You can find Ellie's Instagram here. 

You can find Zebedee Talent on Instagram here. 

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In 2012, Erin Deering and then-partner Craig launched a business that would become one of the most iconic bikini brands in the world. Instagram was just beginning and Erin had a brainwave: why not gift some of their product to up-and-coming celebrities on the platform, and see if that boosted the profile of the brand? And not long after, Triangl bikinis exploded - and a new age of marketing was born.

In this incredibly candid episode of Under the Gloss, Erin opens up to Phoebe about life behind the scenes at the company that pioneered influencer marketing, why the Forbes rich list and a superyacht weren't enough to buy her happiness and how radical honesty has freed her from the weight of other people's opinions.

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Amber Scott fell in love with dancing at five years old, when she watched Swan Lake performed at Brisbane's Lyric Theatre. She joined the Australian Ballet in 2001 and 23 years on, she's preparing for her final performance, or her swansong - and in a full circle moment, she will be dancing as Odette. 

On this episode of Under The Gloss, Amber joins Phoebe to share some backstage secrets about life as a 'bunhead', the way motherhood has both liberated and challenged her as a principal dancer and how it feels to be retiring as a professional ballerina at 40 years old.

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Brisbane journalist Trent Dalton is no stranger to the power of storytelling in Australia, and he's got a suite of Walkleys and Kennedys to prove it. But when he published his first fictional novel in 2018, even he was blown away by it's success.

Boy Swallows Universe has sold millions of copies and there is a Netflix series in the works - and it's been followed up by three more books that similarly endeavour to highlight those lesser-told stories that ring true for many Australians. With Lola In The Mirror fresh off the press, it was the perfect time to bring Trent into the Vogue studio. 

On this episode of Under The Gloss, Trent joins Phoebe for a conversation that covers all kinds of terrain: the conversations that gave way to his award-winning fiction, the experience of seeing Boy Swallows Universe brought to life on a TV set, the beautiful and complicated woman that is his mother and what the Dalai Lama told him about the meaning of life, 

This episode of Under The Gloss touches on domestic violence, addiction and self harm, so please listen with care. If this raises any issues or concerns, you can reach out to Lifeline on 131114.

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Claire Harvey is a journalist at The Australian, and she is the woman behind all your favourite podcasts. She was an integral part of the team that produced The Teacher's Trial and The Teacher's Accuser (follow-ups to the world-renowned The Teacher's Pet), and she has also been an editorial director on other harrowing podcasts out of The Australian, like Shandees Story and My Sisters Secret.

And to top it all off, she’s currently hosting The Australian’s The Front podcast, which delivers a daily dose of news to your podcast feeds.

But, there is a theme here - Claire is working on really important stories but they’re also really dark, and all-consuming. So how does she separate it all? How does she decide which stories need to be told?

This episode of Under The Gloss touches on sexual and domestic violence, so please listen with care. If this raises any issues or concerns, you can reach out to Lifeline on 131114.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.