Cyna Strachan and Liam Heyen are producers and founders of NSW-based Mad Ones Films, a production company with a passion for telling female-led stories and those with a LGBTQI+ and disability focus.
They met while studying at the prestigious Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) in 2014, and have been working together ever since, producing a slate of projects which includes award-winning short films, acclaimed series and highly anticipated features.
In October 2024, they were announced as recipients for Screen NSW’s Short to Feature Fast Track initiative, along with writer/director Vanessa Gazy for their short film Incorruptible and feature film The Wanting and their most recent feature film Jimpa, which is co-written and directed by Sophie Hyde and stars Olivia Colman, John Lithgow and Tilda Cobham-Hervey, premiered at Sundance Film Festival in January 2025.
Screen NSW spoke to Cyna and Liam to dive into their journey from students at AFTRS to producers taking their film to its world premiere in Park City, covering what kind of stories they are drawn to, what they’ve learnt so far in their careers and what’s next for them.
You are the founders of Mad Ones Films. Can you tell us how you came together and started the company?
Cyna Strachan (CS): We met at Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) in 2014 and started working together during our studies pretty much immediately. The first film I ever produced was with Liam. It’s a company based on 10 years of friendship! After leaving AFTRS we continued to produce short films together, alongside our different industry jobs.
Liam Heyen (LH): The initial formation of the company was very organic, a banner to produce our short films and music videos under, once we graduated. I finished working at Goalpost Pictures in 2020 after six years there, and that’s when the more ambitious and intentional phase of Mad Ones began. A lockdown project, of sorts!
What kind of projects is Mad Ones looking for?
LH: Our slate includes features and television, and we’re typically more drawn to fiction. For the most part we’re developing live-action projects, and we often find ourselves telling stories with a lot of heart, and that have a subversive or progressive undercurrent. However, we are also developing our first animation alongside our friends at Ludo Studio and Sad Man Studios. It is a camp animated comedy called Willy, which follows the titular character (Wilbur, or “Willy” for short) a gay teen growing up on his family’s banana farm in Far North Queensland in the 2000s, created by Samuel Leighton-Dore and Bradley Tennant. We work predominately with creatives from the LGBTQI+ community, and female and non-binary directors.
CS: We are looking for a bit of anything and everything - it really needs to have a timeless thematic question given how long development can take. We’re also very drawn to personal projects. I want to make a great rom-com and a female centered comedy like The Bold Type … so I'm always looking for these kinds of materials…
You both were recently named as one of the successful teams, with writer/director Vanessa Gazy, for Screen NSW’s 2024 Short To Feature Fast Track program. What drew you in to apply? And can you tell us how the development process is going for your short and feature projects, and what working with Kristina Ceyton has been like?
CS: When we saw the announcement of the program in 2023 we knew it was perfect for us and The Wanting / Vanessa Gazy. Vanessa is an incredible creative who we’ve known for 10 years, and we produced her last short film Shiloh in 2017. Over the last few years Vanessa has been busily writing TV - mostly for the US market. Liam and I always said to each other we’d only make one more short film, after making quite a few over the last decade... but only for Vanessa. So, this was a perfect program for us to facilitate Vanessa back in the directing seat, as well as do the development work we needed to do on the feature film.
LH: We are so thrilled to have Kristina working with us on The Wanting and Incorruptible. She is a producer I look up to in our local industry - she has impeccable taste and is really making a mark internationally too. With an initiative like Short To Feature Fast Track, I often find the longest lasting benefits end up being the relationships they can foster. It’s amazing a program like Short to Feature Fast Track exists!
Liam, Mad Ones has previously produced Screen NSW supported projects including Latecomers (supported through Digital Originals) and Voice Activated (supported through Screenability) and Liam, you also produced Erotic Stories for SBS. All of these are unique projects, telling stories of people not often told on screen – and all of them went on to win huge awards! What attracted you to these projects?
LH: I am certainly developing a very niche skillset as a producer, with projects like Latecomers and Erotic Stories under my belt… The connective tissue of all these projects is a number of things; they have a lot of heart; a quietly progressive message driving them; and to be honest, they all also completely terrified me at the outset in their own ways! It’s notable that they’re all authored pieces, mostly coming from lived experience. With these personal projects it can feel like there’s a lot at stake and so I feel very protective of those I am collaborating with - the eldest sibling in me comes out! I love digging deep into understanding what a writer wants to say and why, and hopefully learning something about myself, or being a human, along the way.
Cyna, you were selected as part of the 2022 SPA Ones To Watch program, where you were mentored by Alastair McKinnon from Matchbox Pictures. What was that experience like and what were some of your key takeaways from that mentorship.
CS: I so admire Alastair - he is so smart, articulate and very kind. During that time, I’d just left Aquarius Films and so was in a period of transition and looking for guidance. We spent a lot of time talking about leadership, managing a team and running a business. He reiterated the importance of good communication, ensuring you read all the scripts that come in, and picking up the phone when there is a problem!
You both are currently attached to Sophie Hyde’s next feature film Jimpa, starring Olivia Colman and John Lithgow, with Liam as a producer and Cyna as co-producer. Can you talk to us about how you became involved in the project and what the experience has been like so far working on the feature film together?
LH: I’ve known Sophie for almost as long as I’ve been in the film industry – she facilitated a workshop I participated in, in 2015. We kept in touch over the years, sharing film recommendations back and forth, and then in 2021 as we were in the early days of setting up Mad Ones properly, she asked me if I would produce Jimpa alongside her company Closer, which was of course a no-brainer. I don’t think Cyna or I would have predicted ten years on from our time at AFTRS, we’d be moving to Amsterdam for a stint to shoot a feature film with Olivia Colman and John Lithgow. There were lots of moments we just laughed together at the brilliant absurdity of it all.
CS: I was brought into the fold quite late in the process - as the final financing was coming together. I’m so grateful to have been able to work alongside Liam as well as the incredible Sophie Hyde on the film. Working in Amsterdam was truly a unique and amazing experience. We both learnt a lot about working with each other, as well as what it takes to work internationally!
What's next for you both and where do you see the company heading next?
CS: Receiving the Screen Australia Enterprise Grant has been a complete game changer for us as it’s enabling us to focus inwards on our business this year, as well as expand our team. We’ll be getting ready for the release of Jimpa and we are in late stage development on our next Digital Original Series Lingered - created by AP Pobjoy.
LH: I am really excited by the features we have coming up – along with Vanessa’s debut (The Wanting) we are also financing the feature film directorial debut of Madeleine Gottlieb. We are busily working on our development slate which we are building alongside our brilliant new Development Executive, Alice McCredie-Dando. We’d like to keep our eyes open for more international co-productions after our wonderful experience on Jimpa… and we should probably get an office.
