Julie Kalceff is an award-winning Australian writer, director, and producer, renowned for her groundbreaking work in the television industry. She is best known for creating, writing, directing, and co-producing the television series First Day (2020),a pioneering story about a 12-year-old transgender girl starting middle school. This historic series was the first Australian show to feature a transgender actor in the lead role and was met with widespread acclaim, winning numerous awards, including an International Emmy Award (Kids: Live Action) in 2021 and a GLAAD Media Award (Children and Youth) in the same year.
First Day was a massive success, selling to multiple territories worldwide, including HULU (US) and CBBC (UK),and was nominated for several prestigious awards, including two AACTA Awards (Australian Academy Awards) for Best Children's Program and Best Screenplay in Television. The series also won the 59th Rose d'Or Awards, voted on by over 80 international judges.
Season 2 of First Day was produced in partnership with Hulu (US) and premiered in March 2022, receiving widespread critical acclaim and numerous award nominations, including an Emmy Award for Outstanding Young Teen Series, a GLAAD Award, a Kidscreen Award, an AACTA Award, and the MIPCOM Cannes Diversify TV Award for Representation of Diversity in Kids Programming. Julie was also nominated for an Australian Directors Guild Award for Best Direction in a Children's TV or SVOD Drama Series Episode.
In addition to her work on First Day, Julie has also co-directed and co-written the feature documentary Danielle Laidley: Two Tribes (2023),which premiered in September 2023 on Australia's streaming service Stan. The film tells the story of a former Australian Football League (AFL) player and coach who was publicly outed as transgender when Victorian police officers shared photos of her with the press.
Julie has also worked as a set-up director on Season 2 of the comedy series The PM's Daughter (2022) and directed the first 5 episodes. Previously, she was part of a "powerhouse female directing team" to spearhead the feature film anthology drama Here Out West (2022),which opened the Sydney Film Festival in 2021 and was nominated for an AACTA Award for Best Feature Film.
Julie first gained international attention when she created, wrote, directed, and produced the global hit digital drama series Starting from... Now (2014),which attracted critical and popular acclaim and is one of the most watched web series in the world, amassing over 200 million views in 230 countries. The series also sold to and played on broadcast television in Australia.
Julie is a graduate of the Australian Film, Television and Radio School with a Masters Degree in Scriptwriting and founded and is the director of the Sydney-based production company Common Language Films. She specializes in utilizing humor to tell dramatic, character-driven, female-centric stories that appeal to a wide audience and is passionate about authentic representation and inclusion, both on screen and behind the camera.
