THE TEAM
ELISSA MCKEAND
Producer | Principal
Elissa is a television producer and network executive, who has made over 40 hours of high quality documentary, factual and lifestyle programming for television and podcast. She founded SkinnyDip Pictures to be a fresh, independent, Australian production house dedicated to telling original stories that are bold, revealing and playful. SkinnyDip’s first title launched in 2019 on Foxtel; the blue-chip, 8-part series Aussie Inventions That Changed The World which was co-produced with Northern Pictures.
The critically acclaimed, original history/science format delivered a record audience for the HISTORY channel and is still used to teach innovation across primary and secondary schools nationwide. It plays regularly across Fox Docos, HISTORY and ABC’s iView.
In 2020 Elissa developed and series produced an original factual series for the ABC, Movin’ To The Country, which was immediately recommissioned for a second season based on its success. Previously Elissa spent three years as a network executive at Foxtel working across development and production for the factual and lifestyle genres. In 2019/20 she was a member of AIDC’s advisory board.
Elissa’s earlier producing credits include Coast Australia (Foxtel’s HISTORY, BBC2), River Cottage Australia series 4 (Foxtel’s LifeStyle), and Great Southern Land (ABC).
Bruce Permezel is one of Australia’s foremost television makers. His programmes include critically acclaimed and popular factual TV series screened prime time on a wide variety of major Australian and international networks.
Bruce worked closely with Elissa as Series Director of Aussie Inventions That Changed The World, as Series Producer of Scott Pape’s Money Movement and across several projects on SkinnyDip’s current development slate.
Bruce’s extensive output ranges from, adventure travel (Peking to Paris, Pirate Patrol, DNA Nation), natural history (Croc Country, Chris Humfrey’s Wild Life, Catalyst), lifestyle (Bills Holiday), comedy (The Games, Hessie’s Shed), documentary and factual (Sporting Nation, Bodyline, Making Australia Great, First Contact Two, Aussie Inventions that Changed the World), to moving observational series (Choir of Hard Knocks, Jail Birds, The Obesity Myth).
Bruce won the 2018 AACTA award for best direction in nonfiction television for Hawke: The Larrikin and the Leader, and a feature documentary he co-directed (Greenhouse by Joost) won the audience award at the 2022 Melbourne International Film festival.
BRUCE PERMEZEL
Producer | Director
Nick Price is a Sydney-based television producer and writer with around 30 years of experience working across a wide variety of genres: history, entertainment, politics, science, sport, serious, satirical and silly.
Nick began his television career on Media Watch before moving on to history and science based factual programs at ABC television. He then moved into comedy, working on Club Buggery with Roy & HG before producing the sporting comedy program …the Fat.
Nick created First Tuesday Book Club and then transferred to print as Deputy Editor of the Australian edition of The Week magazine.
Since returning to television in 2014 he has produced and written a wide variety of programs including Who Do You Think You Are, Julia Zemiro’s Home Delivery and Movin’ to the Country.
NICK PRICE
Producer | Writer
ARMANDO ROMERO
Motion Graphics Editor | Producer
Armando is an award-winning motion graphics producer and editor. He collaborated closely with Elissa and Bruce to create the animated stories and graphics within Aussie Inventions That Changed The World, and later he rocked out with Elissa and Nick delivering the title sequence and motion graphics for the ABC’s Movin’ To The Country.
Beyond SkinnyDip, Armando’s art direction and motion graphics can be seen in numerous award-winning television series and documentaries including Love on the Spectrum and Matilda and Me.
When he’s not working with television producers, Armando is creating animated content, high-end VFX and TVCs for global brands and agencies.
Armando was born in Colombia, a country he has discovered is greatly misunderstood outside its continent. His first jobs when he arrived in Australia were editing live events for Dame Edna and the Wiggles. Perhaps due to those early brushes with Australian royalty, he stayed on and is now raising a little Aussie of his own.
Dominique has worked as a researcher, associate producer and producer in Australia, France and the UK. She is drawn to character-driven documentaries that peel back the layers to reveal uncommon or unknown stories.
Dominique first worked with SkinnyDip Pictures joining the meticulous archive research team for Aussie Inventions That Changed The World.
Other recent credits include: Miriam Margoyles: Australia Unmasked, ABC TV 2022, Australia’s Favourite Tree, Catalyst, ABC TV. 2022, Further Back in Time For Dinner, Series Two, ABC TV 2020, Who Do You Think You Are? SBS TV, 2019, Love Me as I Am, Untold Australia, SBS TV. 2019 and War on Waste, ABC TV, 2018.
Dominique loves swimming and is practically evangelical about the benefits of an occasional skinny dip.
DOMINIQUE PILE
Researcher | Associate Producer
ANYA HOHNBAUM
Researcher I Story Producer
Anya has over twenty years’ experience under her belt working across a broad range of factual programming. She has worked with Elissa on numerous projects as either researcher, associate producer or story producer including Coast Australia and Aussie Inventions that Changed the World; a series in which she was involved from early research and development through to production shoots with Bruce Permezel and the team.
Anya’s also worked as a field producer on multiple series of Who Do You Think You Are for Warner Bros. and on a variety of food and lifestyle series, including two series of Destination Flavour, four series of River Cottage Australia and her fourth series of Mastermind Australia.
Indulging her passion for travel, one of Anya’s early wins was being picked from over 3,000 applicants for a job for Expedia, traveling the world to locate the best blue sky. Using a spectrometer she gathered data and took photos whilst blogging about her travels, the aim of all this being to inspire her readers to book their own trip of a lifetime. Visiting 25 countries in 73 days, it was an experience to remember!
Born in Scotland to a Scottish mother and a German father, Anya grew up in sunny Portugal where she joined the local tennis club, aged ten. After the encouragement from her coach and a sponsorship deal, she never looked back, winning numerous junior tournaments and competing regionally on and off for years. After graduating from university in Glasgow and before cementing her career in television, Anya became a qualified coach with the Lawn Tennis Association, later taking this qualification to Australia, coaching at the likes of Alfred Reserve in Melbourne. Anya now splits her time between Sydney and Portugal, still dividing her time between thrashing the yellow ball and the keyboard, in equal measure.