Dr Sue Cake
Faculty of Creative Industries, Education & Social Justice,
School of Creative Arts,
Film, Screen & Animation
Biography
Sue Cake is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She lectures in Scriptwriting in the Film, Screen & New Media Discipline in the Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice Faculty at QUT. Susan received an Australian Postgraduate Award Scholarship whilst undertaking her professional doctorate at QUT and in 2018 was awarded an Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Award for her thesis titled Narrative Comedy Screenwriting: Facilitating self-directed, transformative learning. The creative output from her practice-led research includes a story bible and episodes of a proposed narrative comedy television series titled Fighting Fit. Fighting Fit gives neoliberal, corporate approaches to education a good oiling up and rubbing down, parodied within the hazardous confines of a run-down fitness centre. Susan’s exegesis facilitated transformative learning which revealed how writing narrative comedy performed creative resistance against the corporatisation of education. Susan has taught screen production in the vocational education and training sector and produced numerous interactive CD ROMS for a range of NGOs and charitable organisations as well as short films. She was the curriculum expert on a $250,000 ABC funded project aimed at increasing student media production within the South Pacific. Susan wrote an Innovative Teaching Guide aimed at supporting TVET Journalism Lecturers in project-based approaches to teaching and learning screen content production. Susan has presented papers at conferences such as ASPERA, the national peak body for screen production research in Australia, the Australasian Humour Studies Network, and Scriptwriting Symposium. She has published in national and international Q1 and ERA A journals and is a peer reviewer for the Journal of Reflective Practice.Personal details
Positions
- Senior Lecturer
Faculty of Creative Industries, Education & Social Justice,
School of Creative Arts,
Film, Screen & Animation
Keywords
Screenwriting, Scriptwriting, Narrative Comedy, Creative Practice-led Research, Reflective Practice
Research field
Screen and digital media, Other creative arts and writing, Philosophy
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2020
Qualifications
- Doctor of Creative Industries (Queensland University of Technology)
- Master of Arts in Film and Television Studies (Griffith University)
Professional memberships and associations
Australian Writers Guild Australian Film Institute Queensland College of Teachers
Teaching
Current Teaching: Unit coordinator & Lecturer:
- KPB116 Introduction to Screenwriting
- Advanced Screenwriting
- Situated Creative Practice Screenwriting Discipline Mentor
Previously:
- KPB220 Factual Screens
- KYB301 Understanding Creative Practice
- 15+ years of experience as an adult educator in screen and media production
- Workshops in project-based learning to lecturers in the South Pacific
- Workshops in developing research projects to Doctor of Creative Industries candidates
- Lecturer: Narrative Production
- Sessional Tutor: Scriptwriting for Film & TV, Writing Dialogue
- Lead Vocational Teacher - Screen & Media Production (MSIT)
Experience
Screen & Media Curriculum Expert
- TVET Journalism Initiative [ABC International Development funded project in South Pacific]
- Charles Darwin University [Developed training and assessment materials for Certificate III/IV in Screen & Media]
- Australian Institute of Advanced Studies [Developed training and assessment materials for Certificate III/Diploma in Screen & Media, Diploma of Graphic Design]
Screen Production:
- Corporate & Promos [various]
- Short Films [various]
- Interactive Screen Content [various NGO / charitable organisations]
Certificate III in Media Traineeship Coordinator (AIAS)
Publications
- Sawtell, L. & Cake, S. (2023). Disrupting the self: script development within the academy. Studies in Australasian Cinema, 17(1-2), 68–81. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/241270
- Cake, S., (2022). Writing for instructional screens: Expanding the scope for screenwriting practitioners. Journal of Screenwriting, 13(2), 245–259. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/233973
- Cake, S., (2021). A Collaborative Reflection Between Writer, Director and Actors: Table Read as Scriptwriting 'Intervention'. In S. Taylor & C. Batty (Eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Script Development (pp. 425–436). Palgrave Macmillan. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/227471
- Maher, S. & Cake, S. (2023). Innovation in true crime: generic transformation in documentary series. Studies in Australasian Cinema, 17(1-2), 95–109. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/241312
- Wright-Brough, F., Hart, P., Maher, S. & Cake, S. (2023). Co-creative practice reconciling theory and practice in tertiary student documentary production. Media Practice and Education, 24(1), 52–69. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/237534
- Cake, S., Maher, S. & McGrath, T. (2021). Leveraging collaboration: script development processes in low budget Australian feature filmmaking. Studies in Australasian Cinema, 15(3), 132–146. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/225912
- Cake, S., (2018). Transformative learning: writing narrative comedy as creative resistance. Reflective Practice, 19(6), 777–790. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/123308
- Cake, S., (2018). Inside the writer's head: embodying reflection on creative writing processes. TEXT: Journal of Writing and Writing Programs [Textual]. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/119015
- Cake, S., Solomon, L., McLay, G., O'Sullivan, K. & Schumacher, C. (2015). Narrative as a tool for critical reflective practice in the creative industries. Reflective Practice, 16(4), 472–486. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/89261
QUT ePrints
For more publications by Sue, explore their research in QUT ePrints (our digital repository).
Awards
- Type
- Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
- Reference year
- 2018
- Details
- QUT Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Award