Kyas Hepworth (nee Sherriff) is a cisgender Bundjalung woman who has spent her career working in the screen and creative arts sector. As the Head of Commissioning and Programming for NITV, Kyas drives the creative direction of NITV’s distinctive offering across commissioned and acquired content, and oversees NITV’s programming and scheduling to bring it to audiences.

Kyas is responsible for the development and delivery of NITV’s acclaimed commissioned content slate which sees the channel work with Australia’s Indigenous production sector across factual, scripted and children’s programming. This includes award winning children’s animation, Little J & Big Cuz, the captivating series The Beach from Warwick Thornton, and NITV’s first non-children’s drama series, Copping it Black, coming in 2021.

She joined NITV as its Senior Commissioning Editor in 2019, from the Australian Film and Television Radio School (AFTRS) where she was the Head of Indigenous. Prior to that, she was the Investment Development Manager at Screen Australia’s Indigenous Department where she helped bring TV series like 8MMM, feature film The Darkside, and documentary The Redfern Story, to international screens.

Kyas is passionate about bringing unique and diverse stories to the screen and has worked alongside and supported leading and emerging Indigenous practitioners for more than a decade. Her extensive experience in the sector also includes working across feature films, documentaries, television series and shorts.