Hannah Reilly is a Gadigal/Sydney-based writer, director and maker of bold comedic work across television, theatre, film and radio.
She is currently undertaking a six-month placement at Invention Studios in Los Angeles working as a creative producer, creator and writer, building her slate, and gaining hands-on experience in the US market with the President of Invention Studios, Nicky Weinstock (Bridesmaids, Severance, Escape at Dannemora).
She grew up on a cattle farm in rural Australia, isolated and without television reception. Subsequently, she was forced to entertain herself by putting on hour-long improvised plays for her parents on their front lawn. Which, thanks to white wine, received rave reviews.
Since then, she has gone on to become a maker of work across multiple mediums, presented with a “fresh, female first approach” - ELLE Magazine.
In 2019 Hannah was the recipient of the ATYP Rebel Wilson Comedy Commission, for which she developed an original musical comedy, ‘THE DEB’. In 2022 Hannah wrote and co-directed a stage version of ‘THE DEB’ which opened ATYP’s brand new Rebel Theatre in Sydney to rave reviews and an extended season. ‘THE DEB’ is currently being developed into a feature film with Rebel Wilson’s production company Camp Sugar and was recently ranked by The Guardian as one of “The Fifteen Greatest Australian Musicals of Stage and Screen.”
‘The Deb’ was also recently announced in Cannes as a feature film, written by Hannah, music by Megan Washington, with lyrics by Washington/Reilly, directed by Rebel Wilson, produced in partnership with AI/Unigram (I, Tonya, Hacksaw Ridge) and award-winning Australian producer Bunya Productions (The Drover’s Wife, Mystery Road). Shooting is to commence in Australia in late 2023.
She is currently in development writing her second feature project with SeeSaw Films, as well as developing multiple film and television works under her own company banner Most Improved Productions.
She has continued to pursue her passion for musical theatre under a lyric/composition mentorship with Tony-nominated writer/composer Eddie Perfect as a part of Sparrow’s musical theatre mentorship program.
In 2017 she co-created, wrote and starred in ABC1’s ‘GROWING UP GRACEFULLY’ with her sister Eliza. A six-part comedy series that used etiquette books to skewer the outrageous double standards placed on women, which was acquired by STAN and Acorn TV internationally. “Leave At 3.43” – a musical number about the gender pay gap and other sketches from the series have been viewed over 16 million times on Facebook.
The series was called a "sharp, surreal satire on womanhood that Australia needs" (The Guardian) and an "unexpected, highly enjoyable and laugh-out-loud comedy" (The Australian).
In 2019 Hannah performed a sold-out and extended run at the Sydney Comedy Festival of her cabaret ‘DIRECT EYE CONTACT’ based on her time as a radio “sexpert”, which was nominated for an Australian Writers Guild Award.
The show was called: “Masterful. A fresh, uplifting show for our times” - Gale Edwards OAM
“An absolute delight…tightly structured and beautifully written” - Julia Zemiro
In 2018 Hannah co-produced, wrote, directed and starred in the multi-platform series; ‘SHEILAS’. A comedy series on the amazing but forgotten women of Australian History, for which she won an Australian Writers Guild Award and the Grand Jury Prize at Melbourne Web Fest, and the Gold Coast Film Festival.
Sheilas was called “brilliant...brutally, laugh-out-loud funny the whole time.” (FILM-INK)
From 2016-2018 she hosted Triple J’s podcast ‘THE HOOK UP’ which takes a topical look at sexuality for a young audience and created one of its most downloaded podcasts of all time. It also proudly held the title for the most complained about program in ABC history.
In 2018 she co-wrote, directed and performed her first original comedy musical ‘YARRAMADOON: THE MUSICAL’ at Sydney’s Belvoir St Theatre to a sold-out and extended season, and rave reviews.
Yarramadoon was called: ‘‘Genuinely hilarious...the Reillys are highly accomplished comics, with charisma that leaps off the stage and turns every character, no matter how absurd, into someone lovable.” - Timeout ****
In 2018 she was selected by Bunya Productions (Sweet County, Mystery Road ) to attend a three-day intensive genre masterclass with Jeremy Podeswa (The Handmaid’s Tale, Game Of Thrones) and Raelle Tucker ( True Blood, Jessica Jones ) where she workshopped an eight-part dramedy series.
Her work has been featured on ABC Comedy, Tonightly with Tom Ballard, Sydney Comedy Festival, Sydney Writers Festival and many of The Chasers ABC TV political satires, as well as The Checkout on which she was both a presenter, writer and director.