Founder & CEO of Bentley Pictures, Rebecca Ann Bentley is an award-winning Australian director, writer & producer based in Naarm (Melbourne), Australia. Her short films, Forever, Letting Go and Him, have won awards at film festivals around the world.

 

Her thriller feature film script Serendipity was a finalist in Your Script Produced! Season Two (2021), was a semi-finalist in the Outstanding Screenplays Feature Competition (2021) and a quarter-finalist in Scriptapalooza Screenplay Competition (2021). One of her other scripts, Desire, an LGBTQIA+ pilot was a semi-finalist in TSL Free Screenplay Contest (2022), a quarter-finalist in Stage 32’s 2nd Annual Television Drama Screenwriting Contest (2022), a quarter-finalist in ScreenCraft TV Pilot Script Competition (2022), a quarter-finalist in ISA’S Drama Genre-Busting Competition (2021) and a quarter-finalist in the 4th Annual Stage 32 TV Writing Contest (2018).

​

Rebecca is in post-production of her feature film directing debut, Kill Me, Heal Me. This film is about violence against men and men’s mental health. Rebecca also wrote, co-produced, edited and stars as the co-lead and it is the first feature film her production company Bentley Pictures is behind. These are topics she is very passionate about and the team behind the project is looking forward to spreading more awareness and starting more conversations about these issues.

 

Actress-turned-filmmaker, Rebecca first discovered her love of the industry when she was twelve years old and saw her sibling in a play. Inspired by this, Rebecca began her acting journey by securing an ensemble role in West Side Story. Soon after, she was hooked on the thrill sharing stories gave her. She trained at acting schools in Australia and the United States and gained work in short films, feature films, commercials & web series. 

​

While having written in all creative styles since she was a kid, it wasn’t until Rebecca spent time on set as an actress that she became fascinated by what happens behind the scenes. Following this curiosity and wanting to learn everything she could about the industry, Rebecca started working as a script supervisor, casting director, and first assistant director on short films & web series. This led her to fall more in love with the industry and with a desire to create her own projects; she studied scripts and took courses in screenwriting, producing, directing & editing, and continues to learn to ensure she is constantly growing as a creative.

 

Rebecca moved to Vancouver, Canada in 2017 to build her career further. While there, she continued her training, built strong relationships with people in the industry, and was lucky enough to be involved in a few projects and make her own films until she moved back to Australia in 2019. 

 

As a queer woman, she has always felt and noticed the lack of opportunities and proper representation in the industry, both in front of and behind the camera. However, it wasn’t until she got diagnosed with ADHD, epilepsy and many invisible chronic illnesses, that she truly noticed the lack of representation for people like herself and the negative, hopeless stereotypical portrayal of people with mental health issues and disabilities on and off-screen. Determined to change this, she created Bentley Pictures (Formally Bentley Productions) in January 2020. The company focuses on sharing stories with important messages and bringing more representation both on and off-screen. The company brings opportunities for those often overlooked in the industry to work and share their stories. This includes, but is not limited to, women, people with disabilities and chronic health conditions/illnesses (invisible or not), neurological disorders, deaf or hard of hearing, visually impaired and members of the LGBTQIA+ community. At least one person fitting that criteria have created and been in an ‘above the line position’ in our past productions and all future productions will keep that promise. Shortly after launching, Martin Hroch came on board the team, locking in their Canada base. 

 

Both with her company and her own work, Rebecca is passionate about spreading awareness about important topics and issues that often get dismissed and making film/TV sets, studios, film festivals and events/award festivals more accessible.