Kick Pictures is the writing and directing home of Sarah Spillane, acclaimed Australian-born filmmaker based in Los Angeles, who has partnered with Visual Effects and AI specialist Igor Martins to create powerful, innovative stories across multiple platforms for some of the film industry's leading studios.
The true story of 16-year-old Jessica Watson's solo voyage around the world — a teenager defying every doubt to cross an ocean alone. Written and directed by Sarah Spillane.
People on the margins fighting to be seen. Starring Christina Ricci, Ruby Rose and Hunter Page-Lochard. Premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.
At Kick Pictures, we use AI to expand what filmmakers can imagine and execute: never to replace the human beings at the heart of the work.
Story, character and performance come first. Every creative decision is shaped and approved by filmmakers, with AI used as one more tool in the process, alongside cameras, VFX, editing and sound.
Story first. Technology should serve the story, not become the story.
Performance matters. Actors and authentic human performance remain central to the emotional power of our work.
Human-led creativity. Writers, directors, designers and artists drive the creative process. AI expands their toolkit; it doesn't replace their point of view.
Respect for artists. We approach likeness, voice, performance and creative work with consent, appropriate rights and respect for the people who created it.
Responsible innovation. We embrace new creative technology while remaining thoughtful about provenance, transparency and how synthetic media is used.
The tools will keep changing. Our philosophy won't: use technology to make ambitious storytelling possible, while keeping artists and human experience at the center of it.
Sarah Spillane is a writer-director known for True Spirit (2023), Around the Block (2013), and The Apology (2008).
She grew up in Sydney, Australia, worked at the BBC in London, and relocated to Los Angeles in 2009. Working across film and television, her work centres on the pursuit of freedom in true, character-driven stories — finding the human pulse inside real events and carrying it to a global audience.
Her debut feature, Around the Block, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2013 and earned her several awards, including the Australian Directors Guild Award for Outstanding Achievement in Direction (2014). Her most recent film, the Netflix action-adventure True Spirit, released theatrically in January 2023 before peaking at #2 globally on Netflix and remaining in the Top 10 for several weeks — becoming the most-watched Australian title on the platform that year.
"The one who kicks doors first."
"Builds the impossible, frame by frame."
"Turns the impossible into a delivery date."
"Holds the chaos so everyone else can focus on the film."