Married with eight children, Jack Opie has worked as a forester, scientist, university lecturer, policy analyst, economist and land-use consultant. 

Since concentrating on writing in 1988 he has worked on novels, short stories, biographies, stage plays, screenplays and a mixed bag of doggerel and poetry.  His unpublished novel The Junior Counsel was optioned for a screenplay in the United States. 

Feature-length screenplays in progress include End of the Line, set in Victoria during the Great Depression of the 1930s, and The Minstrel, an anti-war tale set in the Middle Ages.  Jack recently produced and directed a short film based on his play Sir … which formed part of the Melbourne Writers’ Theatre production of School in 2002. 

He has extensive experience in peer assessment of stage plays, and has participated in several courses conducted by the noted American lecturer Robert McKee. 

A member of the Australian Writers’ Guild, Jack recently retired as President of the Melbourne Writers’ Theatre after six years in office. 

He has directed four of his seven plays produced, including Holiday in Elsinore, and the critically acclaimed The Treadmill.  His most recent production is Terrorists in the Garden (Jesuits don’t lie), which also received highly favourable reviews.