Stayci joined the teaching staff of RMIT as a sessional lecturer, tutor and studio leader in 2014, while still completing her PhD, which involved the writing of a feature film screenplay and a critical dissertation on female perspectives in comedies. Mostly teaching into the Bachelor of Arts (Creative Writing), Stayci was also a guest teacher for courses in the Higher Degree by Research and Professional Writing and Editing programs, as well as teaching screenwriting at La Trobe University. In 2017 she was appointed an Industry Fellow and Lecturer with RMIT's Media Program. She became an ongoing lecturer in 2019, and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2022.
Stayci has authored, or co-authored, upwards of 35 articles and book chapters across a breadth of research interests including screenwriting practice, script development, web series, nonfiction, gender and comedy. She is the co-editor of two books on script development for Palgrave Macmillan published in 2021. She has two forthcoming co-edited collections, one on creative writing methodologies, and another about the iconic Australian TV series Prisoner and Wentworth. Stayci also writes industry articles, including her tribute to Robin Williams in The Conversation which was their most read article in the month of August 2014, as well as a co-authored piece about diary keeping in COVID, with 25,000+ reads at the time of writing across eight publishers. The piece struck a chord with talkback radio producers, leading to upwards of 80 media hits, with a potential audience of more than 6 million people. Other expert commentary includes contribution to an article for BBC Australia on subversive Australian comedians.
Stayci was a long serving member of RMIT’s Women Researchers’ Network steering committee from 2017-2021, including two years as deputy chair. In 2021 she was elected to Chair when she led the network through the research challenges of the pandemic, and coordinated the organisation of the annual symposium.
Stayci is interested in the theory and practice of screenwriting, as well as creative writing and creative practice research more broadly. She offers commentary and expertise in gender and comedy, screenwriting craft, screenwriting scholarship and web series. In 2017 she won the RMIT Prize for Research Excellence (HDR, Design). She continues a professional practice as a screenwriter, script editor and story consultant, and her television scripts have earned wins and nominations in the prestigious Qantas Television Awards and Screenwriting Awards of NZ.
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