Screen Australia has announced that new development guidelines have been finalised and are now in effect, following two months of industry consultation. These guidelines will look to make funding more accessible, while supporting talent with a strong idea and concise target audience.
Senior Development Executive at Screen Australia Nerida Moore commented on this change, saying “Industry support for the proposed guidelines was overwhelmingly positive, and the final model includes tweaks based on feedback. We particularly received feedback regarding the submission of second stage materials, producer fees, funding allocations, and budget thresholds,” These new guidelines empower Australian screen practitioners to develop the best stories, for the best platform with a more streamlined application process.”
These new guidelines will allow projects across various platforms such as TV, film and online content will be able to apply for development funding from one of two program strand; the Generate Fund of the Premium Fund.
The Generate Fund focuses on lower budget projects, highlighting new and emerging talent, interested in taking creative risks. While there are no eligibility requirements for this fund, applications will indeed be competitive while judged against criteria in line with the aims of the fund.
The Premium Fund will be directed towards higher budget projects from successful filmmakers. These projects will be judged on the commercial viability of the project, with a clearly defined audience, which is a key focus of this fund.
Moore continued to state the advantages of these opportunities, stating, “Where and how Australians watch screen content is changing and these new development guidelines give Screen Australia the flexibility to help creatives take advantage of these new opportunities. We expect to see an increase in the diversity of screen stories being told and a larger pool of content makers telling them.”
The new guidelines have set budgets of up to $1 million per hour for TV projects, and $3 million for feature films. Applicants will also have three months to submit their materials for a project, instead of submitting them immediately after a successful stage application, in which this was previously the case.
Both funding streams are now open. For more information and deeper look at each fund, you can click here.
———-
