Press Release from Screen Australia
Applications opened today for Screen Australia’s Script Factory Script Developer initiative, a workshop aimed at up-skilling the standard of Australian development practice by providing high-quality training in script analysis and development.
Twenty-one practitioners from around Australia will be selected to attend three-day workshops using the internationally successful Script Factory model in late October 2009. One workshop will be held in Sydney, where it will be hosted by the New South Wales Film and Television Office (Screen NSW), and another in Melbourne, where it will be hosted by Film Victoria.
In business since 1996, the Script Factory has become one of Europe’s leading script development organisations developing new screenwriting talent and supporting the people who work with screenwriters and screenplay material.
The inaugural Australian workshops are designed to enable practitioners with high-level story-analysis skills to focus on the nuts and bolts of script development.
"Strong, craft-based script development is an essential part of the filmmaking process," said Martha Coleman, Head of Development at Screen Australia. "These hands-on workshops will hone the participants’ script reading and analysis skills in order to ascertain a screenplay’s potential strengths and correctly identify the source of its weaknesses. These tailored, practical programs aim to strengthen and advance Australia’s screenwriting culture and support the development of creative Australian storytelling which engages with audiences."
Applications are invited from practitioners who work in script development and who will benefit from a structured course in story theory and working practice in order to build their confidence and resources when preparing script reports and working with writers.
Screen Australia’s partnership with the Script Factory will allow for the screen agency to secure the intellectual property for the workshops, allowing them to be run in Australia with local trainers on a biannual basis.
Further information and an application form is available at www.screenaustralia.gov.au/scriptfactory
Applications close on Tuesday 10 September 2009. Successful applicants will be announced in early
October 2009.