Press Release from Screen Australia
Wednesday 2 September 2009: Screen Australia today invited applications for Springboard, a unique development and production opportunity for creative teams to write and produce a short film that acts as a creatively and professionally relevant calling card for their proposed first feature project.
Springboard is targeted at filmmaking teams who have a final draft script ready for the marketplace and are one step away from making their first professional feature film.
“We are committed to galvanising the connection between short filmmaking and a feature film career,” said Martha Coleman, Head of Development at Screen Australia.
“A team’s short films are vitally important in raising marketplace interest in their first feature film. Springboard will provide an essential stepping-stone in a professional filmmaking career path. It is about career building for the long term.”
Springboard is aimed at outstanding aspiring filmmakers with a demonstrable commitment to a professional feature film career. Six teams will be selected to take part in two high-level workshops to develop and hone a short film proposal from scratch. Following these stages, Screen Australia will select the three most promising short film projects to go into production, with a budget of up to $120,000 each. Screen Australia will continue to support the teams on completion of their short film, including providing festival strategy advice to assist the short in being showcased at national and international festivals.
The Springboard workshops will be run by Simon van der Borgh and Jonathan Rawlinson, screenwriting teachers and script consultants with extensive international experience. Simon and Jonathan have previously designed and delivered film training programs for the UK Film Council, the European Union’s MEDIA Programme, the British Council, the Fulbright Commission and screen agencies in the UK, Europe and Australia.
As well as Springboard, Screen Australia’s support for short films includes its Short Animation Production program, and a new Shorts Completion Fund that provides finance for distinctive shorts that show outstanding potential but lack the funds to finish. Screen Australia also supports the Raw Nerve initiative, which provides opportunities to new filmmakers to create short films in collaboration with the Screen Development Australia (SDA) network.
Further information and application forms are available from
www.screenaustralia.gov.au/springboard
The deadline for applications for Springboard is 28 September 2009. Successful applicants will be announced on 13 November, with the first Springboard script development workshop scheduled for December 2009. The deadline for Short Animation Production is 30 October 2009, and for the Short Film Completion Fund, 29 January 2010.