Screen Australia today named the eight new Hot Shots teams who will share in funding of more than $545,000 to produce short films and develop distinctive storytelling and creative production skills.
These shorts will be used as proof of concept for longer form projects to get traction in the market place, part of building career pathways towards storytelling across film, television, online and interactive platforms.
The teams will also attend two-day Hot Shops workshops and seminars this month at Screen Australia which will immerse writers, directors and producers in a craft-based learning environment to further their filmmaking skills.
The Hot Shops program will connect teams with mentors including director Sophie Hyde (52 Tuesdays), editor Drew Thompson (Down Under), sound designer Jed Palmer (The Infinite Man), and Felicity Abbott (Secret City, Bran Nue Day).
The eight teams are working on a diverse group of projects across genres including drama, thriller, action, horror, romantic and coming-of age stories, for live action, animation and completion funding.
• Coat of Arms is a Western drama-thriller from writer-director Dylan McDonald (Dylan River) and producers Trisha Morton-Thomas and Rachel Clements.
• From writer-director Alex Holmes, producers Kristina Ceyton, Ella Millard and executive producer Samantha Jennings comes coming-of-age story Grace, about a teenage girl living in an extreme Christian sect who strikes up an innocent relationship with a boy.
• In animation Knot, a woollen doll must unravel himself and make the ultimate sacrifice in order to save his beloved, from writer Bradley Sabe, director Andrew Goldsmith and producer Lucy Hayes.
• Comedy-drama Let’s See How Fast This Baby Will Go from writer-director Julietta Boscolo, producer Eva Di Blasio and executive producer Robyn Kershaw is the story of a young woman negotiating her first car purchase… while having her first baby.
• Writer-director Simon Portus and writer-producer David Curzon are making drama Passengers about a frustrated father who resorts to desperate measures to spend more time with his six year-old son.
• Scrub is a thriller from writer-director Mirrah Foukes and producer Alex White about a woman’s disturbing encounter while walking her dog in the bush.
• In Tanglewood, Sarah and Zach escape to the forest after a mysterious plague forces them out of the city, from writer-director Jordan Prosser and producer Steven McKinnon.
• Writer-director Nora Niasari and producer Mary Minas’ family drama The Waterfall tells how a road trip intended to unite a new family ends up dissolving into disharmony when technology fails en route to a waterfall.
Screen Australia’s senior development executive Nerida Moore said, “We are proud to be able to support exciting and dynamic filmmaking teams and to assist the creative groups behind them to develop their craft and talent."