Charlie’s. (Photo: Hayeth Tarem)
Screen NSW and Australians in Film (AiF), with the help of a grant from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), will support five writers and directors, including representation of Indigenous screen talent, to attend a customised five-day professional development lab in Los Angeles in May.
The funding will international flights, accommodation, meals and networking events. The program take place at AiF’s dedicated workspace hub for Aussies in Hollywood, Charlie’s, located within Raleigh Studios.
Screen NSW head Grainne Brunsdon said: “With the global entertainment industry continuing to evolve, this opportunity is designed to give our mid-career and established NSW screen practitioners a vital, and current, inside scoop on the Hollywood experience and introduce them to those in the know.
“As well as unprecedented access to a range of industry experts including managers, agents and creative development executives, our group will spend time getting to know the various production companies and studios, meet contacts across co-production partners, streaming, cable and network platforms and attend guest speaker and networking events.
“We’re hopeful that opportunities like these will help our creatives foster genuine relationships that will deliver the opportunities they need to progress their projects and have their stories told,” she said.
AiF executive director Peter Ritchie said: Australians in Film said, “AiF is excited to be working with Screen NSW on this Charlie’s Lab and is grateful for a grant from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association to support an Indigenous screen creative to attend. The US screen industry is complicated, competitive and forever changing, so these intensive intimate industry labs are invaluable, parachuting participants right into the rooms of key decision makers and creatives currently working in Hollywood.”
HFPA president Lorenzo Soria said: “This is the second year the Hollywood Foreign Press Association has supported Australian Indigenous screen talent to connect with Hollywood. Indigenous storytelling is the oldest form, and we are so proud to be supporting the next generation of Indigenous screen creatives from Australia.”
For more information and to apply for the 2020 Charlie’s Talent Escalator Lab go here. Applications close March 30.