Jeni Bezuidenhout, Tamara Hardman, Sophie Morgan, Nicholas Lin, Jack Voegt, and Phoebe Wolfe have been chosen to participate in Australians in Film (AiF) and Screen Australia’s Untapped development lab for 2024.
The six participants, including one two-person team (Hardman and Morgan), will receive individualized mentorship, creative feedback, and professional development support from leading writers and directors.
As part of the initiative, there will be one-on-one story consultation and pitch coaching from screenwriting mentors Ellen Shanman and Patricia Verducci, and group sessions with accomplished Australian creatives, such as Monica Zanetti and Catherine Smyth-McMullen.
The selection of the development lab participants follows four open-access online masterclasses that featured conversations with Danny Philippou, Alice Bell, Noora Niasari and Sabir Pirzada.
AiF executive director Peter Ritchie said he was looking forward to seeing the 2024 cohort take the next steps through the initiative.
“Every year Untapped unearths Australia’s best emerging screen talent, providing them with a unique international platform and perspective,” he said.
“With enormous thanks to Screen Australia, and with recent learnings from the Future Vision summit on the ideation process under its belt, AiF will support the next generation of Australian storytellers with the tools they need to find a global audience.”
Screen Australia COO described the development projects of the participants as “bold and distinctive”, while also demonstrating “the depth of talent” in the sector.
“We’re thrilled to partner with AiF on this important development program dedicated to supporting emerging talent, and arming them with the skills to thrive in the global market. Congratulations to the participants,” she said.
The participants and their chosen projects are as follows:
Jeni Bezuidenhout – Beyond the Veil (Fantasy/Mystery Series)
Logline: When a rising criminal lawyer begins having intrusive dreams of past lives with her soulmate, she uses them to spice up her relationship. When they turn into undeniable visions, it sets off an obsessive investigation that leads her halfway around the world to find him – but sometimes fate can be cruel, and it turns out, so can Billy.
Tamara Hardman (director) and Sophie Morgan (writer) – Forget Me, Not (Fantasy/Mystery Feature)
Logline: When Sadie wakes up after a mysterious accident with almost no memory, she must rely on the man claiming to be her boyfriend to piece together who she is. Stuck in a beautiful seaside home, Adrian helps Sadie start to piece together her life, but when a buried memory returns, she is forced to question not only her relationship but also her own existence.
Nicholas Lin – Bigfoot Bruno (Comedy/Drama Series)
Logline: Oscar and Bigfoot team up to save his terminally ill younger brother from a gang of invincible drug dealers who’re addicted to Bigfoot’s immortality-granting marijuana.
Jack Voegt – Hattie & Holt (Sci-Fi/Romance Feature)
Logline: An interracial couple is abducted by aliens in 1960s Australia, forcing them to encounter terrors which lurk in our skies and here on Earth.
Phoebe Wolfe – Purity (Psychological Drama Feature)
Logline: Marianne, a seemingly conservative teenage girl, hides her sexual desires from her religious mother. When her older sister returns home unexpectedly a few days before Christmas, Marianne discovers that her mother and sister may be hiding secrets darker than hers.