Screen Australia has selected five Australian online content creative teams to be part of the Skip Ahead program.
Skip Ahead is a Screen Australia–led initiative to provide Australian content creators with the funding and production resources required to create unique online content and engage new audiences around the world. YouTube will contribute funding and resources, and will support the successful applicants to travel and work at the YouTube Space in Los Angeles in 2014.
“The quality of the applications to the Skip Ahead program confirms the depth of online creative talent we have in Australia, and we are excited to support the teams to bring their stories to audiences,” said Screen Australia’s Chief Operating Officer, Fiona Cameron.
“The Skip Ahead program will foster the next generation of Australian storytellers by providing funding, education and support for the production of new content. We hope this new funding allows our iconic Australian voices to more easily reach a global online audience,” said Maile Carnegie, Managing Director of Google Australia and New Zealand.
The five successful teams are (in alphabetical order by channel):
AXIS ALL AREAS
Channel Axis of Awesome
Creators Lee Naimo, Benny Davis, Jordan Raskopoulos
Genre Musical comedy
Synopsis Axis All Areas is a comedy about a rock band attempting to make the best music videos of all time, while struggling with their egos, stupidity and each other, told in a multi-stream format from several points of view.
ACROSS AUSTRALIA
Channel Mighty Car Mods
Creators Martin Mulholland, Blaire Joscelyne
Genre Documentary
Synopsis Automotive city slickers Marty and Moog set off through the outback of Australia in a budget modified car. Along the way they discover the automotive heartbeat of the country, meeting the people and machines that help keep the country running. Their trip culminates in an Alice Springs meet for fans of their hit YouTube series.
NEIGHBOURS – ZOMBIE EDITION
Channel Neighbours Official & Louna Maroun
Genre Drama
Creators Ric Forster (FremantleMedia), Alicia Hamilton (FremantleMedia), Louna Maroun (Boom)
Synopsis Neighbours – Zombie Edition is a five-part web series that follows the residents of Erinsborough as they face an impending zombie apocalypse. Everybody needs good neighbours, but what if those neighbours are infected?
FERNANDO’S LEGITIMATE BUSINESS ENTERPRISE
Channel SexuaLobster
Creator Chris Voigt
Genre Adult Animation
Synopsis This story follows a singer with boundless manly sexuality (Fernando) and his shifty business partner (Gooseman) as they struggle to transition from total unknowns to C-list celebrities. Will their new song be a hit? Will Fernando's fragrance catch on? Will they ever be able to afford a helicopter?
REINVENTING EDUCATION
Channel Veritasium
Creator Derek Muller
Genre Documentary
Synopsis Derek explores the future of education, tracing the history of research in cognition through expert interviews and by recreating classic experiments. When faced with two disparate visions of education, Derek puts each to the test in a grand experiment.
The five content creative teams will share in a total of $400,000 of funding to support their content production to develop their stories for an online audience.