The participants for Impact Australia 2 have been revealed, with nine emerging creators to be paired with nine mentors.
Following a call-out for submissions in June, the emerging creators that have been selected to work on their projects as part of the program are:
Jessie Hughes (QLD): Head Above Water (TV Series – half hour)
John Kachoyan (VIC): Gaia (Feature)
Drew Macdonald (QLD): Only One Survives (TV Series – hour)
Julia Moriarty (NSW): Stony Rise (TV Series – hour)
Elena Pavli (NSW): The Clinic 2200 (TV Series – half hour)
Felicity Price (NSW): Bird Island (TV Series – hour)
Bradley Slabe (VIC): Owner’s Manual: Operation and Maintenance of the Human Body (Feature)
Ramon Watkins (VIC): Daddies (TV Series – half hour)
Harvey Zielinski (VIC): Sweet Milk Lake (Feature)
Stuart Beattie, Shaun Grant, and Sarah Lambert will join international writers Mark Bianculli, Dana Calvo, Hunter Covington, Eric Pearson, Stacy Traub, and Kai Wu as ‘shapers’ to provide guidance throughout the eight-week accelerator program.
Beattie, Grant, and Wu were also part of last year’s inaugural program.
An offshoot of the concept created by Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, and Tyler Mitchell, Impact Australia 2 is delivered in conjunction with Gentle Giant Media Group.
The second iteration of the program was meant to take place in-person at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) Southbank campus at the University of Melbourne but has been forced to begin as a virtual program, due to the current COVID restrictions.
The program commences today with a welcome event, which consists of Impact founders Grazer and Mitchell, along with Gentle Giant Media Group’s Greg Basser, bringing together the creators, shapers, and the Impact Team, as well as representatives from Screen Australia, Film Victoria, and the VCA.
Mitchell has high hopes for the collaborations.
“We are incredibly excited to have a record nine shapers onboard for Impact Australia 2, dedicating their time to fostering the talent of nine Australian writers whose voices and ideas leapt off the page during our democratized review process,” he said.
Basser said he couldn’t wait to see what the creators came up with this year.
“It is fantastic to see this year’s group of talented Australian writers following on the heels of the outstanding projects for global audiences that emerged from the inaugural Impact Australia in 2020,” he said.
Impact Australia is financed with principal funding from Screen Australia and Film Victoria.The program is also supported by Learning Partner the University of Melbourne, Screen NSW, Screen Queensland, and Screen Territory.
Find out more about Impact and Impact Australia here.