Melbourne/Brisbane-based production company Continuance Pictures has selected the top 25 script submissions for its Continue Short Film Initiative, which aims to establish a platform for emerging talent to create a short to serve as a proof of concept for a feature film or TV series.
Three winners will be chosen from the shortlist and receive up to $10,000 each.
Unexpectedly, the initiative proved popular internationally, with filmmakers from all corners of the globe submitting their film and television scripts. A third of submissions came from female screenwriters, and of the top 25 finalists, over a third were written by women.
Continuance Pictures was founded by Tristan Barr and David Gim, who have hopes that the short film initiative will result in more than 50 shorts over five years.
“Having filmmakers from a variety of backgrounds provides our development department with engaging stories and endless entertainment,” Barr says.
“Prestige horrors, fourth-wall-breaking comedies and touching dramas were the most popular genres tendered.”
While submissions were being reviewed by the development team, the producers have started making connections in the US with the help of Screen Queensland, Film Victoria, and Australians in Film, including writing talent and production houses.
“Our goal is to champion quality content from emerging writers and directors,” Gim says.
“We believe we can bring fresh local and international talent to these production houses, thanks to the Continue Short Film Initiative.”
The initiative has also been supported by Perth’s Revelation Film Festival.
Top 25 Continue Short Film Initiative scripts:
The Silent Horror of Being Alive by Wassim Bazzi (AUS)
The Far Acre by Garret Walsh (IRE)
Quietus by Nicole Jones Dion (US)
Six Seconds by Tim Brothers (AUS)
How to Disappear Completely by Rodrigo Salem & Jeremy Christensen (US)
Peaches by Courtnee Zambrano (US)
Take-Off by Joel Stephen Fleming (AUS)
The Neck of It by Alejandro Alberola (UK)
The Caddy by Cary Brown (US)
A Town Called Sunburn by Grace Rein (AUS)
LYZ by Darnell Brown (US)
The Invader by Scott Martin (US)
The Wolf in the Wind by Alexander Duncan (AUS)
Home by Katie Micay (US)
Follower by Tony Newton & Kerry Newton (UK)
Red Right Hand by Nick Pollack (AUS)
Subject by Vincent Befi (US)
The Scribe by Alicia Norman (US)
The Black Balloon by Jason Goldberg (US)
A Mind Alike by Caitlin Milne (AUS)
The Spleenlovers by Clarence Williams IV (US)
Liar Liar by Cleo Massey (AUS)
Jane Doe by Laura Lyte (US)
Carn-Evil by Jason Siner (US)
Darkness by Stuart Quinn (UK)