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Screen Australia announces $4.6 million in Enterprise funding

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FilmNewsProfessional DevelopmentTV & Streaming
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Kauthar Abdulalim (Blacksand Pictures), Genevieve Grieves (GARUWA), and Tracey Rigney (Pink Lake Creative).

Screen Australia has announced that 18 individuals and 15 business proposals will share more than $4.6 million in a new round of Enterprise funding.

Business recipients include production companies Blacksand Pictures, Closer Productions, SAM Content, Unless Pictures, Blackfella Films, GARUWA, Oombarra Productions, and Pink Lake Creative.

Each Enterprise individual will be paired with a personalised creative and strategic business mentor to provide dedicated highly-specialised advice to further support their goals.

Of those selected, Larissa Behrendt will be placed at Eleven Film, Mohini Herse at Merman, Rob Innes at Arrow Media, Jessica Magro at Stampede Ventures, Alexandra Keddie at Celeste Barber’s Nondescript Productions, and Huna Amweero at Stephen and Hunter Page’s Djali House.

Further, all recipients will receive exclusive access to a 12-month education program facilitated by industry stakeholders, including 113 Partners, Screen Producers Australia, Australian Directors Guild, Australian Writers’ Guild, and Australians in Film.

Screen Australia CEO Graeme Mason said the diverse slate of recipients showcased the “extraordinary potential and ingenuity” of Australian practitioners and businesses.

“From trailblazing production companies, emerging talent, and those looking to expand locally and globally, these Enterprise recipients are well-placed to shape the future of Australian storytelling at home and on a global stage,” he said.

The Enterprise business recipients are as follows:

  • Archipelago Productions: A boutique production company based in Lutruwita/Tasmania that has been operating since 2019 and most recently completed Bay of Fires for the ABC. Partners Marta Dusseldorp and Ben Winspear are the creative and business drivers of the company – producing, directing, writing, developing and performing across all projects in varying capacities. The company is a structure for artists and audiences in Tasmania to connect, tell stories of place, and to bring the unique characteristics of the state to national and international audiences. Enterprise will support Archipelago Productions to build a strong slate of projects to underpin the company’s longer-term sustainability. Funding will also be allocated to a number of key positions and activities, including the development of new intellectual property and a targeted international engagement.
  • Blackfella Films: A 100% First Nations-owned production company operating for over twenty years that has produced a number of award-winning drama and factual projects including The Australian Wars, Total Control, and Redfern Now. With a strong commitment to take its scripted projects to the world, Enterprise will support Blackfella Films to compete more effectively on an international scale, continue to develop writers, directors, actors, and crew in the First Nations screen industry, and amplify its commitment to diversity, inclusion, and representation on and off the screen.
  • Blacksand Pictures: A new production company founded by filmmaker and producer Kauthar Abdulalim, who produced short narrative productions including The Ninth Tower, #MATCHED, and Salma’s Season and is currently taking the leap into long-form productions. Blacksand Pictures’ mission is to tell stories that humanise the Muslim experience and contribute towards the diversity of representation within the Australian screen landscape. Blacksand Pictures looks to grow with Enterprise support by creating an international business strategy and building key international partnerships specifically in the MENA region, with the goal of telling authentic stories of Muslims and catering to a Muslim audience of over 2 billion followers, globally.
  • Causeway Films: Founded by Kristina Ceyton and Samantha Jennings, Causeway Films focuses on the development and production of entertaining and socially relevant stories that allow diverse voices to achieve international success. Causeway launched with the globally acclaimed The Babadook, which premiered at Sundance 2014, produced Goran Stolevski’s award-winning films You Won’t be Alone and Of An Age and RackaRacka horror hit Talk To Me. The core activities Causeway Films will implement with the Enterprise funding include the expansion of its company business structure to include a key strategic position to help sustain growth off the back of its continued success, a targeted international strategy to increase sustainability including slate diversity into new platforms, and an increased output of the Causeway Films slate.
  • Closer Productions: A multi-award-winning screen production company based on Kaurna Land in South Australia with credits including Aftertaste, The Hunting, Animals, In My Blood It Runs. Enterprise will support Closer Productions in expanding its capacity and to undertake marketing that will give it the greatest opportunity to make this transition. Over the next two years, it plans to work with aligned production and finance partners on a range of content, and actively increase its scripted television presence and the scale and ambition of its feature slate.
  • Deerstalker Pictures: A YouTube channel known for its gaming and fantasy comedy web series with over 700,000 subscribers and 120 million views. Enterprise will support Deerstalker Pictures to streamline and scale up their art-department heavy production process to create more content, growing the 1 For All IP as well as expanding Deerstalker Pictures brand reach. Diversifying income streams through sponsored content, merchandising and crowdfunding, Enterprise support will also enable them to develop new original scripted series with the aim of exploring longer format content for their eager fan base.
  • GARUWA: A First Nations-owned, values-led production company continuing intergenerational storytelling practice across platforms and promoting sovereign content creation and First Nations talent building. Enterprise will fund the employment of key executives to the company as it plans to expand its GARUWA Originals slate to create and sustain ethical First Nations screen projects.
  • GoodThing Productions: GoodThing Productions whose credits include Nitram, The Australian Dream, and Nude Tuesday, has produced more than 20 projects in the last decade. Enterprise will support GoodThing to build a scripted TV department – helping it to expand further into screen industry, both in Australia and internationally. This funding will also support the company to extend its brand into the episodic arena and capitalise on several premium TV projects in late-stage development whilst also initiating growth in a new TV slate.
  • LateNite: An independent production studio known for original projects such as The Future of Everything, Rebooted, and The Wizards of Aus, LateNite employs humour to explore outsider stories that are unmistakably human and navigate the line between light and dark. Enterprise will support LateNite to diversify into long-form content and build a dynamic slate that responds to audience trends.
  • Oombarra Productions: A First Nations-owned and led production company, helmed by Bain Stewart and Leah Purcell, with over 25 years of history telling authentic Australian stories of First Nation voices including The Drover’s Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson. Enterprise will support Oombarra Productions to develop and implement a commercial strategy at scale, to increase commercialisation of intellectual property and generate diverse revenue streams from new service areas, especially in screen content and scripted TV production.
  • Pink Lake Creative: A screen business conceived by award-winning filmmaker and playwright Tracey Rigney, who draws inspiration from her people and culture and is passionate about empowering local regional Victorian communities to access, celebrate and engage with Australia’s screen industry. Enterprise will support Pink Lake Creative in expanding and building on its creative ambitions, progressing its narrative slate, engaging with strategic development consultants, and embedding plans to capitalise on and expand its intellectual property. The company will build greater knowledge, capacity, and connections for marketing its unique business and slate and build its brand.
  • Rush/Projector Films: Enterprise will support Western Australian-based Rush Films and South Australian-based Projector Films to join forces and collaborate on a new partnership that will leverage each other’s expertise, benefits of their track records, and their pool of creatives and strategic relationships to move into premium international documentary production. The new slate of projects will focus exclusively on producing these premium international documentaries in genres highly desirable to global audiences and buyers – targeting global sales with international networks and streamers.
  • SAM Content: Sally Aitken and Aline Jacques’ company has a strategic mission to create authentic and distinctive stories from the Oceania region. Enterprise will support the company to focus on ambitious stories in all genres as SAM embarks on an alliance with a major European studio to incubate a global slate delivering premium factual content from Australia for the world.
  • Spaceboy Studio: A production company founded by Steve Anthopoulos and Yingna Lu, committed to telling attention-grabbing stories in accessible and entertaining ways. Work includes Love Bug and Voice Activated. Enterprise will support Spaceboy Studio to expand its slate, collaborate with local and international production companies, and progress rapidly with its five-year plan to improve its visibility and competitiveness.
  • Unless Pictures: A socially conscious, female-led screen production company, dedicated to delivering intelligent and original works. Unless is spearheaded by producer Meg O’Connell. The team will expand under Enterprise to include Rosie Lourde, AP Pobjoy and Hannah Belanszky, while maintaining the current team. Enterprise is an opportunity for Unless to build its reputation, expand its international strategy, invest in its company infrastructure, diversify its slate, and increase development funding. Credits include Retrograde (ABC) and the award-winning shorts The Moths Will Eat Them Up and Finding Jedda. Unless is currently in pre-production on their feature film Windcatcher (Stan/ACTF). 

The Enterprise people are as follows:

  • Alena Lodkina: A writer/director whose credits include feature film Petrol and Strange Colours will undertake a six-month placement with Sixteen Films in the UK.
  • Alex Barry: Alex is a documentary filmmaker with writing/directing experience and will be completing a 12-month placement with Stranger Than Fiction Films, the production company behind River and Mountain.
  • Alexandra Keddie: An AWG and SPA-nominated writer, producer, and actor, best known for creating The Power of the Dream and the ABC series The Housemate. She will undertake a 12-month placement at Celeste Barber’s Nondescript Productions.
  • Cath Moore: An award-winning screenwriter who has written for sketch comedy, children’s television, documentary, and drama. Her work has been screened on the ABC, SBS and Seven Network, with credits including Sister Song, Classic Tales, Hearing James, Into The Night and Swing. Moore will undertake a 12-month placement with Princess Pictures where she will intensively develop her craft both as a screenwriter and producer.
  • Christopher Amos: A British-Australian filmmaker whose work includes short films, promo videos, and feature documentaries, including the cult classic documentary Dressed as a Girl on Amazon Prime and Hating Peter Tatchell on Netflix. Amos is undertaking a six-month residency at World of Wonder in Los Angeles.
  • Emma Roberts: An extended reality (XR) producer based in regional Victoria. Roberts’ Gondwana – the world’s first durational XR project – premiered in 2022 at Sundance before showing at multiple festivals and winning Best Interactive/Immersive at the 2022 ADG and AIDC awards. Working in France with leading XR media companies Astrea and Albyon, Roberts’ placement is designed to address the areas of production and distribution over a six-month period.
  • Hannah Reilly: An award-winning writer, director, and actor whose credits include Growing Up Gracefully, Sheilas and many of The Chaser’s ABC TV satire programs. Reilly will undertake a six-month placement at Invention Studios in LA in 2024 where she will develop skills as a creative producer, creator, and writer, build her slate, and gain hands-on experience in the US market with the President of Invention Studios, Nicky Weinstock and Australian associate Carmen Knox, the director of Craft Services.
  • Huna Amweero: Screenwriter and graduate of AFTRS, Amweero has co-written feature scripts with visual artist Del Kathryn Barton. She is also known for writing/producing web series Krystal Klairvoyant. Amweero’s placement is for one-year at Djali House, a production company formed by established creators Hunter and Stephen Page.
  • Jessica Magro: A proud Samoan-Maltese-Australian Brisbane-based producer working across both scripted and unscripted formats, Magro is the founder of independent production company Purple Carrot Entertainment, which has a strong focus on Pasifika-Australian stories. Her credits include Fez and The Alexander Ball. Magro will undertake a six-month placement with Grant Torre, VP of Film at Stampede Ventures, shadowing him across Stampede’s development and production pipeline.
  • Jessica Tuckwell: A screenwriter, script producer, and director for television and feature film who specialises in drama, comedy-drama, and adaptations. Tuckwell was script producer on seasons 1 and 2 of the Stan series Bump and the co-creator, writer, and director on the spin-off Year Of for Stan. Tuckwell will undertake a program of industry meetings, key international market and conference attendance, professional development opportunities, and 1:1 mentorship in London to build her international relationships and gain insight into what makes a show travel internationally.
  • Larissa Behrendt: Behrendt is a professor at the University of Technology Sydney and the director of research and academic programs at the Jumbunna Institute of Indigenous Education and Research. Also an award-winning filmmaker, Behrendt has written and directed several feature documentary films including After the Apology and Innocence Betrayed, and director of all four episodes of The First Inventors. Behrendt will undertake a placement with Eleven Film, focussing on preparing to write, direct and executive produce her own narrative drama, After Story.
  • Liliana Muñoz: Muñoz is a SPA and MIPTV Ones to Watch alumni, known for the Series Mania-selected All My Friends Are Racist (ABC), as well as The Unboxing, and Famtime (Seven Network). Muñoz served as a development executive and series producer for Fremantle Australia, Fremantle North America and MTV, and is the founder of creative-led studio Maximo Entertainment. Her Enterprise funding will allow her to undertake a comprehensive six-month residency with FilmNation Entertainment to gain a deeper understanding of international multi-party financing deal structures, market trends, and the complexities involved when building a slate of high-quality, commercially viable, and engaging content.
  • Madeleine Parry: Parry has been the key creative on 12 commissioned projects, including having written and directed five documentaries and a broadcast series. She also directed Hannah Gadsby’s Emmy-award-winning Nanette for Netflix. Parry will undertake a six-month residency in Los Angeles with a soon to be launched production company from an Academy Award, DGA, BAFTA and Golden Globe-winning filmmaker. 
  • Mohini Herse: Herse is a writer and director best known for creating the Digital Originals series Appetite. She also worked as Taika Waititi’s assistant on Thor: Love and Thunder and is responsible for directing Australia’s first Instagram series, There Out There. Herse’s six-month placement is with UK production company Merman, known for Catastrophe, This Way Up, and Bad Sisters. The placement will coincide with the beginning of several productions on Merman’s slate and she will shadow the directors and/or the showrunners, observe writers’ rooms, read drafts, and have access to the slate.
  • Nara Wilson: A proud Wirangu, Kokatha and Larrakia woman and an independent screen producer, Wilson is based in the Adelaide Hills. She will undertake a 12-month placement with Vishus Productions where she will increase her skills specifically across creating finance plans and A-Z budgets.
  • Rae Choi: An AWGIE and SPA nominated filmmaker and lawyer based in Meanjin/Brisbane. Choi produced the short film My Home Is A Dog That Lives Inside Me and feature film Paris Funeral, 1972, followed by her directorial debut short, When The Sky Was Blue. Choi co-wrote and produced Viv’s Silly Mango, which was commissioned by ABC Children’s and produced with support from Screen Australia as part of The Kaleidoscope Project initiative. Choi will undertake her placement with Queensland’s Good Apples Pictures, founded by Kate Hynes and Kerrin McNeil, as a development producer.
  • Rob Innes: In 2022, Innes was the director of the ABC TV three-part series Magda’s Big National Health Check for Southern Pictures. He produced and directed four-part ABC TV documentary series Housemates, produced the award-winning series Phenomena for ABC online, and the online documentary series Unerased. London’s Arrow Media will welcome Innes for an intensive six-month residency working alongside and under the purview of managing director Tom Brisley.
  • Sierra Schrader: A Biri-Gubba, Guugu Yimidhirr and Kuku Yalanji filmmaker from South Australia, whose experience includes directors’ attachments on Upright, Bad Mothers, and Total Control. She made her debut as a producer was the mini-doc, Electric Mimili for ABC iView’s Deadly Family Portraits series. She was also an associate producer on the Australian/New Zealand co-production, We Are Still Here (TIFF 2022) and completed a producers’ assistant/attachment on Heartbreak High series. Schrader will undertake a six-month placement with Aaron Ryder at Ryder Picture Company in Los Angeles. She will focus on the company’s film production next year, gaining deeper insights into projects during their pre-production, production, and post-production stages, while continuing to build her skills as a true multi-hyphenate key creative.