Press Release from Screen Australia
Screen Australia has announced the Springboard Short Film program, the Short Film Completion fund, the Screen Australia/Film Four Producer Internship program and the Script Factory Foundation Development training initiative – four new development programs aimed at supporting Australian practitioners to create outstanding Australian content that engages audiences.
The Screen Australia Springboard Short Film program is designed to forge the connection between short filmmaking and a feature film career, and will support promising filmmakers to make their last short film before their first feature. Participating teams will already have made at least one outstanding short film and will have a fully developed feature film script, which will become their first feature. Six teams will participate in the program annually, with three going through to production.
The Screen Australia Short Film Completion fund will provide up to $30,000 for outstanding shorts that have been shot and edited but require further funds to complete.
The Screen Australia/Film Four Producer Internship program will provide one exceptional producer per year with exposure to the international marketplace and the best development practice at a formative time in their career. The successful intern will receive $70,000 support from Screen Australia to spend six months working in the development department at Film Four.
The Screen Australia Script Factory Foundation Development training initiative aims to up-skill the standard of development practice in Australia by providing annual high-quality training in script analysis and development, using the internationally successful Script Factory model. Thirty people will be selected nationally to attend workshops in Sydney and Melbourne.
“These four programs will give Australian filmmakers the opportunity to take the important next step in building their skills, their careers and their slate,” said Martha Coleman, Head of Development at Screen Australia.
“Screen Australia’s Springboard program will provide three successful teams with $120,000 to create a short film project that speaks to the sensibility, creative ambitions and tone of their first feature film. We will also provide completion funds for short films which have the potential to gain a strong profile at major Australian and international film festivals.”
Ms Coleman continued: “Australia’s brightest producing talent will be supported to reach their full potential through the Screen Australia/Film Four Producer Internship that will place the successful intern at the centre of one of the smartest development departments in Europe. The Script Factory is the UK’s leading script development organisation and has been pivotal to the professional training of script readers and script developers in the UK for 13 years. Australian participants in this program will receive high-quality training in script analysis and development. They will learn how to further the creative process by turning analysis into constructive feedback.”
Guidelines for these initiatives will be published on the Screen Australia website at the end of August.