Adele Vuko, Christiaan Van Vuuren and family.
Screen Australia has assured producers that all the production funds for At Home Alone Together will go direct to the writers, performers and production teams whose concepts are commissioned for the eight-part ABC comedy.
The agency stressed that none of the funding will go to ABC employees. While the ABC will own the program’s IP, the content creators can exploit the IP of their characters by sharing the sketches on social media platforms and YouTube
IF questioned the commissioning and funding process after being contacted by two producers who feared the funding might go to the ABC as an in-house ABC production, thus setting a precedent.
They expressed concern that producers may have to compete with the public broadcaster for direct subsidies from Screen Australia even if the production companies are then commissioned by the ABC.
Hosted by Ray Martin, each half-hour episode will see regular contributors including comedians Anne Edmonds, Ryan Shelton, Becky Lucas, Christiaan Van Vuuren and Adele Vuko share their knowledge, inspirations and advice on how to achieve self-improvement during the corona crisis. The range of topics will include D.I.Y. wellness, parenting and personal finances.
The series will premiere on the ABC and iview at 9 pm on May 13. Screen Australia online investment manager Lee Naimo told IF that all its funding will be provided to the successful content creators.
“At Home Alone Together is a targeted joint initiative between the ABC and Screen Australia that the ABC is project managing,” Naimo says.
“The aim of this initiative is to provide immediate support to a range of talent, including a number of emerging creatives whose work has been impacted by COVID-19 and provide them with broadcast experience.
“All Screen Australia production funds are going to independent content creators (writers, performers and production teams), who are invited to pitch their concepts for the series.
“These ideas for short form content are assessed against criteria including the creative strength of the idea and the ability of the creator(s) to bring the idea to screen.”
Successful creators will be jointly chosen by Screen Australia and the ABC and given funding to write scripts and either produce the content themselves or assign a producer to shoot and edit their sketches.
ABC Commercial holds worldwide format distribution rights.