Screen Australia has injected almost $1.6 million in funding into eight new projects through its Multiplatform Drama program.
The program is intended to support unorthodox projects released on a variety of platforms.
Screen Australia senior investment manager, Tim Phillips, said the new slate demonstrated the fund’s twin goals of supporting exciting new teams and finding fresh ideas from established talent.
"Funding from Screen Australia helps deliver on the promise and potential of these ideas, and assists content makers release and market their stories worldwide,” he said.
Screen Australia head of production, Sally Caplan, said the fund was both creator and audience focused.
“Adelaide’s RackaRacka and Triptych Pictures are the latest team supported under the fund to deliver views in the many millions with their Versus series," she said.
"For brave local content which is connecting with audiences globally, you need look no further than our Multiplatform fund.”
The eight projects include one-off special The Horizon, from producer Brian Cobb and writer Boaz Stark.
This is based based on Australia’s most viewed online series of the same name, the special will follow country boy Jake, who arrives in Sydney having only just acknowledged his sexuality. It will be directed by the experienced Stephan Elliott (Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, A Few Best Men), representing his first foray into online content.
The producer and director team behind the hit web series How to Talk Australians, Jason Byrne and Tony Rogers, returns with Bruce, a dark comedy set in a share house that just happens to be a prison tent in Sydney Cove in 1788.
Written by Warwick Holt and Mat Blackwell, the series will be released for online platforms.
Comedy web series Footballer Wants a Wife is also on the list.
It follows the production of a reality series where three footballers of different codes search for love.
Created by Ben Nicholas and independent producers, Crankyfish, the show will reveal whether AFL utility Steven Papakonstantinou will ever find a wife just like his mother.
Western Australian-based online creator Aaron McCann will unveil the truth behind Japanese TV show Top Knot Detective.
ScreenWest and SBS are also supporting the project.
Independent production house The Woolshed Company are being supported to create a seven-part web series focused on pushing the boundaries of short-form entertainment. The series will be distributed online.
There is also the mini-series Trip for Biscuits.
This blasts established television personalities Bajo (Good Game) and Paul Verhoeven (Steam Punks!) into space as intergalactic private investigators.
It is produced by Robot Panther, with the support of ABC3.
Insert Coin, a weekly comedy sketch show revolving around the world of video games and movement, a seven-part comedy series round out the eight.
Insert Coin is created by Lee Naimo and Jordan Raskopoulos, two thirds of comedy troupe, Axis of Awesome.
The series will also feature established comedians and online talent including Skit Box, Michael Shanks (aka timtimfed) and the Bondi Hipsters.
Movement, on the other hand, demonstrates how dance therapy cures life and love problems.
Screen Australia is providing completion funding to the series, which comes from emerging producer/director team Lucy Hayes and Jessica Barclay Lawton.
The Multiplatform Drama program accepts applications throughout the year, without submission deadlines.