Screen Australia is proposing a new title and a change of focus for its Enterprise funding program following a review of the scheme.
Refashioned as Enterprise Industry, the program will support three key areas – talent regeneration, story development and audience growth- according to draft guidelines issued today.
The agency said between $3 million and $5 million would be available per year for the next three years but it can’t finalise the amounts until after tomorrow night’s federal Budget.
Screen Australia got $100.8 million from the feds in the 2013-2014 financial year; $3 million was handed out in the last year of the Screen Enterprise program.
The industry is being asked for feedback with submissions due by June 6. Draft guidelines can be accessed at www.screenaustralia.gov.au/enterpriseconsult. New guidelines will be presented to the board at its July meeting and Enterprise Industry funding would kick in after that.
Since the program was launched in 2009, there have been five annual rounds of funding with a total of $19.5 million provided to the 29 companies. The aim broadly was to help the recipients to devise business plans and strategies to grow their businesses.
The new scheme would place more emphasis on risk and innovation and on mentorship and training. “Enterprise Industry hopes to support targeted growth activities that help build and renew the ecology of the sector,” said CEO Graeme Mason.
Enterprise Industry will provide support through a suite of programs based on three broad themes:
Enterprise: People will target industry placements to advance the skills of early-career writers and creative producers.
Enterprise: Stories will encourage ambitious and innovative large-scale development projects.
Enterprise: Growth will advance the development of new models for financing, producing and distributing Australian screen content, including domestic and international collaboration.
Expressions of interest will be invited for the latter two categories. “Enterprise Industry seeks ideas from screen businesses themselves for ways to address the challenges faced by the sector,” Mason said.
“It aims to help companies mitigate the risks involved in dedicating resources to activities that can take time to generate commercial returns but that are vital to ensuring the ongoing quality and viability of Australian screen production.”
Two special initiatives which ran in tandem with the previous program, Feature Enterprise, which provided working capital to new feature film producers with recent substantial success in the marketplace; and Enterprise Asia, which was designed to connect Australian screen businesses with key Asian territories, will not continue per se.
But there is nothing to stop applicants from seeking funds for either type of activity.