In response to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the independent production sector, the ABC has launched a $5 million development fund.
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted 70 productions which the ABC has commissioned from a total of 50 independent producers, according to MD David Anderson.
The ABC will cut the commissioning of independent production by about $5 million a year from July and rebrand the ABC Comedy channel to encompass genres such as arts, science, education and religion.
Josie Mason-Campbell is departing the ABC after three years as head of entertainment and factual amid a management restructure of the content divisions.
The future of the TV landscape remains difficult to predict, but commercial networks expect to feel the impact of coronavirus on commissioning budgets well into 2021, and many broadcasters are concerned about scheduling into next year and extra costs associated with restarting production.
Some 44 children’s content ideas and productions, 30 comedies, 15 dramas and 14 documentaries are among the beneficiaries of the ABC's Fresh Start Fund.
The ABC has named Roberta Allan as the new head of content curation and distribution in the entertainment and specialist division, managing the delivery of Australian content across multiple channels and platforms.
Installed as ABC head of comedy in July, Todd Abbott will start evaluating the development materials of the comedy projects that received support under the $5 million Fresh Start Fund this week – and next week he hopes to greenlight development on several projects that he’s already been evaluating.