
30 09 2019 - Media release Screen Australia releases documentary Discussion Paper
Behind the Blue Line, The Australian Dream, War on Waste
Screen Australia has today published a Discussion Paper which outlines proposed revisions to the agency's documentary funding program to better support the industry and adapt to changes in the sector.
Industry feedback is being sought, with submissions closing 27 October 2019. New guidelines will be published in February 2020, and effective from 1 July 2020.
Screen Australia's proposed reforms will enhance the existing Development, Producer and Commissioned programs, and create a new Completion funding pathway for lower-budget documentaries.
Head of Documentary at Screen Australia, Bernadine Lim said, Over the past few months, we have met with over 100 documentary content creators, distributors, and broadcasters from around Australia. We have heard and considered the range of issues and opportunities facing the documentary sector. Whilst we can't provide solutions for every pressure point, for those matters within our sphere of influence, I believe these proposed revisions will ensure creators can keep telling exceptional true stories.
We have designed these reforms with a view to making our funding programs more accessible and easy to understand. I'm confident these changes will promote a diverse slate of projects across more platforms, made by creators of varying experience levels.
The annual funding available to the Documentary Department will remain in the $14-$16 million range.
A summary of the four proposed reforms are listed below:
1. An enhanced Development Program with increased funding, and a simplified application process, open year round. The funding pool for Development and initiatives will increase by up to $500,000 to $1.3-$1.7 million, to help projects build momentum and early market interest. The fund will support creators to meet market demand for more elaborate development materials and encourage the creation of local formats.
Three types of development opportunities will be offered to reflect the key phases in the development cycle. These include Seed funding to support very early phase development, General Development funding for research and the creation of development materials, and Advanced Development funding for projects with marketplace interest.
2. A simplified Producer Program with an easier application process and an extra funding round, meaning applications will now be accepted five times a year. Funding will be capped at $500,000 per project. The application process is expected to be much easier and faster. Only applications that require further clarity will be required to submit additional materials via a second stage.
The $500,000 per project cap reflects the typical maximum ask of the fund in recent years. A portion of the fund will be quarantined for low-budget documentary.
The funding pool for the Producer Program will increase by up to $300,000 to $4.4-$4.9 million.
3. Revise and clarify the Commissioned Program to fund projects commissioned by all current major platforms including free to air, pay TV and streaming services. The cap per project will be lowered from $1 million to $750,000 to enable more titles to be funded. The revised program will ensure Australian documentary content is available on as many platforms as possible. Local platforms may receive preference for funding, but provided a project qualifies for the Producer Offset and the Australian producer is bona fide, projects for global streaming platforms will be eligible.
The funding pool for the Commissioned Program will remain in the $6.5-$7 million range.
4. Introduction of a creatively assessed Completion Fund for low-budget documentaries (with total budgets of $125,000-$500,000) that provides up to 20% of an approved budget via an accelerated cashflow method. The proposed fund will be open all year and will have a total funding pool amount of $1.5-$2 million. The existing Producer Equity Program (PEP) will be retired. In 2019/20 total PEP funding will be capped at $2.5 million.
The Completion Fund has been designed so that the majority of projects that would previously have been eligible for PEP, will now be eligible for Completion Fund. Funding limits will remain the same as they were for PEP, but the first drawdown will increase from 50% to 80% to give faster access to funds.
Additional changes include:
Increase the minimum licence fees under the Commissioned Program to reflect increases in production costs and support more sustainable screen businesses.
The proposed increase has been calculated by applying the method used by the ACMA (Australian Communications and Media Authority) for drama quota settings.
Applicants must provide a domestic pre-sale from an eligible commissioning platform with a minimum licence fee. The fees will increase as follows:
From $180,000 to $196,000 per hour, where Screen Australia funding is more than $500,000.
From $150,000 to $163,000 per hour, where Screen Australia funding is $500,000 or less.
There will be no change to the other licence fee, which will remain:
$100,000 per hour, where at least 10% of the budget comprises of advances from sales agents for the international market, and/or international territory presales irrespective of the level of the Screen Australia funding.
In exceptional circumstances, Screen Australia may consider a lower licence fee if the international offer forms a very high proportion of the total budget.
Eligibility requirements have been revised to create an open-door approach to seed and online development funding.
Eligibility requirements will change to make documentary funding more accessible. No credits will be required to access Seed Funding, development for any online program or the Completion Fund.
More details about eligibilit
Most recent headlines
13/03/2025
TAG Video Systems and Harmonic Partner to Deliver Enhanced Real-Time Monitoring ...
13/03/2025
DigitalGlue Invites NAB Visitors to Experience New Features in Managed Storage P...
13/03/2025
FOR-A America Theme - Connecting the Present, Building the Future - Comes to Lif...
13/03/2025
CTIA, the wireless industry association, has named former FCC Chairman Aji Pai as its President and Chief Executive Officer, effective April 1. He replaces Mere...
13/03/2025
he National Association of Broadcasters is urging the FCC to end its investigation of that controversial CBS interview with Kamala Harris stating there is no ...
13/03/2025
MIAMI CBS News & Stations continues to expand its use of augmented and virtual reality technologies with the planned launch of an augmented reality/virtual real...
13/03/2025
Srividhya Srinivasan, co-founder and chief customer success & innovation Officer at Amagi, tells TVBEurope how staying ahead of the latest trends is essential f...
13/03/2025
WASHINGTON FCC Chairman Brendan Carr announced that the agency has launched a massive, new deregulatory initiative that could potentially subject virtually all ...
13/03/2025
SUNNYVALE, Calif. SDVI has announced that it has integrated its Rally media supply chain management platform with the Spectra Vail multi-cloud data management s...
13/03/2025
ATLANTA Gray Media has announced that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has granted a waiver of its local ownership rules to permit Gray Media to acqu...
13/03/2025
TV Tech: What do you anticipate will be the most significant technology trends at the 2025 NAB Show?...
13/03/2025
Watch Student Naomi Soleils Folk Pop Performance on The Voice The songwriting major sang Stars by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals during the blind auditions.
...
13/03/2025
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
By combining T-Mobile's robust network, Thal...
13/03/2025
Bundle up - GeForce NOW is bringing a flurry of Blizzard titles to its ever-expanding library.
Prepare to weather epic gameplay in the cloud, tackling the genr...
13/03/2025
AI is leveling up the world's most beloved games, as the latest advancements...
13/03/2025
PC game modding is massive, with over 5 billion mods downloaded annually. Mods p...
12/03/2025
O Spotify acaba de lan ar o relat rio Loud & Clear deste ano, uma vis o transpar...
12/03/2025
Spotify acaba de presentar el informe Loud & Clear de este a o, una mirada trans...
12/03/2025
Ramadan, a period of profound spiritual significance for Muslims worldwide, is a time for fasting, prayer, reflection, and community. Enrich your experience thi...
12/03/2025
Spotify has just unveiled this year's Loud & Clear report, a transparent loo...
12/03/2025
More than 70% of FAST programming has been produced since 2010, according to new Gracenote report
NEW YORK March 12, 2025 Gracenote, the content data busin...
12/03/2025
GEONA, Nev. Independent digital and linear advertising rep firm Viamedia will adopt cloud-based ShowSeeker Pilot as its primary ad campaign and order management...
12/03/2025
BRUSSELS Mediagenix has announced that Wael Yasin has joined the company as sales director Central Europe....
12/03/2025
LONDON A new study highlights opportunities for shoppable TV and the massive impact online consumer spending is having on the economy, with Omdia predicting tha...
12/03/2025
CUPERTINO, Calif. Interra Systems has announced that Comcast Technology Solutions has integrated recent updates to BATON Version 9 into its operations....
12/03/2025
Nevion announces new 400G addition to its eMerge SDN media fabric offering
Brie Clayton March 12, 2025
0 Comments
High-capacity switch enhances existi...
12/03/2025
DaVinci Resolve Studio Delivers Cinematic Sound for Adam Bol
Brie Clayton March 12, 2025
0 Comments
Feature film relies on DaVinci Resolve Studio for ...
12/03/2025
SVT Leverages Ateliere Live to Pioneer 100% Software-Defined Production at Rally...
12/03/2025
Berklee Awards Fenway Neighborhood Improvement Grant to Four Organizations A total of $17,000 will be distributed among the Boston-based nonprofits.
By
Madd...
12/03/2025
TVBEuropes Jenny Priestley sits down with new SMPTE president Richard Welsh to discuss his aims for the organisation going forward, its efforts to attract a you...
12/03/2025
The new process has significantly enhanced operational efficiencies, with automation freeing up creators to concentrate on higher value tasks
By Matthew Corrig...
12/03/2025
Jellyfish Pictures, which has offices in London and Sheffield, said it has been battling hard in the face of strong headwinds over the last 12 months
By Jenny ...
12/03/2025
Visit Booth #W2213 to Experience the Latest in AI-Driven Content Discovery and Workflow Automation
Bitcentral, a leader in media workflow solutions, is set to ...
12/03/2025
CHICAGO Jeff Lilly has been named WGN-TV director of technology effective March 17, 2025, according to Ric Harris, WGN-TV vice president and general manager....
12/03/2025
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. A new study from LG Ad Solutions indicates that consumers want more features that would allow them to shop for products on the connected T...
12/03/2025
BOTHELL, Wash. The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS), Advanced Media Workflow Association (AMWA) and the Video Services Forum (VSF) will once again present...
12/03/2025
PHILADELPHIA Comcast announced that it has upgraded Xfinity Internet speeds for more than 20 million customers for no additional cost....
12/03/2025
Create with Maxon: Cinema 4D Fundamentals Workshop - March 12-14
Brie Clayton March 11, 2025
0 Comments
Makin' Waffles with Elly Wade
During Marc...
12/03/2025
Ottawa, Canada - March 12, 2025 - Ross Video is pleased to announce the appointment of Aaron Tunnell as Business Development Director, Cloud Solutions, reinforc...
12/03/2025
12 Mar 2025
VEON to release 4Q 2024 trading update on 20 March 2025 Dubai, 12 March 2025 - VEON Ltd. (NASDAQ: VEON), a global digital operator, today confirms ...
12/03/2025
Getting set for the Winter Olympics: Inside SVT's ongoing software-based pro...
12/03/2025
THE PLAYERS Championship 2025: AI Commentary, Shared-Reality Viewing at COSM, La...
12/03/2025
Seamless SMPTE 2110: A Discussion on Making the Move to IP Less Painful Leaders from Netflix, Monumental Sports & Entertainment, LinkedI, and Megapixel address ...
12/03/2025
Opening Doors of Perception: Meta's Ajit Ninan on Rethinking AR/MR Perceptua...
12/03/2025
With the 2025 Formula 1 season set to begin in Melbourne on March 16, Sky Sports is gearing up to deliver its most comprehensive F1 coverage yet. Following a th...
12/03/2025
Unicanal and Trece TV revolutionize Digital TV in Paraguay with Rohde & Schwarz ...
12/03/2025
Honoring Service, Celebrating Sport: Rohde & Schwarz UK Sponsors NavyFit Rugby D...
12/03/2025
New HVS-Q12 Represents a Quantum Leap in Switcher Design...
12/03/2025
Telespazio and ABS Expand Partnership to Deliver Tailored C-Band Connectivity So...
12/03/2025
ABC conducts independent audits across the TAG programs. In the March 2025 TAG s...