Screen Australia's Terms of Trade provide guidance on how the agency will transact its business. They supplement the guidelines applying to particular programs and are reflected in Screen Australia’s contracts.

Updates are made from time to time, with changes logged within the document itself. The current version was issued on 27 January 2011.

Download Terms of Trade (PDF).

Funding provided as a grant

For documentary and some other projects, Screen Australia funding of $200,000 or under is provided as a grant, rather than recoupable investment, and will not have to be repaid unless the terms of the grant agreement are breached. Screen Australia’s contribution will be agreed upfront and not varied, other than in exceptional circumstances.

‘Screen Australia funding’ in this case means production finance through the National Documentary Program, General Documentary Program, International program, Signature Documentary Program, Indigenous Department documentary programs and other special initiatives, as well as production finance under the All Media Program. If a project has received development funding from Screen Australia or its predecessor agencies, the development funds will be added to the production funds for the purpose of determining whether the $200,000 grant threshold has been reached. Support provided through Screen Australia’s marketing programs is not included.

Screen Australia will hold 1 per cent copyright in all projects where its investment is greater than $100,000.

Contracting

As a first step in streamlining its contracting processes, Screen Australia has developed core conditions for its documentary production investment agreement (PIA) and production grant agreement (PGA), as well as its TV drama PIA.
Find out more.

NFSA deliverables

Producers now contract directly with the National FIlm and Sound Archive (NFSA) to establish obligations to deliver curatorial materials and (in the case of National Documentary Program projects) assign rights to the NFSA. The agreement is a short form Deed, which will need to be executed prior to release of Screen Australia's first drawdown of its investment.
Find out more.

Recoupment reversion

Screen Australia reverts its recoupment entitlement in favour of the producer in accordance with the Terms of Trade applicable to production investments approved after 1 January 2009. In this section, you can read about the guidelines for recoupment reversion for titles approved by Screen Australia and its predecessor agencies before that date.
Find our more.

[Page updated 27 January 2012.]