Revised Enterprise Program guidelines:
draft released for comment
Guidelines for Screen Australia’s Enterprise Program have been reviewed in the light of the inaugural 2009 funding round and a revised draft is now available for comment.
Download the draft guidelines here:
Screen Australia will be consulting with stakeholders including industry guilds and state and territory film agencies, so please contact your appropriate representative body to make sure they are aware of your views. Feedback can also be sent by mail or email direct to the addresses below.
Comments are invited until Friday 29 January 2010; send to programs@screenaustralia.gov.au
or by mail to Screen Australia, GPO Box 3984, Sydney NSW 2001;
or fax +61 2 9357 3737.
Final guidelines are due to be issued early in 2010, and Screen Australia intends to hold industry briefings each state soon after they are released.
Key changes are outlined below:
Available funds
- A total of $3 million is available over a three-year period for the 2010 round, with a maximum of $350,000 per year for each successful applicant company, compared to a maximum of $500,000 per company per year under the 2009 guidelines.
- The reduced cap reflects the fact that no company was awarded more than $350,000 per year in the 2009 round, and allows Enterprise funds to be spread across a diverse range of companies.
Application process
- The Expression of Interest (EOI) stage has been eliminated in order to streamline the process and reduce the overall cost and time burden for both Screen Australia and applicants.
- All applicants will need to develop a full business plan for their application. Support is available for applicants not sufficiently resourced to do this through avenues such as state agencies or the federally-funded Creative Industries Innovation Centres – Enterprise Connect program.
Eligibility for Enterprise funding
- The objectives of the program have been further clarified and additional eligibility criteria have been included, with a minimum level of experience required of at least one company principal. The intention is to more effectively target the program at appropriate businesses, making the best use possible of available funds, and helping achieve the program’s overarching aim of enhancing business sustainability.
- It is not the objective of the Enterprise Program to provide funds to entities which have a substantial capital base. Instead, Screen Australia intends to prioritise ambitious and developing companies that do not yet have the capacity to access private capital but may be enabled by Enterprise Program funding to accelerate their growth and enhance their ability to attract private equity.
Eligibility for single-project development funding
- Generally, Enterprise funding recipients are not eligible for Screen Australia’s single-project development programs.
- Under the new guidelines, it is proposed to allow Enterprise recipients to apply for single-project feature development funding in certain circumstances.
- Feature development requires a very particular skill set and only companies who are able to demonstrate strong capability in this area will receive Enterprise Program funding for features.
- However, Screen Australia doesn’t want to dissuade recipients whose Enterprise funding does not include features from pursuing feature ambitions, given that finding and developing extraordinary feature projects is a very high priority for the organisation.
- So, in situations where feature development is not part of a company’s Enterprise funding, under the proposed new guidelines the company might still be eligible to apply to Screen Australia’s single-project feature development program.
- Funds could only be sought for specific approved items such as fees for writer, script editor or director (if applicable), not for company or producer costs including overheads, budgeting, financing or pitching costs, legals or marketing. Applications would be subject to the normal assessment process under the single-project development program.
