21 December 2009

SEASON'S GREETINGS FROM SCREEN AUSTRALIA

All of us at Screen Australia wish you the very best for the holiday season, and look forward to an exciting year ahead.

Screen Australia's offices will be closed from Friday 25 December 2009 to Friday 1 January 2010 inclusive. In addition, the Producer Offset Unit will not be staffed on Monday 4 January 2010.

LATEST PRODUCTION INVESTMENT APPROVALS

Screen Australia recently announced production investment in 22 projects including four feature films, four television dramas and 14 documentaries. More than $13 million was committed to these projects, triggering production valued at over $65 million.

Amongst the feature projects is Bait 3D, the first Screen Australia-funded 3D dramatic feature, to be directed by Russell Mulcahy, and Burning Man, a new feature by critically acclaimed writer/director Jonathan Teplitzky.

Television drama includes a third season of the award-winning SBS series East West 101 and Like a Virgin, a mini-series about a woman whose sexual history catches up with her in the most unusual of ways.

Documentaries include Fromelles' Lost Soldiers, the story of the worst 24 hours in Australian military history, to be screened on Channel 7, and Machete Maidens Unleashed!, a fast-moving odyssey into the subterranean world of the rarely explored province of Filipino genre filmmaking populated by miniature James Bonds, karate kickin' soul sisters and anorexic Rambos.

Read the media release

REVISED GUIDELINES FOR ENTERPRISE PROGRAM RELEASED FOR COMMENT

The Enterprise Program is central to Screen Australia's vision for a more commercially sustainable screen production industry. Based on industry feedback and experience of the inaugural round in 2009, the guidelines have been re-worked with the aim of better meeting industry needs as well as streamlining internal processes.

The proposed new guidelines are now available for industry comment.

A total of $3 million will be available over a three-year period for the 2010 round, with a maximum of $350,000 per year proposed for each successful applicant company.

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.

More details.

COMMENTS CLOSING SOON ON TERMS OF TRADE

Revised terms of trade and guidelines for most of Screen Australia's programs were released for comment on 15 November.

Comments on these drafts close Tuesday 22 December; send to programs@screenaustralia.gov.au or by mail to Screen Australia, GPO Box 3984, Sydney NSW 2001; or fax +61 2 9357 3737.

More details.

CONGRATULATIONS ...

• Congratulations to all the winners of the Australian Film Institute Awards. Screen Australia is proud to note that films and programs it supported took out 29 awards including Best Film, Best Television Drama Series, Best Documentary Series, Best Telefeature, Mini-series or Short-run Series, Best Children's Television Drama and Best Short Fiction Film.
  
  
• Three new Australian features and three shorts films have been selected for the prestigious Sundance Film Festival in January. Writer/director David Michod's much-anticipated Animal Kingdom will premiere in the World Cinema Narrative Competition - one of only 14 films selected for this section from over 1,000 submissions. Cane Toads: The Conquest, described as the first Australian digital 3D feature film, from writer/director Mark Lewis, will have its world premiere in the Premieres section. The musical road-movie Bran Nue Dae from director Rachel Perkins will have its US premiere in the inaugural Spotlight section. All three features were made with financial assistance from Screen Australia.
  
  The three shorts were selected from a record 6,092 submissions, and include Young Love from writer/director Ariel Kleiman. My Rabit Hoppy by Oscar-nominated writer/director Anthony Lucas, and Glottal Opera directed by John Fink.
  
  Find out more.

NEW SCRIPT FACTORY WORKSHOP ANNOUNCED

Following the success of the inaugural workshop in October and with a view to strengthening and advancing Australian screenwriting culture and its practitioners, Screen Australia is once again working with development training pioneer the UK Script Factory to assist produces and script developers in honing their skills in a practical environment. Four Australian tutors will be involved in teaching the workshop alongside the Script Factory principals.

A national four-day workshop will be held in Melbourne during March 2010. The workshop process is designed to enable individuals with high-level story analysis skills to focus on the nuts and bolts of script developing. Applicants should have demonstrated script development experience.

Deadline for applications is close of business Friday 29 January 2010.

Find out more.

PRODUCER OFFSET UPDATE

Screen Australia Chief Executive Ruth Harley released the latest data on the operation of the Producer Offset during her session at the Screen Producers Association of Australia (SPAA) Conference in Sydney on 20 November. She reported that, as of 18 November, 90 screen productions had been certified since the offset was introduced in July 2007, for a total cost to government of over $123 million. The incentive delivered $91 million to 19 feature films, $7 million to 46 documentaries, and $25 million to 25 television projects. More statistics.

The Producer Offset Unit passed a significant milestone on Thursday 17 December 2009, when Screen Australia issued the 100th final certificate.

A new fact sheet has been produced on the Producer Offset and Official Co-productions, focusing particularly on the implications for QAPE. Available for download from the Producer Offset section of the website.

NEW BOX OFFICE ANALYSIS

Screen Australia CEO Ruth Harley's presentation at the recent SPAA Conference also discussed Australian films in the marketplace, new analysis by Screen Australia's Strategy & Research Unit of five years of feature film box office and release data. This research looks at box office performance according to release strategy and reveals that most Australian films have had limited or speciality releases over the last five years.

"Australian films do well in these categories of release," said Dr Harley, "but it will be very difficult for overall box office results to improve significantly unless more local features are successful with mainstream audiences." More details from the Research and Statistics section of the website.

SCREEN AUSTRALIA PEOPLE MOVEMENTS

Christopher Sharp will join Screen Australia's Development team in the Sydney office from January 2010. Most recently Christopher was based in London where he worked as a Development Executive for Material Entertainment, a co-venture between New Line Cinema and Entertainment Film Distributors. Christopher has also worked as a script assessor for UK production entities such as Working Title, UK Film Council, Celador and Ealing Studios. Prior to that he worked as an agent at BLA Management in Sydney and as a producer. More info.

Liz Stevens has been appointed, on an acting basis, to the newly created position of Manager, Documentary, reporting directly to Ross Matthews, Head of Production Investment. Liz will manage the Documentary Unit's operations, leading a process of change that will see a streamlining of operations and decision making with the aim of providing significant benefits in efficiency and service. Liz was previously Screen Australia's Business Affairs Manager, Documentary; she takes up her new role immediately.

Tristram Miall and Scott Meek will both finish in their roles as Industry Specialists for Screen Australia's Production Investment Department at Christmas. Tristram and Scott have worked as Industry Specialists for Screen Australia from early in the agency's existence. Before this they both had similar roles at the Film Finance Corporation, Scott for more than two years and Tristram for over a year. The Board acknowledges their significant contributions to Screen Australia during this period of considerable change as well as their ongoing passion for and commitment to Australian stories and filmmakers. New appointments will be announced early in 2010.

SCREEN AUSTRALIA SUPPORTED EVENTS

January 2010 highlights include: Flickerfest International Short Film Festival and Flix in the Wet.

SCREENING NOW

Australian films in cinemas
Screen Australia programs on TV

DEADLINES

Deadlines and board meeting dates have been announced for 2010.

IMPORTANT: There will be significant pressure on Screen Australia investment funds in 2010. Consequently, deadlines will be rigorously applied: if an application is incomplete by close of business on the due date it will be declined.

Upcoming deadlines:

Feature Production - 7 January
Children's Television Drama Production - 29 January
Domestic & International Documentary Production - 29 January

Script Factory: Script Development Initiative - 29 January

Please note: many Screen Australia funding programs do not have deadlines and are not assessed in rounds. Please check the website for application details for specific programs.

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