Market & Audience – Assets Program

Applicants and projects must meet Screen Australia’s Terms of Trade, any general eligibility or other requirements listed on the agency’s website (see Information for Applicants and Information for Recipients), as well as the specific eligibility criteria set out in these guidelines.

Specific requirements apply to projects which involve First Nations participation or content.

Specific requirements may apply to projects which involve community participation or content with the following communities: d/Deaf, disabled, culturally and linguistically diverse, LGBTQIA+, or those from other under-represented groups.

This program is open to arms-length co-applicants consisting of the project’s distributor and the project’s production company. To be eligible, each co-applicant must:

• be an incorporated company carrying on business in Australia, with central management and control in Australia;
• have an Australian Business Number (ABN);
• be registered for the purposes of GST if required by law;
• have one co-applicant be the producer of the title and maintain and retain control of the rights necessary to carry out the project, meaning that it must have clear Chain of Title and must generally be party to any underlying rights agreements;
• have one co-applicant be a bona fide ANZ distributor of the title with an agreement in place with the producer of the title;
• be a theatrical feature film in receipt of Screen Australia Narrative Content Production Funding, Scripted Production funding or First Nations Production Funding;
• if applicable, be independent of any local Commissioning Platform for the first release of a program in Australia; and
• demonstrate and/or have relevant experience through comparable work that shows the capability to produce and distribute the work for which they are applying.

The following types of entities are not eligible to apply to this program:

• Commonwealth, state, territory or local government agencies or bodies; and
• any organisations that are otherwise excluded pursuant to the Information for Applicants.

For full eligibility information, including project eligibility information, please refer to the attached guidelines.

Before applying, applicants and co-applicants must read and understand these guidelines, Screen Australia’s Terms of Trade, Information for Applicants, Information for Recipients, and preview the application form on SmartyGrants.

Through the application form, co-applicants must:

• provide all the information requested and answer the application questions;
• meet, where required, all eligibility criteria; and
• include all required supporting materials.

Co-applicants are required to provide information on or upload the following supporting materials with their application form:

• Creative:
  • Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Plan for the asset collection, creation or completion for the activity being applied for, where applicable (for example, if the title is the story of a particular community, the co-applicant might choose to have a translation strategy in asset collection or creation).
  • First Nations Statement for the asset collection or completion for the activity being applied for, where applicable (for example, if the title is a First Nations title, the co-applicant might choose to use a First Nations owned business as a provider).
• Budget:
  • budget for eligible project costs which directly relate to the activity of asset collection, creation or completion;
  • provide a financial contribution to the overall budget being applied for under this program;
• Co-applicant Company Biographies
• Asset Campaign and Collection and/or Asset Creation and/or Asset Completion Strategy & Schedule
• Audience Strategy & Schedule
• Providers, as applicable
• Distribution Agreement.

Incomplete applications will not be accepted. For full details on the application process, including required materials, please refer to the attached guidelines.

Applications will be assessed the following criteria:

• Audience Strategy:
  • Does the project have the potential to resonate with specific or broad Australian and/or global audiences, and will it invite them to buy a ticket?
  • Will the story have impact for audiences and/or reflect the depth and diversity of people and experiences from around Australia?
  • Does the campaign and asset collection strategy align with its intended audience reach?
• Campaign Strategy:
  • Is the campaign strong and distinctive for the title?
  • Is the campaign suited to its platform and intended audience?
  • Does the campaign have potential to support discoverability, impact and audience engagement of the title?
• Asset Collection or Asset Creation Strategy:
  • Does the previous experience and/or track record of the talent and team position them to execute the assets and strategy?
  • Will the strategy support the ambition of the campaign?

Other factors may be considered including the:

• availability of funds;
• range of projects in receipt of direct funding from Screen Australia, inclusive of a project’s scale, budget, intended audience, genre and themes;
• range of applicants in receipt of direct program funding from Screen Australia, inclusive of applicant, applicant company and geographic diversity; and
• extent to which a project is likely to effectively and properly increase and amplify equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility.