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Screen Australia and YouTube Australia fund four new teams through tenth Skip Ahead initiative

Screen Australia and YouTube Australia have announced four new projects that will share in $480,000 as part of the tenth instalment of the Skip Ahead initiative.

Top L-R: Garn: The Series, BUG (working title). Bottom L-R: The Vegetable Plot, Re: Plastic.

First launched in 2014, Skip Ahead is the ground-breaking program for Australian YouTube creators designed to develop storytelling skills, grow creative ambitions and elevate production value.   

In addition to receiving funding, the four content creator teams will participate in a three-day workshop to develop their projects. They will be mentored by industry leaders and alumni of the program including writer/producer Luke Clark and editor Elizabeth Price of media company Never Too Small, director Michael Shanks and producer Mike Cowap of short film Rebooted, online creators Goldie Soetianto and Elliot Ryan of fantasy comedy webseries Deerstalker Pictures, viral Australian comedian and singer Jordan Raskopoulos, and digital video strategists from Changer Studios. 

The funded projects are:  

  • Garn: The Series: From comedy duo Declan and Connor Evanson comes a 3 x 8-minute series about Murph and Davo, two small-town tradies who receive a record-breaking Keno win but find themselves in strife with the ATO just as a documentary crew arrives. Written and directed by Declan Evanson and produced by Brenton Pinsent, the series will be released on the Garn. YouTube channel. 
  • BUG (working title): From Australian animation hub minbitt comes a tale of misplaced Garden Ant nymphs fighting for survival in a post-apocalyptic world. Directed and written by Mel Shin and Skye Henwood, and produced by Tom Murray. The pilot will be released on the minbitt YouTube channel. 
  • Re:Plastic: What if solving the plastic crisis meant first becoming part of it? This three-part, short documentary series blends chaotic DIY experimentation with expert insights to explore Australia’s complicated relationship with plastic. To discover how deep the problem goes, engineer Bryce Cronin takes on challenges like recycling every piece of plastic he touches and making it from scratch in his kitchen. Written and directed by Cronin with Matthew Phung as Executive Producer. The series will be released on the Buildy Bryce YouTube channel. 
  • The Vegetable Plot: From family-focused YouTube channel The Vegetable Plot, a new pre-school 6 x 2-minute series sees Pep, Egg, Haze, their mum Collie and dad Gus enjoying creative adventures in Eartha, their beat-powered double-decker bus home, inspired by the music from the award-winning Australian children’s band of the same name. From Luke Escombe (writer and producer), Alvaro del Campo (producer), Nick Lorentzen (producer), Tania Lacy (writer), Cleon Prineas (writer) and Stefan Wernik (director). The series will be released on The Vegetable Plot YouTube channel. 

Since its inception, Skip Ahead has supported 43 content creation teams. For more information about Skip Ahead funding, click here.