
19 10 2021 - Media release Screen Australia announces development funding for 21 projects
Yael Stone in High Maintenance (Photo credit: David M. Russell/HBO)
Screen Australia has announced 14 feature films, six television dramas and an online project that will share in over $600,000 of Story Development funding. The projects include Beth, a spin-off of television series High Maintenance starring Yael Stone, and comedic crime series The Pastor's Wife from the producers of hit ABC series Wakefield.
This slate includes 11 projects supported through the Generate Fund and 10 through the Premium Fund.
Screen Australia's Head of Development Nerida Moore said, This is an exciting mix of projects and it's great to support creatives expand on their careers and take on new challenges, including producer Alex White working on her first TV series, and writer Arka Das and writer/director Hannah Hilliard on their debut feature films.
Last week it was announced that Moore will depart the agency in December after nine years. The new Head of Development Louise Gough will start in the role on 15 November 2021.
The shared vision we are working towards is an inclusive industry where the best Australian talent can tell their stories to all Australians and global audiences. To this end, I'm grateful for the support of the industry while we made some seismic but necessary changes to open up eligibility and support storytelling on all platforms. It's a privilege to have supported so many fabulous creative projects and people along the way, said Moore.
The funded projects include:
Beth (working title): A spin-off from the HBO series High Maintenance. Beth will follow the feisty, freewheeling thirty-something dog walker (played by Yael Stone), who has just returned to Sydney after 10 wild years in New York. This comedy is created by Alex White (Babyteeth), Eden Falk, Charlie Garber (Sando), Lexi Freiman (author of novel Inappropriation) and actor Yael Stone (Orange is the New Black). It will be directed by Falk, written by Garber and Freiman, produced by White and executive produced by the original creators of High Maintenance, Katja Blichfeld, Ben Sinclair and Russell Gregory.
Khana: The debut feature film written by Arka Das, one of the writers of anthology feature film Here Out West, which is set to open Sydney Film Festival 2021. Khana follows young migrant worker Ronny who clocks long hours as a dish-pig at an Indian restaurant in Sydney's Western suburbs. When the opportunity arises to achieve his dream of becoming a chef, he feels his life is about to change. However, Ronny quickly finds his dream has become a prison and he is drawn into the dark underworld of indentured labour where freedom comes at a hefty price. Blake Ayshford will work with Das as a script consultant during development and the film will be produced by Co-Curious (Here Out West).
Mimesis: A science-fiction feature film about gifted computer scientist Beth Francis, who resurrects her dead sister in the form of an Artificial Consciousness. Once brought to life, Beth's virtual sister struggles with her new identity and draws Beth and her mother into an exploration of the days leading up to her unexplained death, changing their relationship forever. Mimesis is the debut feature film from writer/director Hannah Hilliard, whose 2010 short film Franswa Sharl won the prestigious Crystal Bear for Best Short Film at Berlin Film Festival. Hilliard is joined by writer Ian Shadwell (Under the Volcano) and producer Kristian Moliere (The Babadook).
The Pastor's Wife: An eight-part television series from Jungle Entertainment, the producers of Wakefield and Mr Inbetween, and international boutique distributor and producer APC Studios. This comedic crime series follows a usually meek and mild-mannered pastor's wife and a rat-bag teen who together go down a rabbit-hole of some seriously ungodly behaviour, in order to get away with murder. The creative team features creator/writer Romina Accurso (Spreadsheet), producer Bridget Callow-Wright (Over and Out) and executive producers Romina Accurso, Shay Spencer and Laurent Boissel.
The Sweet Above: A feature film about the true story of an aeroplane race from Melbourne to London in 1932, and how locals from the New South Wales town of Albury defied the odds to become aviation heroes. This adventure drama is created by the team behind A Sunburnt Christmas, with writers Elliot Vella, Gretel Vella and Timothy Walker and executive producers Fiona Eagger, Deb Cox, Mike Jones, Drew Grove and Michael Smith.
For the complete list of development funding approvals refer to television, online and feature film breakdowns.
ABOUT STORY DEVELOPMENT FUNDING Teams with projects for any platform including TV, film and online, can apply for development funding from two program strands the Generate Fund and the Premium Fund.
The Generate Fund is for lower budget projects with an emphasis on new and emerging talent, or experienced talent wanting to take creative risks. The Premium Fund is for higher budget projects of ambition and scale from successful screen content makers.
Related MaterialsDownload PDF
Media enquiries Lidia Williams | Acting Senior Publicist
61 2 8113 1091 | 61 468 784 170 | [email protected]
Catherine Swan | Publicist
61 2 8113 5886 | 61 447 984 755 | [email protected]
All other general/non-media enquiries Sydney 61 2 8113 5800 | Melbourne 61 3 8682 1900 | [email protected]
Most recent headlines
09/11/2025
Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...
06/11/2025
Media organisations from across the globe are uniting to promote media and information literacy (MIL) to help ensure their future survival and win back the trus...
06/11/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Athlos NYC CEO Kayla Green on Building the Brand of the Young Trac...
06/11/2025
ESPN Exits ESPN BET Deal With PENN, Goes Into Business With DraftKingsDraftKings will integrate innovative fan experiences' across ESPN platforms and DTC s...
06/11/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Voyage Audio's Colin Ritchie on How the Spatial M...
06/11/2025
Ben Whishaw at the premiere of Peter Hujar's Day (photo by Robin Marshall / Shutterstock for Sundance Film Festival)
By Bailey Pennick
The premise is si...
06/11/2025
At Spotify, we're always finding new ways to bring you closer to the music that moves you, turning sound into something personal. From the playlists that ma...
06/11/2025
O mundo est ouvindo a Am rica Latina. Os artistas da regi o est o constantement...
06/11/2025
The world is listening to Latin America. The region's artists are consistent...
06/11/2025
El mundo est escuchando a Latinoam rica. Los artistas de la regi n marcan const...
06/11/2025
After nine months of fiscal year 2025, SGL Carbon generated sales of 652.9 million, down 16.5% on the previous year (9M 2024: 781.9 million). This is attribut...
06/11/2025
Contact information:
Miriam Johnson, Website Lead, Fotoware Group
miriam.johnson@fotoware.com
Oslo, October 2025: As part of our brand unification, the Pic...
06/11/2025
Calrec's 36-fader Argo M in Steiger Media's newly equipped OB truck parked outside the venue will showcase a live remote workflow connected to the Calre...
06/11/2025
With nearly 50% of streamers willing to cancel a service based on difficulty fin...
06/11/2025
BRISTOL, Conn., and BOSTON ESPN and DraftKings today announced an agreement naming DraftKings the sports programmer's exclusive official sportsbook and odds...
06/11/2025
MELVILLE, N.Y. Canon USA has launched the CR-N400 and CR-N350, two new Pan-Tilt-Zoom (PTZ) cameras designed to deliver high image quality, versatile connectivit...
06/11/2025
NEW YORK Fox Sports said its coverage of the Los Angeles Dodgers' win over the Toronto Blue Jays in the decisive Game 7 of the 2025 World Series delivered 2...
06/11/2025
NEW YORK DoubleVerify and Roku, Inc. are reporting that they have seen a marked reduction in fraudulent ad requests imitating Roku device traffic across the s...
06/11/2025
CAMBRIDGE, England Faced with rising inflation and worries that the economy is weakening, consumers are prioritizing their spending on popular streaming service...
06/11/2025
STAMFORD, Conn. NBC Sports is mounting mics in unconventional places to bring the sounds of NASCAR into the living rooms of sports fans....
06/11/2025
BRANSON, Mo. Link Electronics has partnered with Aberdeen Broadcast Services to provide a real-time, dual-stream translation and captioning service....
06/11/2025
Venture will deploy and commercialize Level-4 autonomous driving technologies
P...
06/11/2025
Strategic execution and operational optimization lay foundation for sustainable growth
Space Services returns to growth following Thuraya-4 start of operations...
06/11/2025
06 Nov 2025
VEON Appoints Sebastian Rice as General Counsel Vitaly Shmakov promoted to the newly created Chief Investment Officer role
Dubai, November 6, 2025...
06/11/2025
Telos Alliance Partners to Showcase Professional Audio Processing and Next-Gen ...
06/11/2025
The prequel to the Sky Original mob crime saga is a six-part drama tracking the ...
06/11/2025
The six-part drama, set in a close-knit Welsh town fractured by an unspeakable c...
06/11/2025
Rohde & Schwarz at productronica 2025: Innovation and production - hand in hand As a trusted partner for electronics manufacturing, Rohde & Schwarz will prese...
06/11/2025
Back to All News
Mystery Thriller The Price of Confession' Starring Jeon D...
06/11/2025
The company will highlight its recent ecosystem expansions and strategic innovat...
06/11/2025
Red Seat Ventures Announces Partnership with Renowned Entrepreneur, Author and M...
06/11/2025
We're delighted to announce the appointment of Max Mehta and Mark Fannon as Junior Systems Engineers, further strengthening our growing Technology team.
Ma...
06/11/2025
RT Announces Alex Walden as General Manager of the
RTE Concert Orchestra
Alex Walden, renowned orchestra manager, most recently for the BBC Concert Orche...
06/11/2025
Actors Steve Coogan and anna Hardwicke will be on the Late Late Show this week ...
06/11/2025
In the third episode of The 2 Johnnies Late Night Lock In actor Danny O'Carr...
06/11/2025
NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang and chief scientist Bill Dally were honored ...
06/11/2025
A crisp chill's in the air - and so is the action. GeForce NOW is packing November with 23 games hitting the cloud, including the launch of the highly antic...
06/11/2025
Scripps Research team identifies sugar molecules that trigger placental formation Study reveals how sugar-protein interactions are critical for the placenta dur...
05/11/2025
College Hoops Preview 2025: ESPN Remote-Ops Team Preps for Massive Slate of Men&...
05/11/2025
University of Iowa Centralizes Video Production With Dual Control Rooms at Carve...
05/11/2025
On Monday night, Ed Sheeran and Spotify lit up The Royal Dublin Society in Dublin for a one-night-only performance. The occasion? The third installment of Billi...
05/11/2025
Cumbia has long been woven into daily life in Argentina, and its popularity on S...
05/11/2025
La cumbia forma parte del d a a d a de los argentinos desde siempre, y su popula...
05/11/2025
Earlier this year, our in-house publishing imprint, Spotify Audiobooks, put out ...
05/11/2025
SBS showcases next generation of pro cyclists in extended broadcast deal with Pr...
05/11/2025
Photo credit: CIVMEC...
05/11/2025
A Nielsen survey of 500 directors and millions of monday.com workflows reveals t...
05/11/2025
Prime Video's VoD offerings included for the first time in standardized AGF Measurement
Frankfurt, October 28, 2025. AGF Videoforschung, together with Ama...
05/11/2025
A 13-year-old company that serves as a master control/disaster recovery hub for PBS stations says it has seen little financial impact from cuts to public broadc...
05/11/2025
To no one's surprise, the NFL's most dominant franchise in recent years attracts the most TV viewers, according to new research by S&P Global Market Int...