14 12 2017 - Media release Development funding announced for 17 screen projects and four industry placements
Kate Box and Harriet Dyer/Gold Diggers Photo credit Rupert Reid
Screen Australia has today announced development funding totalling almost $500,000 for 14 features, one high-end television project and two online series, as well as four supported talent development placements.
Nerida Moore, Senior Development Manager at Screen Australia said: This round we have seen a diverse range of projects across features, TV and online, spanning comedy, drama, sci-fi, thriller and family drama. This includes projects that are continuing their journey towards production, as well as new projects added to the development slate.
We continue to support projects from established creatives, such as Wayne Blair, Gerard Lee, Catriona McKenzie and Rachel Perkins, as well as impressive emerging screen talent such as Bec Peniston-Bird, Tania Ferrier, Shannon Murphy, Saman Shad and Jack Yabsley.
Among the projects funded for development are:
Rita Kalnejais' adaptation of her successful stage play Babyteeth. Shannon Murphy (Offspring, Love Child) is attached to direct, which would be her feature debut. A bittersweet comedy about how good it is not to be dead yet and how far we will go for love, the film will be produced by Alex White, with Jan Chapman as Executive Producer.
Television drama series Darby and Joan, about two strangers who set out on an epic outback journey, is to be produced by Claire Tonkin and Glenys Rowe for CJZ, with executive producers Matt Campbell and Nick Murray, and writer Phillip Gwynne (Australian Rules).
Godfrey, from AACTA-award winning writer/director Wayne Blair (The Sapphires, Cleverman) and Emmy -nominated and AACTA-award winning writer Gerard Lee (Top of the Lake, Breath), which will be produced by Jamie Hilton and Ester Harding for See Pictures. The film tells the story of Godfrey, a man in his 30s with autism who lives with his Indigenous adoptive-brother David. Their precarious domestic balance is destabilised when Godfrey's new physiotherapist Annie arrives in town.
Online comedy series Gold Diggers to be directed by Shannon Murphy, written by Jack Yabsley and produced by Muffy Potter. The executive producers will be Muffy Potter, Michael Horrocks and Trudi-Ann Tierney, and follows two women in the Gold Rush in Australia who go in search of their own jackpot: newly rich idiots.
Actor/director Matt Day's first feature directorial project Killing Betty. Based on Day's 2017 Tropfest-winning short film The Mother Situation, this dark comedy about greed, euthanasia, family and real-estate will be written by Kirsty Fisher and produced by Vincent Sheehan for Porchlight Films.
Award-winning director Rachel Perkins (Jasper Jones) and writer Craig Silvey (Jasper Jones) will reunite for feature The Prospector. This period drama/thriller is set in Western Australia's Gold Rush, where a woman searches for her missing husband and is forced to question if he truly is the man he claims to be. Miranda Dear and Darren Dale will produce for Blackfella Films.
Stolen is writer/director Catriona McKenzie's second feature film project, following the award-winning Satellite Boy, and is co-written with Patricia Cornelius (Blessed). Stolen tells the story of a white baby girl who is brought into an Aboriginal community by a dingo. The mystery of her and those around her unravels in reverse-chronological order to reveal who she is and how she came to be. McKenzie will also produce, alongside Liz Kearney for Arenamedia.
Thought Talent producers Anthea Williams, Fiona Tuomy, Santilla Chingaipe and Mala Sujan will undertake placements with Causeway Films, Film Art Media, Arenamedia and Easy Tiger respectively. All four producers are alumni of Screen Australia's Developing the Developer program.
For more info and the full list of projects funded, please visit the following links:
Story Development Features
Story Development High End TV & Online & Interactive
Talent Development Industry Placements
Related MaterialsDownload PDF
Media enquiries Jane Alexander | Senior Publicist
61 2 8113 5883 | 61 400 940 682 | jane.alexander@screenaustralia.gov.au
Clio Anne Ellis | Publicist & Events
61 2 8113 1091 | 61 405 492 745 | clio.ellis@screenaustralia.gov.au
All other general/non-media enquiries Sydney 61 2 8113 5800 | Melbourne 61 3 8682 1900 | info@screenaustralia.gov.au
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Zero in on one that says yes (and no)
Andy Marken May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image courtesy of Deposit Photos
For content creators the most difficu...
29/05/2026
With InfoComm 2026 just weeks away, NDI is giving attendees plenty of reasons to...
29/05/2026
Reaffirming a partnership that has defined Canadian sports broadcasting since 19...
29/05/2026
Mobile/tablet is No. 2 device for watching TV, suggesting that the sports-production industry needs to take another look at the format
Ring Digital's Sprin...
29/05/2026
Berliner Ensemble, one of Berlin's five major theater companies, has expande...
29/05/2026
Solid State Logic will showcase its new compact, fly-away TCA Tour audio product...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, passed away last month on April 12 ...
29/05/2026
Paramount+ will be the English-language U.S. home for Barclays Women's Super...
29/05/2026
Further strengthening its virtualisation strategy to fully support broadcasters ...
29/05/2026
Swiss broadcaster Canal Alpha has deployed Harmonic's award-winning, software-based XOS Advanced Media Processor to modernize playout operations across cant...
29/05/2026
PTZOptics will showcase a new generation of intelligent video workflows at InfoComm 2026, June 17-19, Las Vegas. Visitors to booth N8227 will see how PTZOptics ...
29/05/2026
Arizona's Family has launched the Arizona's Family Sports (AZFS) streaming app, a new direct-to-consumer destination for live, local sports. The app is ...
29/05/2026
Starting in 2027, DAZN will be the exclusive home of The Canadian Football Leagu...
29/05/2026
Comcast Business has detailed the advanced network infrastructure it has deploye...
29/05/2026
In two-day event, leaders from academia and industry explored solutions to chall...
29/05/2026
The Basketball Tournament (TBT), now entering their 13th year of competition, ha...
29/05/2026
Roku has launched FOX One as a Premium Subscription on The Roku Channel in the U.S. Roku customers can now subscribe to FOX One using their Roku account for liv...
29/05/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
29/05/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent ratings news and is derived from press re...
29/05/2026
The days are getting longer, the temperatures are rising, and playlists are filling up for the season. With summer around the corner, Spotify's global edito...
29/05/2026
New retro-inspired MPC announced
There are few devices that have gained the status held by Akai Pro's MPC range, and in recent years, the company have s...
29/05/2026
Save up to 30 on acclaimed titles
Following a successful launch at Superbooth 2026, Bjooks have revealed that they will be continuing the Kickstarter campa...
29/05/2026
Binaural monitoring application improved
Genelec have just released an update that brings some powerful new features to their HRTF-based binaural headphone ...
29/05/2026
6 June 2026 at SAE Institute, London, UK
IMSTA FESTA 2026 is almost upon us, with some of the biggest names in pro-audio set to descend upon SAE Institute i...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, died April 12, 2026, at his home in...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Comparing 5 AI Video Enhancers for Restoring Old Video Quality
Kate Luvis May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Digitizing VHS, MiniDV, and other legacy formats doe...
29/05/2026
Studio Hamburg Builds New Post Pipeline with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Workflow replaces a patchwork of legacy tools...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
At the Intersection of Music and Dance, an Epic Collaboration Boston Conservatory musicians and dancers found creative parallels in their recent performance o...
29/05/2026
Back to All News
Latino Film Institute Fellows Screen Their Short Films at the Egyptian Theatre
The Inclusion Fellowship and Spark Animation Grant uplifts 15 ...
29/05/2026
GLOOKAST LAUNCHES CINNAFILM TACHYON PLUGIN FOR MEDIA PRODUCER AND MEDIA SERVICES
This release first appeared here.
Visit our Tachyon product page or contact...
29/05/2026
May 29 2026, 09:00 (PDT) Dolby and rednote Bring More Immersive Storytelling to...
29/05/2026
Something fundamental has shifted in how people consume media. Audiences aren't abandoning television or radio content; they're just expanding how, wher...
29/05/2026
Youtube exclusive special drops today
Watch now
UKTV today announces another e...
29/05/2026
Back to All News
The Official Trailer of Physical 100 Italy, on Netflix From Se...
14 12 2017 - Media release Development funding announced for 17 screen projects and four industry placements 
