
09 05 2019 - Media release Screen Australia announces nearly $800K for five online projects
Phi and Me
A teenager navigating the trials of her tiger mum, a sexual health clinic on the brink of closure and a children's club learning about music are among the latest stories to be supported by Screen Australia.
The five online projects will share in nearly $800,000 of production funding.
Screen Australia's Online Investment Manager, Lee Naimo said: I'm excited to support such a wide range of original ideas in this slate, including Cloudy River presenting a contemporary perspective on relationships and LGBTQI experiences, and Deadhouse Dark breaking the mold with a series of online horror films.
We have been impressed by the quality of the applications coming through and have started to see teams coming with fully formed pilots and very clear plans for producing and marketing their work. Creators are becoming very aware of their audience, with some teams leveraging their existing online fanbases or transferring audiences from live acts to screen projects. This innovation is evident in finance plans too, where we are seeing much more lateral thinking about how a project will be funded. No two projects are the same, and this is the great thing about our online fund you can really carve your own path and create unique content.
The funded projects are
Cloudy River: A six-part series about pansexual artist Emma (aka Cloudy) and her lover River, whose open relationship is put to the test when they move in together. Challenging ideas about love, sex and romance, this drama raises questions around whether you can truly be there for each other in an open relationship while pursuing the individual freedoms the relationship is founded on. Writer/directors Charlie Ford and Sophie Hardcastle will team up with producer Belinda Dean (The Funny Ones). This project is financed with support from Queer Screen.
Deadhouse Dark: A series of six short horror films for YouTube and deadhouse.tv anchored by a woman who orders a mystery box' from the dark web, and then discovers that each item is linked to a macabre real world headline. The stories all take place within the same world - one which is driven by online connections, constant surveillance and curated social media personas, much like our own. Deadhouse Dark will be presented by an experienced team led by Enzo Tedeschi, who has built a name in the horror genre with projects such as Event Zero. He will be joined by Joshua Long (Post Mortem Mary), Kristy Best (How To Know If You're Dating A Narcissist), Denai Gracie (Battle Ground) and Rachele Wiggins (Slice of Life) who will each write and direct an episode, with Rosie Lourde (Skin Deep) also directing. This project is also supported by Screen Queensland.
Metro Sexual: An eight-part series for 9Go! and 9Now about doctors Stephanie and Langdon who work at Metropolitan Sexual Health clinic. They have a tough enough job as it is dealing with odorous STIs and arduous colleagues, but when government cuts threaten to close them down they must do whatever it takes to save the clinic. The series will be produced by Darren McFarlane (Bruce) and Riley Nottingham (Your Call Is Important To Us), who also stars alongside comedian Geraldine Hickey. The creative team also features writer/director Henry Boffin and writer Nicholas Kraak from Humdrum Comedy, and executive producer Julia Adams (The Bureau of Magical Things). Metro Sexual is produced in association with Film Victoria, Screen Queensland, the Department of Health and Human Services and Yarraville Club.
Phi and Me: A five-part series for YouTube about 16-year-old Phi Nguyen and her over-the-top tiger mum Kim Huong, who is a constant source of embarrassment as she does everything she can to help her daughter have a better life. Originally a live act at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, this Vietnamese-Australian comedy will be brought to the screen by writers and creators Fiona Chau and Diana Nguyen, who also stars as Kim. Producers Serena Hunt (Swift and Shift Couriers) and Lucinda Bruce (Choir Girl), and emerging director Melanie Killingsworth are also on board.
Stripy Sock Club: An 18-part series which will premiere on ABC Kids starring popular children's entertainment group Lah-Lah. Viewers will be invited to join Lah-Lah s Big Live Band, a group of fun-loving musicians, as they work together to solve problems and learn about new musical instruments. The series will be produced by Lah-Lah creators Tina Harris and Mark Harris, along with Kristy Fuller (Heart and Soul) and Elaine Beckett (Back Of The Net). It will be directed by Mark Grentell (The Merger) and Ashley Koek (Heart and Soul). Stripy Sock Club is financed with support from the Australian Children's Television Foundation.
To find out more about online funding, listen to the Screen Australia Podcast.
All online production funding approvals can be found here
Podcast: Hear direct from Screen Australia's online investment managers on what funding is available and what projects they fund. Listen here
Cloudy River
Related MaterialsDownload PDF
Media enquiries Jessica Parry | Senior Publicist
61 2 8113 5833 | 61 428 767 836 | [email protected]
Lidia Williams | Publicist and Events Officer
61 2 8113 1091 | 61 468 784 170 | [email protected]
All other general/non-media enquiries Sydney 61 2 8113 5800 | Melbourne 61 3 8682 1900 | [email protected]
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...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
29/04/2026
It was a delicate job in a 150-year-old venue laden with traditions. Begun at th...
29/04/2026
In annual event, the league gives startup companies the opportunity to prove the...
29/04/2026
Panel discussions, networking, and a facility tour will take place in the renova...
29/04/2026
(L-R) Derek Drescher, Coss Marte, and Syretta Wright have each other's backs. (Micheal Hurcomb/Shutterstock for Sundance Film Festival)
By Veronika Lee Cla...
29/04/2026
Combines EQ and harmonic distortion
Techivation's latest release is a simple EQ designed to offer quick control over a source's overall tonal balanc...
29/04/2026
Two new MPE controllers announced
Expressive E caused quite a stir when they released the Osmose, making the sort of expression that was once reserved for p...
29/04/2026
New modules & enhanced machine-learning
The latest version of iZotope's flagship restoration suite is now available, and now offers over 50 tools design...
29/04/2026
Surgeon Dr Jasmina Kevric wins 2026 Les Murray Award
29 April, 2026
Media releases
Australia for UNHCR and SBS are proud to announce that Dr Jasmina Kevric...
29/04/2026
Some people stumble into their passion. Julissa Padilla walked straight into a film vault. For her, entertainment was never just about the movies themselves. It...
29/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/04/2026
Clear-Com has appointed Brian Grahn as Market Outreach Manager of the Americas and Ben Turnwell as Business Development Manager for EMEA live, expanding their ...
29/04/2026
nxtedition is bringing its range of consolidated production tools to MPTS 2026, with new developments spanning transcription, editing, graphics and AI-assisted ...
29/04/2026
Quortex Switch to boost the streaming experience for Telxius customers, reaching millions of viewers worldwide
Synamedia and Telxius, the leading global connec...
29/04/2026
freispace, the leading ERP-as-a-Service platform for media and entertainment production, and Projective, a leading provider of post-production collaboration tec...
29/04/2026
DHD reports strong interest in its broadcast audio product range, exhibited at the April 19th-22nd NAB Show in Las Vegas. The event attracted a claimed 58,000 a...
29/04/2026
Student Spotlight: Alan Catz The Argentine film and game composer talks about working on League of Legends, receiving Berklee's BMI Award, and the lifelon...
29/04/2026
Jay Jennings Builds the Worlds You Hear on Screen The supervising sound designer behind A Minecraft Movie, The Meg, Letters from Iwo Jima, and dozens of other...
29/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/04/2026
29 Apr 2026
VEON and Kyivstar Fulfill Commitment to Invest USD 1 Billion in Ukr...
29/04/2026
Rhod Gilbert, Harriet Kemsley, Kae Kurd, Sara Pascoe and Vicki Pattison to take part in brand new series on free streaming service U
London, 29th April 2026: F...
29/04/2026
Wednesday 29 April 2026
Katie Price: Nothing to Hide, a Sky Original documentar...
29/04/2026
Re-examining the case of Ellie Williams and the wider story of grooming in the town of BarrowWednesday 29 April 2026
Sky announces upcoming documentary series ...
29/04/2026
Wednesday 29 April 2026
Jennifer Garner to lead an all-star cast in new Sky Exc...
29/04/2026
Back to All News
SUPERNOVA: GENESIS Reached a Peak Audience of More Than 6.5 Mi...
29/04/2026
Students and staff from Hills Road Sixth Form College in Cambridge ran a 4.5km course around the roads of Cambridge as part of their annual programme of sustain...
29/04/2026
The Dawn Chorus airs Sunday 3 May from midnight to 7am on RT Radio 1 and RT ly...
29/04/2026
Jin-Quan Yu elected to the National Academy of Sciences Yu is recognized for his pioneering work in synthetic organic chemistry.
April 28, 2026
LA JOLLA, CA S...
28/04/2026
The audio team for the entertainment event must blend speech intelligibility with full-range music reproduction while considering the broadcast
Last week's...
28/04/2026
The Pac-12 Conference has released an updated primary mark and logo as the starting point of the new league's brand identity. The mark was soft-launched acr...
28/04/2026
The DP World Tour and Amazon Leo have signed an agreement making Amazon's lo...
28/04/2026
Pixellot and HELIOS have announced an integration that automatically converts full-game hockey video into individualized shift videos for each athlete, without ...
28/04/2026
Daktronics has partnered with the Asheville Tourists to manufacture and install a new LED video display. The installation was completed in late 2025 and is now ...
28/04/2026
Eutelsat has announced the renewal of its partnership with PCTV, a content aggregation and distribution company in Mexico and part of Megacable Holdings, for co...
28/04/2026
Daktronics has partnered with the Gary SouthShore RailCats to install a new LED video display at U.S. Steel Yard, replacing the previous Daktronics display inst...
28/04/2026
Telos Alliance and the College Radio Foundation have announced that WWSU-FM of W...
28/04/2026
Golf viewership is growing. The 2025 Ryder Cup drew five million viewers in the UK, a 45% increase over the 2023 event. The US Open was the most streamed golf e...
28/04/2026
The CW Network and WWE, part of TKO Group Holdings (NYSE: TKO), have announced t...
28/04/2026
The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS) has announced that the Internet Protocol Media Experience (IPMX) suite of standards and specifications has been named...
28/04/2026
The 2026 NAB Show is in the books and the show once again served up a cavalcade ...
28/04/2026
Gray Media and RAJ Sports have announced Rose City SportsNet (RCSN), a new netwo...
28/04/2026
Today, we announced our First Quarter 2026 earnings, starting the Year of Raising Ambition with strong momentum across the business and continued innovation acr...