09 05 2018 - Media release Screen Australia announces $2 million for seven documentaries
Vanessa Hill in Mutant Menu
Screen Australia today announced production funding for seven projects through the Documentary Producer and Documentary Commissioned programs, totalling just under $2 million in funding. The slate of projects includes new seasons of ABC's influential series War on Waste and SBS's critically acclaimed series Go Back To Where You Came From. New formats have also been funded including an immersive Virtual Reality (VR) experience of Antarctica, and an online exploration of the behavioural psychology behind social media led by scientist and YouTuber Vanessa Hill.
We're constantly on the lookout for thought provoking documentaries that tackle powerful subject matter, engaging with audiences on all platforms, said Liz Stevens, Senior Manager of Documentary at Screen Australia. We're thrilled to see innovative projects such as Vanessa Hill's new series Attention Wars in the Producer program as our focus on online and interactive content builds. These new formats are an important complement to the marquee documentary series commissioned by our broadcasting partners, which have proven to be tremendous vehicles for meaningful, national conversation.
In total $462,000 was allocated through the Producer program, and $1.5 million through the Commissioned program.
The three funded Documentary Commissioned projects are:
A fourth season of International Emmy-award winning SBS series Go Back to Where You Came From Live from Cordell Jigsaw Productions. Reimagined as an ambitious live television event over three consecutive nights, it will dig deeper into the asylum seeker and refugee debate with a heightened sense of urgency. Using the very latest in technology, a dynamic snapshot of the global refugee crisis will be presented using stories from the frontline delivered in real time. The series is being produced by Toni Malone (Pauline Hanson: Please Explain!) and executive produced by Michael Cordell (Bondi Rescue) and Rick McPhee (Go Back to Where You Came From Series 1, 2 & 3), and has also secured funding from Create NSW.
Fredbird Entertainment's two-part television event The Royals Down Under for the ABC, charting the political and emotional history of Australia's relationship with the British Monarchy at a time when the country's ongoing republican debate has been reignited by political leaders. Executive produced by Craig Graham (Hatch, Match & Dispatch) and written and directed by Bernice Toni (DNA Nation).
A second season of the enormously successful and influential ABC series War on Waste from Lune Media, with three new episodes that will delve deeper into the issue of waste in Australia. The first series sparked widespread discussion and inspired behavioural changes from schools, communities, retailers and policy makers, and averaged 1.4 million viewers (metro regional) for the first three episodes within 28 days of broadcast on the ABC*. Series two will be written by David Galloway, directed by Jodi Boylan and Sandra Welkerling, with Leonie Lowe (Struggle Street) joining as executive producer alongside Galloway and Boylan. It has also attracted funding from Create NSW.
The four funded Documentary Producer projects are:
Serendipity Productions' Attention Wars presented by Vanessa Hill, a science communicator who has forged a significant online presence through her YouTube channel Braincraft and in 2017 released Mutant Menu funded through Screen Australia/Google Skip Ahead and PBS Digital Studios. This one- hour documentary intended for SVOD distribution will examine the claim that the big tech companies are making billions by enabling the largest, most standardised and most centralised form of attention control in human history. Produced by Margie Bryant (Who Do You Think You Are), directed by Kirk Marcolina, and co-written by Bryant and Marcolina.
Ratner&Co's Little Joe from emerging producer/writer/director David Ratner, who has teamed up with experienced executive producers Janine Hosking (A Modern Mutiny) and Paul Watters (The Get Down). The 12 x 8min online series is based on the remarkable gritty true stories of a Western Sydney suburbs Lebanese debt collector, and will mark Ratner's documentary series debut after producing a number of award-winning and festival-selected short films.
White Spark Pictures' The Antarctica Experience, an online VR expedition that will give viewers unprecedented access to the most remote and coldest place on earth. Based on an original concept created by emerging talent Briege Whitehead, who will be mentored by executive producer Ray Predetti, Whitehead will also produce and co-direct with renowned VR creator Phil Harper (David Attenborough's Great Barrier Reef VR Dive). Designed for museum then online release, the 25min VR project has secured support from the Australian Antarctic Division, the West Australian Museum and Screenwest.
Completion funding for The Coming Back Out Ball The Movie, a feature documentary exploring the heartbreaking and heart-warming stories of a group of elder LGBTQI people as they prepare to attend a ball celebrating their gender and sexual identity. Produced, written and directed by Sue Thomson alongside producer Adam Farrington-Williams; co-producers Roger Monk and Tristan Meecham; and executive producers Michael McMahon, Shaun Miller and Tony Nagle. This project has also secured Film Victoria, Melbourne International Film Festival and Documentary Australia Foundation funding, as well as a philanthropic donation from Fade to Black, and previously received time-critical development funding through the Documentary Producer program.
Find more information about this round of successful projects here
The Antarctica Experience VR
* Source: OzTAM an
Most recent headlines
04/08/2024
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, is excited to announce Santiago Solanas as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO)....
03/06/2024
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, a...
28/04/2024
Mediahaus delivers the first SRT live-streaming sports production over 5G with U...
27/04/2024
On April 26, L3Harris Chair and CEO Christopher E. Kubasik joined CNBC's Mor...
27/04/2024
PORTLAND, Oregon Audinate Group Limited, the developer of the Dante AV-over-IP solution, announced significant new additions to Dante Connect, its cloud-based D...
27/04/2024
TORONTO Bell Media has launched 10 English and French-language FAST channels featuring entertainment, factual, news, and sports programming. The new free stream...
27/04/2024
An extensive new analysis of the news segments in the broadcast evening news programs of ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS has found that broadcasters devoted most of their...
27/04/2024
GERMANTOWN, Md. EchoStar's Hughes Network Systems has opened a new manufacturing facility and private 5G incubation center in Germantown, Maryland....
27/04/2024
Harry Pappas, one of three brothers who founded Pappas Telecasting Companies in 1971, died April 24. He was 78 years old....
27/04/2024
ATLANTA and LONDON Mexican telecommunications and broadcast company Televisa has selected Synamedia for an overhaul of its broadcast distribution....
27/04/2024
Participate in the Survey - The Impact of AI on Media and the Creative Industry
Pascal Wagner April 26, 2024
0 Comments
By participating in this surve...
27/04/2024
SDVI Rally Access Workstation Earns Two Top Awards at 2024 NAB Show
Brie Clayton April 26, 2024
0 Comments
SDVI, the leading platform provider for clo...
27/04/2024
Berklee's Music and Health Institute Launches Community Health Musician Cert...
27/04/2024
Charter Communications reported higher first-quarter profits despite continued cord-cutting and competition for broadband customers....
27/04/2024
Two environmentally-focused groups are partnering to engage the unscripted TV world in finding better ways to address climate change. Reality of Change is an ec...
27/04/2024
Sarah Garcia has been promoted to weekend anchor at KTLM McAllen, Texas, known as Telemundo 40. Starting April 27, she will anchor Noticias Telemundo 40 weekend...
27/04/2024
CBS Sports said it launched a new 24-hour free, ad supported streaming television (FAST) channel devoted to the UEFA Champions League....
27/04/2024
Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts received $35.4 million in compensation in 2023, up 11% from the previous year, according to a proxy statement filed by th...
27/04/2024
Art Happens Here With John Lithgow, which sees the actor study dance, ceramics, silk-screen printing and vocal jazz with students in Los Angeles, debuts on PBS ...
27/04/2024
Remember Leave It to Beaver? Bewitched? Dragnet? When cable ratings were rising?...
27/04/2024
Next up for the weekend binge at Catchy Comedy is Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. Every weekend, Catchy Comedy features The Catchy Binge, a marathon of a classic sitcom....
26/04/2024
Sundance Film Festival CDMX 2024 kicks-off today with screenings in 5 theaters in Mexico City and the opening-night film, FRIDA, directed by Carla Guti rrez...
26/04/2024
[Editor's Note: This interview is part of a larger feature about the women d...
26/04/2024
Once again this year, SGL Carbon opened its doors to interested children and young people. On the occasion of the German Girls and Boys Day, which took place on...
26/04/2024
Orders1 of $5.5 billion; book-to-bill of 1.06x
Revenue of $5.2 billion, up 17%,...
26/04/2024
Five Considerations For Communications Modernization In The 21st Century
In the digital-enabled battlespace, the Joint Force needs to shoot, move and communica...
26/04/2024
CBS Sports has launched Champions League as a new, 24-hour streaming channel that will serve as the year-round destination for nonstop highlights of the UEFA ...
26/04/2024
Despite tough competition in the streaming space, Roku reported solid results in Q1 2024, beating revenue expectations, with total net revenue up 19% YoY to $88...
26/04/2024
LONDON AND TORONTO Pinewood Toronto Studios has appointed Sarah Farrell as general manager of the Studios in downtown Toronto....
26/04/2024
Quantum to Offer Advanced Filesharing Technology and Performance in StorNext and...
26/04/2024
FilmLight Colour Awards welcomes 2024 entries and introduces new Emerging Talen...
26/04/2024
Picture Shop Announces Chris Evans as Head of Unscripted
Brie Clayton April 26, 2024
0 Comments
Picture Shop announced Chris Evans will lead Unscripte...
26/04/2024
Participate in a Survey - The Impact of AI on Media and the Creative Industry
Pascal Wagner April 26, 2024
0 Comments
By participating in this survey,...
26/04/2024
Toy maker Mattel said it is working with Samsung to launch its first free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channels later this year....
26/04/2024
Trusted Media Brands (TMB) said it named Marty Moe as president....
26/04/2024
Ron Howard is the director on Jim Henson Idea Man, a documentary that premieres on Disney Plus May 31. Henson of course created Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Big...
26/04/2024
The ice continues to melt under the regional sports network business as the Seattle Kraken of the National Hockey League have made a long-term deal to broadcast...
26/04/2024
Heading into the upfronts, Warner Bros. Discovery said it launched Olli, a first-party data platform advertiser can use for converged, targeted advertising camp...
26/04/2024
CBS has renewed the drama The Equalizer, which will see season five on in 2024-2025. Queen Latifah stars....
26/04/2024
The CW has entered into an exclusive multiyear broadcast partnership for the Miss USA Pageant and the Miss Teen USA Pageant. The 73rd Miss USA Pageant will air ...
26/04/2024
Fuse Media isn't mincing words in a campaign urging its young viewers to register and participate in the 2024 elections....
26/04/2024
Dead Boy Detectives, a series from Neil Gaiman about a detective agency staffed by ghosts, debuts on Netflix April 25. George Rexstrew and Jayden Revri are in t...
26/04/2024
The Story Collective has gradually repurposed the former Mortlake Brewery to include production offices, workshops and sound stages
By Matthew Corrigan
Publi...
26/04/2024
Perkett joins the company following a 25 year career in product management, product marketing, engineering and user experience (UX) across multiple industries
...
26/04/2024
Teradek, the industry leader in wireless video transmitters and receivers, announced today the launch of new Bolt 6 LT 750 and Bolt 6 Monitor Module 750 RX with...
26/04/2024
NEW YORK Amagi has appointed Richard Perkett chief product officer (CPO)....
26/04/2024
WASHINGTON, D.C. The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has announced the results of the 2024 NAB Radio and Television Board of Directors elections. The...
26/04/2024
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. & NEW YORK Mattel has announced a deal to launch its first three 24/7 free ad supported streaming (FAST) channels on Samsung TV Plus, Samsung...
26/04/2024
PORTLAND, Maine Viewers here can now receive the NextGen TV signals of five local stations with the launch of ATSC 3.0 service from host station WPFO, which is ...
09 05 2018 - Media release Screen Australia announces $2 million for seven documentaries 
