
12 05 2021 - Media release Screen Australia announces $1.3 million for 5 online originals
Kevin and Luke Lerdwichagul of Glitch Productions
Screen Australia has announced $1.3 million of online production funding for five projects. Award-winning children's series First Day will return for Season 2, along with ReCancelled which follows on from director Luke Eve's 2020 lockdown drama Cancelled.
The projects also include Sunset Paradise, a new series from the creators of YouTube hit Meta Runner; as well as animated children's series Ginger & the Vegesaurs and comedy series The Emu War.
Screen Australia's Senior Online Investment Manager Lee Naimo said, We're excited to support these projects which showcase engaging storytelling across a mix of genres including children's, comedy, animation and a relationship drama. We are always looking for projects that have solid pathways to audience and we are very impressed by the range shown in this slate, whether it's via platforms such as ABC iview or targeting significant existing fan bases like Glitch Productions' Sunset Paradise on YouTube and Luke Eve's ReCancelled on Facebook.
The second iteration of Screen Australia and SBS's Digital Originals initiative is also underway with 12 teams selected to participate in the development workshops. Further details are included below.
Naimo said, It's also great to be working with the next group of Digital Originals creators, who participated in workshops last week. The teams spent time developing their projects as well as hearing from workshop guests including Nisha Ganatra (Late Night), Warwick Thornton (Sweet Country), Ryan O'Connell (Special), Anna Dokoza (Lady Dynamite), Corrie Chen (Homecoming Queens), Richie Mehta (Delhi Crime), Vanessa Gazy (Eden) and Ronny Chieng (Ronny Chieng: International Student). The 12 projects are all so different from dramas to thrillers, comedies to horror - it's an incredibly strong group and we look forward to selected teams entering further development on their projects for SBS OnDemand.
The projects receiving online production funding are:
First Day series 2: A four-part second series of the award-winning children's drama for ABC iview, centred on transgender student Hannah Bradford (played by Evie Macdonald). This series follows Hannah in her second year at Hillview High as she sets out to change the culture at the school, and finds it's only through working together that meaningful change can be achieved. Returning for series 2 are writer/director Julie Kalceff and producers Kirsty Stark and Kate Butler. They are joined by writers Eloise Brook and Martine Delaney (The Village). This project is financed with support from the South Australian Film Corporation.
Ginger & the Vegesaurs: A 20-part children's animated series for ABC iview and YouTube set in a world dominated by Vegesaurs, the freshest and most delicious creatures ever to rule the planet. Ginger, a young plucky Tricarrotops, and her three baby Pea-Rex pals share adventures in a valley populated by a host of other Vegesaurs - some friendly, some not so much. Created by Gary Eck and Nick O Sullivan whose credits include Happy Feet 2, the series was developed and will be produced by Cheeky Little Media. Eck and Sam Carroll (Grace Beside Me) lead the writing team and the series will be produced by Celine Goetz and executive produced by Patrick Egerton and David Webster who previously collaborated on Kangaroo Beach.
ReCancelled: A six-part second series following on from COVID-inspired drama Cancelled, which has garnered over 2.5 million views on Facebook to date. Inspired by true events, the new series follows creators and stars Luke Eve and Maria Albi ana one year on from the start of the pandemic as they continue to navigate life in lockdown in Spain. Realising they still won't be able to get married, life then throws them another curveball and the couple embark on this new challenge together in a life full of restrictions. ReCancelled is directed by Eve and written and produced by Eve and Albi ana. It is financed with support from Tourism Valencia and the Spanish Embassy Australia.
Sunset Paradise: A 10-part animated series for YouTube from Glitch Productions, the team behind hit series Meta Runner. This comedy adventure series follows a young woman Meggy, who arrives on a tropical island for a holiday only to find a criminal conspiracy threatening the safety of the island. It's up to Meggy to save the island from danger and rescue her holiday plans. The pilot episode which launched in March has already amassed over 1 million views. Sunset Paradise is written by Jasmine Yang and Jasper Marlow, directed by Luke Lerdwichagul and produced by Kevin Lerdwichagul.
The Emu War: A seven-part YouTube series inspired by the unbelievable true story of when Australia declared war on the emu population in 1932. This absurd comedy follows the platoon of soldiers who were sent to kill the emus but who were eventually defeated by the birds. The creative team features writer, director and producer Lisa Fineberg and writer/directors John Campbell and Jay Morrissey who previously collaborated on Gocsy's Classics, as well as writers and comedians Jonathan Schuster (Fancy Boy), Dane Simpson and Urvi Majumdar.
The blocklines for online production funding are available here
Ginger & the Vegesaurs
DIGITAL ORIGINALS Screen Australia and SBS have selected 12 projects to participate in this year's Digital Originals initiative. The teams, which are based around Australia, took part in development workshops last week and from this group up to four projects will be chosen for further development.
The projects are:
Appetite - Mohini Herse (Writer/Director/Producer), Neilesh Verma (Writer), Neil Sharma (Director), Sleena Wilson (E
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
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 ...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
18/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
18/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
18/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
18/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
18/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
18/02/2026
Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die in theaters February 2026 Photo courtesy of Graham Bartholomew, SMPSP
James Whitaker, ASC reunited with visionary director G...
18/02/2026
TAG Video Systems has expanded its Media Control System (MCS) version 1.7.0 release with Lens, a visual service health analysis interface that organizes monitor...
18/02/2026
Teradek, a global leader in advanced video transmission technology, today announced the launch of RF-X Auto Switcher, a revolutionary appliance designed to deli...
18/02/2026
Train Dreams. (L-R) Director of Photography Adolpho Veloso and Joel Edgerton as Robert Grainier on the set of Train Dreams. Cr. Daniel Schaefer/BBP Train Dreams...
18/02/2026
Cerberus Tech, a leader in cloud-native IP video contribution and distribution, today announced the addition of Akamai Cloud as a supported infrastructure optio...
18/02/2026
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that Office de Radio et T l vision des Comores (ORTC), the national public broadcaster for the Comor...
18/02/2026
Calibr-Skaggs and Kainomyx launch collaboration to pioneer novel malaria treatments Partnering to speed up the discovery of new malaria drugs that target parasi...
17/02/2026
Eutelsat announces the renewal of multiple capacity agreements with Viewsat, rei...
17/02/2026
At Milano Cortina 2026, one statistic stood out across industry reporting: 70% of global signal distribution is now happening over public cloud. What began as e...
17/02/2026
CP Communications provided broadcast support for Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara, Calif. at Levi's Stadium, marking 27 years of working around the Big Game. Th...
17/02/2026
Street-level images of iconic Los Angeles landmarks are incorporated into the regular-season look
With NBC Sports just months into its return to NBA coverage a...
17/02/2026
Sophie Hyde and John Lithgow backstage during the premiere of Jimpa. (Photo by George Pimentel / Shutterstock for Sundance Film Festival)...
17/02/2026
Johannesburg, 17 February 2026 - The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), ...
17/02/2026
A Green Beret hangs a 60mm mortar round from a M225A mortar system on a live-fire range. (Photo credit: U.S. Army)...
17/02/2026
AI Is Scaling Faster Than Governance And That's a Risk AI adoption hasn't rolled out through neat transformation programmes. It has spread organically...
17/02/2026
Cable Surges 9% on Strength of College Football Playoffs and News, while NFL Delivers Top 15 Broadcast Telecasts
ESPN (+86%) and FOX News Channel (+17%) Combin...
17/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
17/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
17/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
17/02/2026
As the FCC explores a potential clawback of Upper C-Band spectrum currently used for broadcast distribution, BCNEXXT is working with broadcasters and operators ...
17/02/2026
India is entering a new age of industrialization, as AI transforms how the world...
17/02/2026
Agentic AI is reshaping India's tech industry, delivering leaps in services ...
17/02/2026
India is the nexus of AI innovation this week as the host of the AI Impact Summit, which brings together global heads of state and industry to chart the future ...
17/02/2026
17 Feb 2026
VEON and Hala to Explore Partnership in Ride-Hailing Services Dubai, February 17, 2026 - VEON Ltd. (Nasdaq: VEON), a global digital operator ( VEON...
17/02/2026
Qube Cinema announces the acquisition of the business of Arts Alliance Media (AA...
17/02/2026
Back to All News
Unveiling What's Next on Netflix for Australia and New Zealand in 2026
Entertainment
17 February 2026
GlobalAustraliaNew Zealand
Link ...
17/02/2026
Back to All News
WBD Files Definitive Proxy Statement and Schedules Special Mee...
17/02/2026
Arvato Systems Once Again Named One of Germany's Best IT Service Providers.
The best IT service providers in 2026
G tersloh - Arvato Systems is once ag...
17/02/2026
Open the report
Our 2025 report brings together results from 155 consumer magazine titles across 42 market sectors, published by 59 media owners. Over the year...
17/02/2026
Celebrating 21 Years of the RT Choice Music Prize
RT Choice Music Prize
In association with IMRO and IRMA
Classic Irish Album
And the winning album is
T...
17/02/2026
RT has today announced that as part of its public-service remit, it will expand...
16/02/2026
The production infrastructure scaled seamlessly from regular-season games to the...
16/02/2026
The operations team reimagined traditional workflows were reimagined and built a...
16/02/2026
Once again an in-house operation, the league's network is producing shows fr...
16/02/2026
The league is producing its first All-Star with NBC, Intuit Dome, and, once agai...
16/02/2026
When a customer in London needed a 4K video wall that could take 12G input, the media company found no video wall suppliers that could meet their specs and time...
16/02/2026
Grass Valley, a media and entertainment technology innovator, has won a competitive NATO-wide tender to provide the new camera system for NATO's main broadc...
16/02/2026
Comcast Business announces it is again partnering with NBCUniversal to architect and manage critical components of the linear and digital broadcast for three of...
16/02/2026
Week two of the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics are underway and crucial to the NBC Sports efforts has been the NEP Group which is providing a full range of...
16/02/2026
The Film Independent Spirit Awards have officially switched things up. This Sund...