The call for the Presidential Employment Stimulus Programme focused on the Audio-Visual Industry, has been extendedThe National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), is pleased to announce that the call for the Presidential Employment Stimulus focused on the Audio-Visual Industry, is open. The closing date for submissions is 10 December 2020, midnight.
#TogetherForTheArts
The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has seen the South African film industry face unprecedented challenges. In response to this, a proposal by the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture (DSAC) to administer the process of sector recovery and employment creation, has been finalised and will be overseen by the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) and the National Arts Council (NAC).
The NFVF through the Presidential Employment Stimulus Programme (PESP) is tasked to administer the process of sector recovery and employment creation for the audio-visual industry due to the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. The programme aims to assist practitioners, companies and projects that incurred losses (actual and planned/existing, new and those that were at concept stage) during the COVID-19 lockdown period. The call also aims to support the sector through continuous skills development; focusing on the skills the sector deems scarce.
A total of R140 million will be administered by the NFVF, and allocated as follows:
Objective 1: Creation of new employment opportunities: R100 million (stream 1-3);
Objective 2: Retention of employment opportunities; R40 million (stream 4).
Proposals may include, but not limited to, support for innovation in digitisation efforts for content creation (development and production) and the dissemination and development of e-commerce systems. This is open to all industry players, encompassing fiction and non-fiction, animation, as well as television concepts; and any other audio-visual concepts with potential to contribute to the objectives of this Fund.
The programme aims to create 5000 employment opportunities and retain/recover a further 3000 jobs for three (3) months.
Please note the following:
Projects that are realistically implementable within the above budget and the above mentioned three (3) months will be considered.
The ideal projects would be those with the ability to employ at least ten (10) or more people at the above rate for three (3) months.
Projects should be take into consideration the Covid-19 Government Regulations.
This must be an opportunity accessibile to the youth, women, previously disadvantaged groups to acquire development and training skills e.g. (but not limited to) on the job and experiential training
The projects must afford opportunities to reach the practitioners, audio-visual workers at ground level in order to support the various initiatives they are able to undertake as a form of generating income.
1. AUDIO-VISUAL OPEN CALL STREAMS
Stream 1: Production Open Call- Production proposals in fiction and non-fiction scripts e.g (but not limited to) documentaries, television concepts (and any other audio-visual proposals); with an ability to proceed and create 10 or more jobs for a three (3) month period and beyond. All proposals not expressly covered in the description of this stream will be considered; provided they demonstrate potential to achieve the objectives of the Presidential Employment Stimulus Fund.
Stream 2: Skills Development Call- Training and development initiatives and proposals (including graduate development programmes) with a demonstrated job creation ability for a three (3) month period.
Stream 3: Industry Call- Distribution strategy proposals targeting job creation for a three (3) month period.
Stream 4: Business Recovery - Proposals from companies that were negatively affected by COVID-19 will also be considered. Companies/businesses in this category will need to disclose/demonstrate the full scope of lost employment (actual and opportunities) i.e. affected job catergories; number of persons; age, race demongraphics etc. Proposals in this stream may include historical payroll data for the twelve (12) months to 31 March 2020 as well as year-to-date payroll data (1 April to 30 September 2020); should the latter exists; and an income statement providing information on operating expenses;
A list of job categories is attached to this call as a guideline; although it is not exhaustive;
[Click here for the full list]
Proposals may include one or any combination of the streams in either or both of the objectives.
The PESP plan and objective criteria have a deliberate focus on the following success factors for evaluation:
Functionality demonstrable project management capability and likelihood for high impact success i.e. project success, number of jobs created and geographical reach;
Scarce Skills training and development proposals with the potential to address the scarce skills gap, while creating employment opportunities;
Geographical spread deliberate focus on proposals that target underserviced areas as well as areas with high population density and therefore resultant high unemployment;
Cost to service ratio due attention to the proposals' cost of employment ratios to ensure maximum costs of the stimulus are spent on recipients; and
Ability to create ten (10) or more industry jobs within a three (3) months period.
The unsuccessful applicant will be afforded an opportunity to appeal the outcome of their proposals, and projects will need to be implemented within the timeframes of this PESP.
2. COMPULSORY APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS
Stream 1: Production Open Call
Proposal synopsis (half-a-page);
Brief project summary (maximum 5 pages);
Treatment (maximum 20 pages);
Fully developed script;
CVs with career profiles of the key creative team: Producer, Director, Writer, DOP and Line Producer;
Production schedule;
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