From children’s animation to feature films, 12 NSW production companies producing local content are set to benefit from $1 million in funding to enable a pipeline of 32 new screen projects, thanks to the latest Screen NSW Slate Development Program.
Focused on supporting production companies with at least one key creative from under-represented groups – including those living in Western Sydney and regionally– the program aims to help build a pipeline of local content while also promoting greater representation of all communities and inclusiveness in our screen industry.
Supported productions include Uplift Kabul – a feature from Causeway Films which tells the story of two Australian women who stage an operation to save Afghanistan’s top female athletes in the days before the country falls under Taliban rule.
Aquarius Films will develop TV series The Servient, along with creators Stella Ha Vi Do and Shiyan Zheng, exploring the relationship between a rising management consultant and her Vietnamese Tiger Mum, set in Western Sydney’s underworld.
Big Serious Studios and Cheeky Little Media will develop new animated TV series’ to bolster the children’s television market.
SAM Content will develop feature documentary Loud, which tells the story of Tana Douglas, the world’s first rock’n’roll female roadie.
Screen NSW will also support New Canvas to develop Lustration 2.0 and Coltrane, virtual reality productions utilising their immersive media technology.
Head of Screen NSW Kyas Hepworth said:
“The screen industry in NSW is going from strength to strength with production spend locally totalling $1.2 billion in 2022-23 – a 9% increase on last year.
“We’re determined to ensure the content boom continues locally, and the Slate Development Program will do exactly that, supporting a wide range of projects and advancing the creative talent from under-represented groups.
“From inspiring feature films, TV dramas, children’s animations, documentaries, factual series and productions in the emerging VR space, we’re supporting creatives and production companies so they can increase their scope and maintain a sustainable pipeline of standout storytelling created in NSW.”
Project title: Paradise
Format: Feature film
Key creatives: Angie Fielder (Producer), Polly Staniford (Producer), Osamah Sami (Producer), Abdul Karim Hekmat (Executive Producer), Roger Monk (Writer), Rhys Graham (Director), Phoenix Raei (Director)
Synopsis: Paradise is the devastatingly beautiful true love story of two young men who meet in an offshore detention on Nauru after fleeing persecution - their relationship becomes a life-affirming source of strength as they take on institutional indifference and overcome hopelessness, finally making their way to freedom.
Project title: The Servient
Format: TV series
Key creatives: Angie Fielder (Producer), Polly Staniford (Producer), Stella Ha Vi Do (Executive Producer), Shiyan Zheng (Writer)
Synopsis: When a rising management consultant learns that her Vietnamese Tiger Mum has clawed her way to the top of Western Sydney’s underworld and is now under attack from rival gangs, she must do the one thing she swore she’d never do... help her mum.
Project title: Smile Bitch
Format: TV series
Key creatives: Angie Fielder (Co-Creator, Producer), Polly Staniford (Co-Creator, Producer), Clementine Ford (Co-Creator)
Synopsis: A high-profile media presenter develops an appetite for murder after one too many sexist microaggressions lead her to manifest the ancient goddess of Rage.
Project title: Okay Bay
Format: Children’s TV animation
Key creatives: Katrina Peers (Producer), David Peers (Director), Charlotte Rose Hamlyn (Head Writer), John Armstrong (Writer)
Synopsis: Sunny, a playfully plucky six-year-old, enjoys whimsical adventures with friends and family in her home of Okay Bay: A magical place when nature comes alive to play!
Project title: Goo Zoo
Format: Children’s TV animation
Key creatives: Katrina Peers (Producer), David Peers (Director), Charlotte Rose Hamlyn (Creator, Head Writer), Bruce Griffiths (Writer)
Synopsis: Goo Zoo is about a one-day old amoeba - Tina Amoeba - who’s wildest dreams come true when she becomes the boss of her very own microbe theme park.
Project title: Uplift Kabul
Format: Feature film
Key creatives: Kristina Ceyton (Producer), Samantha Jennings (Producer), Brietta Hague (Writer, Director)
Synopsis: Two Australian women stage a daring operation to save the lives of Afghanistan’s top female athletes in the final days before the country falls under Taliban rule.
Project title: Girl on the Page
Format: Feature film
Key creatives: Kristina Ceyton (Producer), Samantha Jennings (Writer, Producer)
Synopsis: A hard-living, hot-shot young editor who has made her name turning an average thriller writer into a brand superstar, is given the impossible task of steering a reclusive literary artist to commercial success.
Project title: Tell Me I’m Here
Format: Feature film
Key creatives: Kristina Ceyton (Producer), Samantha Jennings (Producer), Veronica Gleeson (Writer)
Synopsis: When a charming teenager becomes a tormented young adult his mother must face the reality of having a mad child. This is the true story of journalist Anne Deveson’s quest to save her son and shatter the stigma of mental illness.
Project title: Vernon and Ted
Format: Children’s TV animation
Key creatives: David Woodland (Creator), David Webster (Executive Producer), Patrick Egerton (Executive Producer), Celine Goetz (Producer), Veronica Milsom (Writer), Jazz Twemlow (Writer), Nick Boshier (Writer)
Synopsis: Vernon and Ted couldn’t be more different from each other and yet they’re the very best of friends. Vernon is an extroverted Australian fire ant and Ted is an introverted Canadian shrew mole. Despite their differences, the pair love nothing more than hearing about each other's adventures over a cup of something and a piece of cake after a busy day.
Project title: UNTITLED
Format: Children’s TV animation
Key creatives: Patrick Egerton (Executive Producer), Celine Goetz (Producer), Sylvie van Dijik (Development Producer)
Project title: John Bailey
Format: TV series
Key creatives: Claire Tonkin (Producer), Elisa Argenzio (Producer), Matt Campbell (Executive Producer), Blake Ayshford (Writer), Tim Ayliffe (Author), Chris Squadrito (Writer), Natasha Henry (Writer), Erica Harrison (Writer), Claire Phillips (Writer)
Synopsis: The story of a damaged war correspondent’s relentless search for the truth in a dangerous world.
Project title: Bye Bye Ben
Format: TV series
Key creatives: Claire Tonkin (Producer), Elisa Argenzio (Producer), Rene Zandveld (Writer/Creator), Ainslie Clouston (Writer), Hannah Fitzpatrick (Writer)
Synopsis: An Australian ‘Thelma and Louise’ style thriller set around a wedding where the bride and bridesmaid are caught up in a deadly secret and hatch a dangerous plan to outrun the truth.
Project title: UNTITLED
Format: TV Series
Key creatives: Claire Tonkin (Producer), Elisa Argenzio (Producer), Nick Murray (Executive Producer)
Project title: Dump Him!
Format: TV series
Key creatives: Jenna Owen (Co-creator, Writer), Vic Zerbst (Co-creator, Writer), Lizzie Cater (Producer), Rob Gibson (Executive Producer), Ian Collie (Executive Producer)
Synopsis: Dump Him! is a road trip character comedy about friendship and loving each other enough to implicate yourself in your friend’s crimes.
Project title: Shafted
Format: TV series
Key creatives: Isaac Elliott (Co-creator, Writer), Lucy Knox (Co-creator, Writer), Lizzie Cater (Producer), Rob Gibson (Executive Producer), Ian Collie (Executive Producer)
Synopsis: After being paralysed from the chest down in a mining accident, 28-year-old Jim is moved into Grevillea Village Retired Living. Average age: 87. Chances of making it out alive: Nil.
Project title: UNTITLED
Format: TV Series
Key creatives: Lizzie Cater (Producer), Rob Gibson (Executive Producer), Ian Collie (Executive Producer)
Project title: Speechless
Format: TV factual series
Key creatives: Margee Brown (Producer, Writer), Jodi Boylan (Producer, Director), Dan Goldberg (Writer, Series Producer), Craig Graham (Executive Producer)
Synopsis: Speechless spotlights the most iconic Australian speeches of all time told by a high-profile and diverse cast of Australians who were left...speechless. From those explosive words that confronted our race relations and challenged our sex and gender wars, to those that venerated our sporting legends and called out the climate crisis, this returnable format will help us understand who we were, and who we are.
Project title: Lonely No More
Format: TV factual series
Key creatives: Jodi Boylan (Director), Dan Goldberg (Executive Producer), Dan Brown (Executive Producer)
Synopsis: Lonely No More is a ground-breaking three-part documentary series, hosted by self-confessed loneliness sufferer Myf Warhurst, that delves into the heart and the science of loneliness in Australia and explores some of the tools to escape it.
Project title: Lustration 2.0
Format: VR series
Key creatives: Nathan Anderson (Producer), Carolina Sorensen (Producer), Wadooah Wali (Executive Producer), Wolfgang Bylsma (Executive Producer), Ryan Griffen (Executive Producer, Director)
Synopsis: Bardolph and Gallus are two protectors of The Between, a realm where the dead go in order to cleanse or lustrate themselves before crossing over to pure happiness. These two protectors are charged with the task of removing new arrivals who “don’t belong” in order to uphold what is good in The Between. But when Malcolm slips through their grasps the fate of the after-life and everyone in it is at risk. Elizabeth Pine is the only person with any chance of saving them. Unfortunately, she is still alive on Earth.
Project title: Coltrane
Format: VR series
Key creatives: Nathan Anderson (Producer), Carolina Sorensen (Executive Producer), Wadooah Wali (Executive Producer), Reggie Ba-Pe (Executive Producer) Ellen Jurik (Game Designer)
Synopsis: In a high-stakes noir thriller, a down-and-out PI, Veronica Coltrane, uncovers a dark conspiracy. Framed for murder, she is forced into a treacherous game to uncover the truth.
Project title: Burn
Format: TV series
Key creatives: Eleanor Kirk (Creator, Writer), Victoria Zerbst (Writer), Julia Moriarty (Writer), Dan Edwards (Producer), John Edwards (Producer)
Synopsis: Burn is a drama series about a disgraced athletics coach’s attempts to start his own squad, where training is coupled with unconventional lessons in philosophy, poetry and grit.
Project title: Kill All Landlords!
Format: TV series
Key creatives: Enoch Mailangi (Creator, Writer)
Synopsis: Kill All Landlords! is an intergenerational comedy-drama that follows the build-up to an apartment complex fire that captivates the city. Soon, every tenant in the building becomes a suspect – of not only arson, but murder.
Project title: UNTITLED
Format: TV Series
Key creatives: Dan Edwards (Producer)
Project title: Atomic Paradise
Format: Factual series
Key creatives: John Harvey (Writer, Director), Aline Jacques (Executive Producer), Sally Aitken (Executive Producer), Winnie Dunn (Writer), Marianne Leitch (Producer), Kirrilly Brentnall (Development Producer)
Synopsis: In our lifetimes, the Pacific has lived through one of the most shocking chapters of modern human history: 315 nuclear bombs detonated over a period of 50 years, with devastating effect - and - unforeseen, surprising consequences. For the first time, the full and epic story of the atomic era in the Pacific brings together previously unseen archive and firsthand testimony from those who understand and experienced the mushroom clouds in a First Nations-led contemporary take on one of our most unbelievable stories.
Project title: No Sex Required
Format: Factual series
Key creatives: Patrick Abboud (Writer, Director), Marianne Leitch (Series Producer), Aline Jacques (Executive Producer), Sally Aitken (Executive Producer)
Synopsis: This three-part docu-series tells the incredible trajectory of how in just one century creating babies in the lab has gone from imagination to reality.
Project title: Loud
Format: Feature documentary
Key creatives: Alana Valentine (Writer), Sally Aitken (Director), Rebecca Bennett (Producer), Aline Jacques (Executive Producer)
Synopsis: The story of Tana Douglas - the world’s first rock ‘n roll female roadie – who has shared tour buses with Suzi Q, Leo Sayer, Neil Diamond, The Who, Elton John, Santana, Lenny Kravitz, Whitesnake, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Status Quo, Ice Cube, The Police and more.
Project title: The Unusual Abduction of Avery Conifer
Format: TV series
Key creatives: Rebecca Greensill (Writer, Producer), Ilsa Evans (Writer), Paige Montague (Writer), Romina Accurso (Writer)
Synopsis: Based on the book from bestselling author, Ilsa Evans, The Unusual Abduction of Avery Conifer follows two women who find themselves with no choice but to kidnap their 2-year-old granddaughter. On the run from the police, a media frenzy, the public and their families, Beth and Shirley, who have never seen eye to eye, will need to find a way to work together before they both end up in prison.
Project title: Suburban Noir
Format: TV series
Key creatives: Ellie Beaumont (Writer, Producer), Drew Proffitt (Writer, Producer), Angela McDonald (Writer), Shane Salvador (Writer), Chelsea Cassio (Writer), Peter Doyle (Story Consultant)
Synopsis: Inspired by Peter Doyle’s acclaimed true crime book, Suburban Noir is a character-driven series told through the original lens of a 1950s crime scene photographer and one of Sydney’s first female police investigators, as they try to find answers for the victims captured within the photographs.
Project title: Mothers of the Year
Format: TV series
Key creatives: Ellie Beaumont (Creator, Writer, Producer), Justine Clarke (Writer), Lisa Matthews (Writer), Amy Stewart (Writer)
Synopsis: When their teenagers go away on Schoolies, six mothers head to rural New South Wales on their own voyage of self-discovery.
Project title: Joyce
Format: TV series
Key creatives: Nicole Sullivan (Creator), Simmone Overend (Executive Producer), Chris Hilton (Executive Producer)
Synopsis: A woman who suspects she might be a psychopath takes refuge in an Australian alpine community over the winter. As snow starts to fall and winter guests arrive, her experiments with what it means to be human – and her growing realisation that maybe she isn’t one – lead her and the people around her into dangerous territory.
Project title: Unsettled
Format: TV series
Key creatives: Melissa Lucashenko (Co-Creator), Nicole Sullivan (Co-Creator), Rhoda Roberts (Executive Producer), Chris Hilton (Executive Producer), Simmone Overend (Executive Producer), Di Robertson (Producer)
Synopsis: When a French teenager arrives in a small coastal Australian town looking for his biological father he accidentally discovers the body of a murdered Aboriginal baby, unearthing generations of family secrets and shining a light on the town’s most horrific historical crime.
Project title: The Fight
Format: TV factual series
Key creatives: Mark Issac (Writer), Catherine Scott (Director), Sam Griffin (Producer), Chris Hilton (Executive Producer)
Synopsis: The Fight is a documentary series following the team of three rebel lawyers, led by Alison Battisson, from ‘Human Rights for All’ over a single year as they work to free their clients from detention in the aftermath of the High Court’s decision to overturn the 20-year precedent set by Al Kateb v Godwin.
Image: Denise Scott and Matt Okine in Mother and Son. Courtesy of Wooden Horse. (Previous Slate Development recipient)
Emerging to mid-level NSW creatives will be on the path to success with the announcement of the return of the Screen NSW Short to Feature Fast Track initiative.
20th Century Studios’ Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes will receive $17 million in support from the Australian Government, and funding through Screen NSW’s Made in NSW fund.
