Screen NSW has supported 31 projects, which will share in over $650,000 in funding through the Development Program, nurturing new ideas and talent in NSW.
The projects supported by development funding to date this financial year include 15 feature films, six feature documentaries, five fiction series, two children’s series, two factual series and one VR/AR project.
The feature projects moving to the next stage of development include Death Bell, an adaptation of the Korean horror film of the same name, to be written and directed by Andrew Undi Lee and produced by Portal Productions, and from the team behind The Blind Surfer comes documentary The Man Who Ate A Succulent Chinese Meal, which follows the madcap life story of Australia’s most infamous and immortalized criminal turned internet sensation: Jack Karlsen.
Series projects that received development funding include Brazen, the inaugural project from Wolf House Productions, a NSW-based company led by Jodi Matterson and Abe Forsythe; Yagoona, based on the novel Funny Ethnics by Shirley Le and part of the After Bark Slate for Flying Bark Productions; Little Creatures, a live-action / animation hybrid children’s series inspired by Sam Cotton's wildly successful TikTok animations and produced by Matchbox Pictures; and from Mint Pictures and developed with support from the ABC, Rachel Griffiths will front new factual series When The War Is Over, which will explore how Australian artists, filmmakers, writers and musicians have portrayed Australians at war.
AR/XR experience series Las Awichas, from Violeta Ayala and produced by Daniel Fallshaw, will also continue to progress with development funding.
Screen NSW’s Development Program supports ambitious projects to move forward in development and as part of the competitive assessment process, all approved projects must meet selection criteria as advised in the program guidelines.
Supporting the creation of enriching, high calibre stories for a global audience, and nurturing new talent are priority areas for the three-year NSW Screen & Digital Games Strategy.
Projects funded for development from 1 July 2024 include:
Project title: Death Bell
Genre / Format: Horror feature film
Key Creatives: Andrew "Undi" Lee (writer / director), Kristina Wong Foster (producer) and Jacqueline Kerwick (producer)
Synopsis: Trapped within their high school, a group of students confront a gauntlet of deadly challenges, forcing them to fight for their lives while unravelling the dark secrets behind their captivity. Adapted from the Korean film of the same name.
Project title: The Man Who Ate A Succulent Chinese Meal
Genre / Format: Documentary feature film
Key Creatives: Heath Davis (writer / director), Julia Scales (producer), Tim Randall (producer) and Jonathan Page (producer).
Synopsis: The madcap life story of Australia’s most infamous and immortalized criminal turned internet sensation: Jack Karlsen.
Project title: Brazen
Genre / Format: Crime / drama series
Key Creatives: Tommy Murphy (writer), Abe Forsythe (director) and Jodi Matterson (producer)
Synopsis: A hardened criminal biker and a determined cop find themselves entangled in a dangerous and forbidden relationship, navigating a world of power, loyalty, and desire in this action-packed, crime series.
Project title: Yagoona
Genre / Format: Comedy / drama series
Key Creatives: Clare Atkins (writer), Shirley Le (writer), Barbara Stephen (executive producer), Hugh Baldwin (executive producer), Majhid Heath (producer) and Coco Garner Davis (producer).
Synopsis: Based on the novel Funny Ethnics by Shirley Le, Yagoona follows Westie Sylvia Nguyen's coming-of-rage as a law school dropout and wannabe writer struggling to meet the expectations of her refugee parents. Yagoona is a part of the After Bark slate for Flying Bark Productions.
Project title: Little Creatures
Genre / Format: Children’s series
Key Creatives: Sam Cotton (writer) and Mimi Butler (producer)
Synopsis: Inspired by Sam Cotton's wildly successful TikTok animations, Little Creatures is a live action, animation hybrid about a tiny, animated girl and her dad.
Project title: When The War Is Over
Genre / Format: Factual series
Key Creatives: Dan Goldberg (writer), Jodi Boylan (producer), Craig Graham (executive producer) and Rachel Griffiths (executive producer)
Synopsis: When The War Is Over follows art lover Rachel Griffiths on a very different tour of duty: to tell the story of Australia’s wars through the prism of the arts – how artists, filmmakers, writers and musicians have portrayed us at war (and peace) and why it matters to all Aussies. Developed with support from the ABC.
Project title: Las Awichas
Genre / Format: AR/XR experience series
Key Creatives: Violeta Ayala (creative technologist) and Daniel Fallshaw (producer)
Synopsis: In Las Awichas (Grandmothers), time and boundaries between humans and animals dissolve. Eight AR stories unfold in our hands, reminding us: to become infinite, we must allow others to exist.
Full details of all Development Program recipients are available here.
Image: Top row L-R: Shirley Le, Sam Cotton. Bottom row L-R: Jodi Matterson and Abe Forsythe, Andrew "Undi" Lee.
About Development Funding
Screen NSW development funding supports writers, directors and producers to develop fiction or unscripted (documentary) and online projects with distinctive ideas and ambitious stories. Projects can be for release on any platform including cinema, television and online.
Applications can be received at any time and must clearly address all the selection criteria. Funding amounts of up to $50,000 are available per project, depending on the project type and level of market interest. For full application details, including guidelines, please visit the Screen NSW website here.
The program will close on 30 June 2025, or when the budget is exhausted, whichever comes first.
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Screen NSW will be on end-of-year closedown from Monday 23 December 2024 – Friday 3 January 2025 inclusive. The office will reopen from Monday 6 January 2025.
