Screenworks Travelator Series – 2: Funding and Pitching

Friday 25th Oct | 9.15am – 4.30pm
Byron Services Club

Delivered by Screenworks as part of the Byron Bay Film Festival

A one day workshop on accessing development funds and pitching to seek market interest in your screen projects.

Development Funding executives from Screen Australia, Create NSW and Screen Queensland will talk about their development funding initiatives and how to put in a competitive application.

Representatives from key organisations that offer pitching opportunities for screen projects will talk about the pitching competitions that they offer and how to prepare and enter, including the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA), the Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC) and Content London.

The Manager of the AACTA’s Awards, Ivan Vukusic will discuss the various strands of AACTA’s Pitch for TV and Web, Mini (a Short film contest held in partnership with MINI), and Elevate (pitches for high concept/elevated genre series). He will share observations and provide advice and tips.

Danielle McCarthy oversees the Industry Marketplace at AIDC, which hosts a variety of pitching forums and pre-organised meetings. In 2019 the AIDC Marketplace offered eight different pitching events including the FACTory and Cut to the Chase.  AIDC also offers a range of other opportunities across form – with partnerships in the past including VICE and Screen Australia, SBS, Google, Audible, and the University of Melbourne.

Ruth Palmer is the Head of Programming for events at C21 which includes Content London the Drama Summit  and the Unscripted Entertainment Forum.  Ruth will talk about the pitching competitions at Content London including the Drama Series Pitch

This Funding and Pitching workshop is part of a Screenworks Travelator Series, a 3 stage program designed to support early-career creatives to take their screen projects from early concept, through development and to seek market interest.

Each of the funding bodies will deliver a 1 hour presentation on how to put in a ‘killer’ development funding application.

SCREEN AUSTRALIA ROUND TABLE

Your seat at the Round Table with Nerida Moore from Screen Australia – ONLY 10 spots available. Free tickets will go on sale 14th October at 9.00am. First in basis. The round table will be held directly after the days events.

SCREEN NSW ONE-ON-ONE MEETINGS
Saturday Oct 26th

FULLY BOOKED

RUN ORDER – (subject to change)

9:15am SCREENWORKS – Welcome and introductions

9:30am CONTENT LONDON – via Zoom; Pitching opportunities through Content London and how to apply

10:30am SCREEN AUSTRALIA – Development funding initiatives through Screen Australia

11:30am BREAK

12:00pm CREATE NSW – Development funding initiatives through Create NSW 

1:00pm BREAK

1:45pm SCREEN QUEENSLAND – Development funding initiatives through Screen Qld

2:45pm AACTA – Pitching opportunities through AACTA and how to apply 

3:45pm AIDC – Pitching opportunities through AIDC and how to apply 

4:45pm CLOSE

SPECIAL NETWORKING EVENT

5 – 7pm – Byron Bay International Film Festival Filmmakers Night – hosted by Screenworks – Byron Community Centre (entry to the networking event is by donation and is not part of the Travelator II ticket price, follow this link for more information)

Guest Speakers

Nerida Moore – Head of Development, Screen Australia

As Head of Development, Nerida Moore manages Story Development, Enterprise and International initiatives. She has helmed a number of programs that foster story and talent development including, Gender Matters: Brilliant Stories and Careers; Hot Shots and Talent USA.

Prior to Screen Australia, Nerida was the Senior Development and Production Executive at Screen NSW where she managed the production investment fund, the story development fund and Screen NSW’s suite of professional development programs.

Danielle McCarthy – Marketplace Manager, Australian International Documentary Conference

Danielle oversees the Marketplace at the Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC) in Melbourne, where she manages a slate of initiatives aimed at project development and connecting filmmakers with industry decision makers.

Prior to joining AIDC Danielle worked in producing and programming roles at film festivals including Tribeca, Toronto International Film Festival, Sundance, and the Melbourne International Film Festival.  She also has a background in production and worked on Steve McQueen’s award-winning film Shame, as well as being a producer and first AD in Australia.

She began her career at Australia’s SBS Television and holds a Master’s degree in Communication Law from the University of Technology Sydney, and a BA (Cinema Studies) from the University of Melbourne.

Ivan Vukusic – Manager, AACTA Awards

Ivan Vukusic is the Manager of the AACTA Awards. He has over 20 years experience in the entertainment industry, including roles at Festival Mushroom Records, Walt Disney Studios and Umbrella Entertainment.

He has an Associate Diploma in Professional Writing and Editing and has studied Script Assessment under Tim Pye at AFTRS. In 2013 he took a Short and Sharp winning pitch to the national Screen Forever final. Through his extensive experience in theatrical acquisition and distribution, and as a regular attendee of MIFF’s 37 South, he has seen many feature film pitches. In 2018 he helped develop and launch AACTA Pitch – an initiative that provides emerging creatives with an opportunity to pitch to some of Australia’s leading television, film and online executives. Across 3 separate strands, AACTA Pitch has provided a platform for ideas in web series, short film and high concept drama.

Amy Parry – Vice President of Content-Development, Screen Queensland

Amy Parry recently joined Screen Queensland as the Vice President of Content-Development. Prior to this role, Amy was Chief Product Officer at Like A Photon Creative, where she developed number one children’s reading app “Kindergo”, was invited to be a part of the World Wide Developers program with Apple and invited to this year’s South by Southwest conference as a mentor and speaker at Australia House. Amy has worked within her creative career as a director, producer, actor, writer and educator across digital, broadcast, and theatre, with over 15 years’ experience in the creative industries.

Ruth Palmer – Head of Event Programming, C21 Media London

Ruth Palmer was appointed as Head of Event Programming at C21 in 2017, where she lead the programming team, working on the content of events including C21’s International Drama Summit, Kids Content Futures, The Unscripted Entertainment Forum and Drama Summit West.

Prior to this she worked at Creative Skillset for 12 years, during which time she was responsible for partnerships in the North of England, managing the UK TV Skills Fund, leading on diversity strategy and was the high-end TV manager.

In this role she worked closely with the UK drama industry to establish and subsequently manage the high-end TV skills levy.

Ruth has deep knowledge of skills and talent development across the TV industry and of the developing needs of the growing high-end TV drama sector.

Screenworks Travelator Series is made possible with support from Create NSW and is delivered as part of the Byron Bay Film Festival