Backgrounder Timeline 2015: Screen Australia published historical, industry-wide data of participation by women in the production of Australian film and documentary across the roles of producer, director and writer. Screen Australia also released a study, Gender Matters: Women in the Australian Screen Industry, which highlighted the issue of gender imbalance in the Australian screen industry. To address the issue, Screen Australia announced: a $5 million Gender Matters five-point plan over three years (see below) the Gender Matters Taskforce, and the first Gender Matters KPI. 2016: As part of the five-year plan, Screen Australia ran the Brilliant Stories, Brilliant Careers, Better Deals and Attachments for Women programs. 2018: Screen Australia announced the second iteration of the Gender Matters Taskforce. Screen Australia’s program guidelines for General and Children’s drama were updated to stipulate that at least one women director must be used on extended television series with more than one filming block. 2019: Results of the first Gender Matters KPI were released: across a three-year average, 56% of projects that received Screen Australia production funding had at least half of the key creative roles occupied by women. Screen Australia announced a new three-year Gender Matters KPI target based on a headcount system. 2020: Screen Australia announced the third iteration of the Gender Matters Taskforce. 2021: The Gender Matters Taskforce announced two initiatives to encourage inclusivity in the industry: Gender Matters Webinars hosted by Screenworks and Gender Matters Connects, a mentoring program delivered in partnership with WIFT. 2022: The Gender Matters Taskforce launched the Credit Maker initiative in partnership with the ADG, ACS and AGSC. The results of the second Gender Matters KPI were released: across a three-year average from 2019/20 to 2022/23, 55% of all key creative roles across all projects that received Screen Australia production or development funding were occupied by women. 2023: Screen Australia announced the fourth iteration of the Gender Matters Taskforce. The Gender Matters Taskforce announced the ElevateUs mentorship program in partnership with WIFT Australia. The Gender Matters KPI was ‘rolled over’ for 2022/23, and the target was met: across a three-year average, 55% of all key creative roles across all projects that received Screen Australia production or development funding were occupied by women. Initial five-point plan In December 2015 Screen Australia announced a five-point, $5 million plan over three years: Assessment criteria changes: an express mention of gender and cultural diversity was added to the Assessment Criteria on all Screen Australia funding guidelines Brilliant Careers (aka ‘Enterprise Women’): nearly $2 million was provided to 13 organisations (i.e., ADG) who successfully proposed to run programs to increase female access to work, or to create or expand female-led businesses Brilliant Stories (aka ‘Women’s story fund’): nearly $2 million was allocated for the development of 45 female-led dramas that satisfied the ‘three tick test’. This funding contributed to the development of features How to Please a Woman, Relic and Ride Like a Girl. Attachments: projects funded by Screen Australia in 2016/17 with a budget over $500,000 were required to include a paid attachment for a woman. (This scheme was expanded from 2017/18 to become the Inclusive Attachment Scheme). Better Deals (aka ‘Distribution guarantee support’: this fund incentivised distributors to support female-led feature films, offering matched funding of up to $300,000. The Nightingale and The Flip Side received Better Deals funding.