Funding approvals
IN THE ARCHIVE
2020-2021 Enterprise business & ideas

• A2K Media will launch Disability Justice Lens, an online disability equity and inclusion training program focusing on solutions to the intersectional experience of disability within the screen industry. Developed and delivered by disabled screen practitioners and their non-disabled allies, the program will provide participants with an understanding of the marginalisation faced by people with disability in the screen industry, and help them develop practical skills to embed access and inclusion in the sector.
• Doc Society will launch two Global Story and Impact Labs in Australia to support 10 to 12 social impact documentary projects over two years. These film teams will join over 400 global creative teams who have been mentored by Doc Society alongside programs such as Good Pitch, which have introduced filmmakers to social change partners and funders, and included award-winning Australian projects such as 2040 and In My Blood It Runs. The new labs aim to strengthen participants’ storytelling skills, support them to build audience and distribution strategies and new pathways to finance. Led by Global Director of Good Pitch at Doc Society, Malinda Wink, the program will comprise of two intensive workshops as well as mentoring from industry experts from Australia and overseas, including Doc Society’s Global Head of Film, Shanida Scotland formerly of BBC Storyville and The Guardian. Applications will open in the coming months and more information is available via the Doc Society newsletter. Alongside the labs, Doc Society will offer industry seminars around social impact and fundraising. The funding will also support a position for a Producer/Impact Producer as Doc Society's Program Manager Australia.
• Indigenous-owned Victorian-based production company Typecast Entertainment led by director/writer Tony Briggs (The Sapphires) and producer Damienne Pradier (Elders) will build on their strategic and innovative mixed business model. The model at its core focuses on improving outcomes for people of colour and Indigenous screen practitioners. The funding will also support the company to employ a Director of Content & Business Operations and an Indigenous Production trainee.
• White Spark Pictures, the team behind the award-winning documentary The Antarctica Experience and upcoming project Beyond the Stars, will develop a new distribution model for virtual reality (VR) content called Surround Sync. The innovative venture will provide a pathway for theatrical VR distribution, and is designed to synchronize hundreds of VR headsets at once to create a cinematic experience for VR projects, increasing accessibility for VR content, building on their recent success of The Antarctica Experience in museums across Australia and overseas. The funding will also support the company to employ Benn Ellard as Business Development and Project Manager, working across the company’s slate of projects.