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Producer Equity Program (PEP) to close

Screen Australia will discontinue the Producer Equity Program (PEP), effective 5pm AEST on Monday 30 September 2024.

To ensure low-budget documentaries continue to be supported, the eligibility criteria for the Documentary Producer Program has been expanded to help address this gap. The closure of PEP will not impact Screen Australia’s total documentary investment.

Screen Australia’s Head of Documentary Richard Huddleston said, “In 2011, PEP was set-up with $11 million allocated to the agency to support low-budget documentaries across 4 years."

"In 2024, both the documentary and screen audience landscapes are vastly different to when PEP was established. To address the evolving needs of the screen industry and as part of our commitment to continuous improvement, we’ve updated the eligibility requirements of the Producer Program. This will ensure ongoing support is available for low budget films so they can continue to be enjoyed by Australian audiences,” said Huddleston. 


Changes to the eligibility criteria of the Producer Program include:

Prior Credits

  • Credit requirements will be amended to allow for less experienced applicants to apply to the Producer Program with low-budget projects.
  • Specifically, for documentaries with a budget between $125,000 and $500,000 (including online and interactive projects) the producer or director should have at least one credit in respective roles on an equivalent project which has been publicly released.
  • For documentaries with budget of between $125,000 and $500,000 (including online and interactive projects) with confirmed, arms-length market attachment with a licence fee and/or distribution guarantee as part of the finance plan, there will be no prior credit requirements.
  • The credit requirements for projects with a budget of over $500,000 will otherwise remain the same as the current guidelines.

Amended to cap on Producer Program funding

  • The maximum amount of funding available per project for the Producer Program will be reduced from $750,000 to $500,000.

Clarification to cap on low-budget funding

  • For documentaries with a budget between $125,000 and $500,000, there will be a cap of 35% federal funds. The cap of 65% federal funds (including the Producer Offset) will remain for projects eligible for Producer Offset, i.e. with a budget of over $500,000. 

Screen Australia will continue to accept eligible PEP applications up until 5pm AEST on Monday 30 September 2024.

For any questions, please email [email protected].

An FAQ is available here.