Screen Australia announces Research and Publication
funding

Wednesday 24 November 2010

Screen Australia today announced four diverse recipients of its Research and Publication program.

The four successful applicants are:
ATOM (Peter Tapp)
Firelight (Marcus Gillezeau and Ellenor Cox)
Filmink (Dov Kornits)
University of Newcastle (Dr Romaine Morton) and Monash University (Dr Therese Davis)

“Screen Australia has a key focus on supporting a strong and vibrant screen culture,” said Ruth Harley, Screen Australia’s Chief Executive Officer. “Our Research and Publication program supports screen culture by building audiences for contemporary Australian screen content.

Each of the successful companies in this highly competitive program encourage audience engagement in a distinct way. They will also provide audiences with information, insight and analysis about screen content helping to build a more sustainable Australian screen industry,” said Dr Harley.

ATOM will be supported in the production of its high-quality quarterly film magazines Screen Education magazine and Metro magazine. Screen Education magazine successfully promotes Australian content to the primary and secondary education sector while Metro magazine targets film enthusiasts, industry practitioners and the tertiary education sector. These audiences both contribute to revenues either through box office, rental returns or Screenrights royalty payments from educational use. Screen Australia’s support will assist these publications to succeed in the long term and enable ATOM publications to become a financially sustainable business.

Firelight, a successful company with a proven track record in multi-platform production and distribution, will receive support to publish an All-Media Production Bible. This publication will be a practical and relevant guide to assist producers, programmers and commissioning editors to adapt and develop their skills in the evolving digital landscape. The All-Media Production Bible will be distributed widely through industry channels as a free e-book.

The print magazine Filmink has a commitment to profile the Australian film industry. Filmink has been given Screen Australia support to develop an iPad application. This project will offer new opportunities for Filmink to broaden its audience and create new markets for Australian content.

Dr Romaine Morton of the University of Newcastle and Dr Therese Davis of Monash University have been funded for Beyond the remote/urban divide: re-mapping Indigenous screen content and its audiences. This important Indigenous-led research project will provide an academic analysis of Indigenous media policy. It will also assist filmmakers, policy makers and screen agencies to better understand Indigenous media policy and in turn work to grow audiences for Indigenous screen content.

The four successful projects were selected from a highly competitive number of proposals by a panel including Jane Smith of Shiny Shiny World Pty Ltd, Fiona Cameron, Screen Australia’s Chief Operating Officer, and Matthew Deaner, Screen Australia’s Manager of Strategy and Research.

The Research and Publication program is administered by Screen Australia’s Strategy and Research Unit. The unit also provides support for two Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Grants: The place of communication and consumption: a case study of Australian regional and rural cinema exhibition, a partnership with Griffith University and the National Film and Sound Archive and Spreading fictions: distributing stories in the online age, a partnership with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Swinburne University and the University of New South Wales.

Screen Australia media enquiries
Teri Calder T: 02 8113 5833; M: 0408 440 995, teri.calder@screenaustralia.gov.au