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Good afternoon everyone and thank you for logging in.
Welcome to our multi-platform presentation.
This is essentially a "show and tell" this afternoon - we're going to spend
40 minutes presenting to you a number of multi-platform programs and telling you
what we expect in the multi-platform programs in drama and documentary,
and then we'll have a session answering your questions.
As always please forgive our unpolished presentation performance
while we are passionate about the programs
we're not professional presenters and of course, as always, we brought this
presentation together at the last minute and we're presenting it
live as well this evening in Melbourne.
If we don't get to all of your questions after the presentation,
please drop us an email and we'll answer you offline as best as we are able to.
To my right is Liz Stevens who is the senior manager of documentaries at
Screen Australia, and to my left is Tim Phillips who is the senior manager
for multi-platform drama and interactive. As I mentioned
we're going to go to a presentation it'll take about forty to forty-five minutes and
then we'll be back with questions. So prime yourselves for questions
and we will now go to the presentation. So the future is
any time, any where, any device. The future
is online and in fact the future is here.
Looking at this slide you can see international examples
of online commissioning companies: Hulu
Netflix and Love Films. What is exciting here is the growth of original
programming commission for
online distribution. In fact when you look at Netflix
and the extraordinary success in 'Lilyhammer' and 'House of Cards' which have sold to in
excess of 100 territories
and are in a second series, you begin to understand
that online production is a reality.
It may be infinitesimal at the moment compared to television and
feature film production,
but it is growing and it is significant and it is real
and it is here. In fact this year in 2013
Netflix has received 14 emmy nominations.
It was only a short few years ago that a cable network received the first
ever nomination - that program of course was 'Mad Men',
and it is still the only cable show to have ever taken out an Emmy for the best
drama series.
While cable programs now dominate the Emmys,
there is another serious contender - an online provider has cracked 14
nominations
including three for a show that is transferred from a traditional
television
to Netflix - that show is 'Arrested Development'
which goes from Fox TV through to Netflix for its third series
and is up for three Emmy nominations. So,
you see with Netflix and with Hulu
that we have original programming coming through.
'The Awesomes' - an animated program for adults, 'Mother up' -
an animated co-production with Canada, 'The Wrong Mans' - Hulu's
second co-production with the BBC and 'Behind the Mask' -
a comedic documentary series about sports mascots.
Back at home, things are moving along, there's not a lot of online content available
and we'll talk about that in a moment
but of course you got the ABC that recently announced its investment in
stand alone straight to VOD production for iview.
SBS has developed a series of award-winning web documentary projects
and Madman productions with South Australian Film Corporation
are co investors in wastelanda panda to be produced by Epic Films.
If you haven't caught the post apocalyptic bear, there and you won't get their own
and his friends - have a Google, it's really worthwhile
I think it's fantastic. So we can see
that there is an audience and there is product but
what we're going to look at here is where is the
audience, what are the audience's
actually doing? Typically audiences are doing more,
more of everything. They're still watching free to view
TV - they're still watching subscription television, they're still going to the
cinemas
and on they're online as well. It is quite amazing what we doing on our couches in
2013
This large slide shows a bit of a trend that we can demonstrate though
Dvd/blu-ray is down over the last six years
and online viewing is up over the last five years quite dramatically
given its from a small base, 10 percent to nearly 30 percent but still quite
dramatic rise.
Convenience, accessibility and immediacy are driving
online take up.
So the audience is there, some product is there... YET
where is Australia? Aren't we always ahead of the curve?
If there is demand surely there is product. Product commission for an online
audience
Surely we have a 'House of Cards' up our sleeve? Surely, we're just sleeves surely we're just at that
at that place? The Australian Bureau of Statistics broadcasters to to spiro statistics
says no way. This beautiful pie graph with a huge amount of yellow pie
shows a
couple things - an opportunity which is the yellow
and the reality of the situation which is that
product commission for online is infinitesimal
it's one percent of a product that's known as 'other than television'
So if you could contemplate what television commissions every year
its two billion dollars worth in the category that's not television
which is mostly feature films in fact
a 645 million dollar category
1 percent of 645 million is that one percent, that little sliver over there.
It hardly rates in the other than television category in
certainly doesn't write in the television category
so there's huge opportunity
The sliver, as I said, represents the opportunity for the sector
of the online opportunity. We've been advocating for quite some time that the
industry get behind an online production fund...
let's push the boundaries, let's help make the content that won't get shown
anywhere else and let's grow the production pie.
Recently we received an additional 2.5 million
per annum in the last budget which we've leveraged
we've our existing funds to create a five million dollar fund for online
and interactive stories
now this might not get us an Australian version at the 'house of cards'
but it might pave the way and secure future funds from more bold initiatives
five million dollars is a good starting point
So, content is king still.
it is still all about the story but you can't just make it and they will come
we have to appeal to the connectors those affluent,
modern, young people who stay in touch with the latest technology
and rely on social media to organize their lives
they trust social media they don't necessarily trust broadcast media
they'll watch something recommended by complete stranger
on social media before they'll believe traditional advertising.
Can a government agency take risks?
How does the message cut through? Of course it starts with a great story and
involves
a risk or two
Now, can we take a risk? we're giving it a good shake... don't tell anyone...
In the case of the project, 'I Love You But' - I'm a gay, Muslim woman
living the life in Cabramatta and doing anything to avoid coming out to my
family
including marrying a boy, also gay -
it's complicated. To promote '100 Bloody Acres'
we've helped post random body parts - see Angela Bishop's
tweet here - "this is the creepy merch I got from the peeps responsible for
'100 Bloody acres'... says it all really. Love it"
We've helped expose weapons of mass destruction
more on that later and we've invented a little bit of history
all in a day's work. Significantly,
the latest recipients a multi-platform funding represent the most culturally
diverse group
ever, by accident, not design
I'm not sure what it means - Perhaps new talent is more representative of
real Australia...
controversial I know. As written by David Tiley, the revised multi-platform
drama production program from Screen Australia has yielded a group of creative
teams that is actually
gasp!, diverse. There's a lot of comedy, plently of ethnic diversity and a huge
range of sexualities: from gay to accidental abstinence
and a shortage of old people. They are the kind of projects that attract an
online community.
The 'Beached Az' gang is back for instance and the kind of people who can create
that attention. Okay I'm now gonna head over to
my colleague Tim Phillips, in multi- platform drama before he hands over Liz Stevens
who then hands over back to me and then you get to see our lovely faces again
I know you can't wait. Tim....
Thanks and I should say that a if you have any questions I think you can
send them in the during the presentation um
don't hold on to the end - you may as well send through as we're going because
that means we'll probably be able to get to more at the end
so it's my job to give you a little bit more detail about
what types of content, the drama stream of this program can fund,
and what you need to do to apply
and we're gonna try and do this through some examples were gonna
look at some projects that are already completed
or some projects for which we've recently announced funding
So, multi-platform drama...
I mean I admit, it's a bit of a mouthful um you'll be glad to hear that we're
actually quite flexible
about what falls within this program in fact sometimes I think it's helpful
to come at it from the other direction and to ask what it isn't
so what it isn't is content that's handcuffed to a tv set
so its content that's free to travel its content that's designed to travel
to devices other than television so we'll give you some examples
this show is called airlock - that's going to be a three part science fiction series
from
a company called Distracted Media - now y'all know these guys because
they are the team behind the low-budget feature 'The Tunnel'
- which got quite a lot a major attention when it was launched on peer to peer
file sharing services is a few years back
I think they calculated that 'The Tunnel' got downloaded from
different places around 11 million times
you know 11 million - thats it's a big number.
So 'Airlock' is gonna go out on peer to peer services
as well and I'm not sure if any of the stage agencies have done this before but
it's certainly a first for Screen Australia,
to be funding what's primarily a bit torrent series
so you could burn it on a DVD and watch it on your tele
but probably the most likely platform for the show will be a PC or your
tablet
Here are two more examples; 'Hunter n Hornet'
and 'I love You But'. These are is comedy series'
Hunter n hornet is about two, wannabe,
probably won't be, pick up artists and I love you but
as Fiona mentioned earlier on, is a new take on the marriage of
convenience story
Now episodes of both already exist. We're funding the creation of more episodes
so these are a straight youtube play. They are perfectly designed for youtube perfectly designed for you
because the are short format and they're comedic,
which always encourages sharing and sharing is the lifeblood
a successful YouTube video... So again they could be watched on your PC,
from your phone or a tablet but they could be watched on your tv, maybe through
Apple TV at your home or if your tv is that advanced that it's set
directly to YouTube
But it's not handcuffed to tv as I said earlier.
Another example, this is a new show that we've green lit from matchbox pictures,
the company
behind 'The Slap', it's a martial-arts comedy
a six by half hour - it's called 'Maximum Choppage'
well i think that's currently a working title
now this project does have broadcast TV as one of its key platforms
the ABC is one of our partners on the show
but it's also going to go out online on iview
So someone paying keen attention might pull me up here and say that
nowadays almost all TVs going out on
catch up platforms and does this mean we will will fund any on the television under
this fund?
I mean you're right, most local programs are now also available
on catch up online, I guess this
the space here is the place where we're hoping one day be financing
a major online series
Australia's 'House of Cards', as Fiona related to earlier in her presentation,
but right now in all honesty the market needs to
mature further, no one in Australia's yet paying
online commissions equivalent to the broadcasters commissions
so if we want to do these slightly bigger scale projects,
We're still partnering up with the broadcasters
what we're looking for is shows that we believe will have as big an audience
online
compared to free -to-air, maybe even bigger
and that's not meant to be talking down the broadcast potential of these shows, its
talking up their online potential. So some other examples include the series Twenty-
something' which we funded
again with the ABC and 'Danger 5' which we
financed with SBS - both under this
multiplatform fund
we can also to more interactive content
I'll give you two more examples, one of them is called Paper Fox
it's an animation where they use and navigate through a story world
and the user engages in tasks which push the story forward
It features some beautiful origami style artwork
and The Cautionary Tale is a similar proposition based on an award-winning
short film and has been reversioned as an interactive animation
So both of these are digital downloads through the App Store or Google Play
and the most likely to be played on your tablet device
So what kind of stories are we looking for?
We're looking for this duck- he's
standing out from the crowd if you're producing a youtube series for example
you're competing against the many hours of content they get uploaded
every minute on youtube and there are some scary stats which were gonna share with
you in a bit
you need to know them because it's important to understand that
the competition for eyeballs is really intense
online, so you need to be designed to stand out
you need to be different, need to be self announcing as i said
you need to be saying look at me... So the kind of content that works is
risky content, cheeky content, slightly edgy content
and when you look at the type of content that performs well online
and the type of content to get shared really well, well
comedy works well too. So this is the type of content that broadcast tv,
even with the added flexibility of the multi channels
isn't really commissioning locally, and we understand that
we do, you know broadcast tv has to hit a critical mass of
eyeballs
in its key capital city markets. we understand that some this content would be too big
a gamble
but it can live online and we don't mind taking the risk
I'll give you two more examples um I'll talk you through both of them and then we'll watch
the video so you can really get a taste for them
So God Squad is an animated series a produced by Zack Toons from Perth
it's aimed pretty squarely at the South Park audience
and its been created so that it can be consumed by a number formats
both short format episodes and a longer format one-off
and I think the produces or even think about trying to turn it
into a feature film. So the pitch is
it's an NYPD blue cop show with
the gods of all religions as the main characters set in Kings Cross.
I think it's pretty self-explanatory - It's a little
racey and we've got a short teaser which will give you a taste...
and you'll notice something else when you see it which is that online doesn't
necessarily mean lower production values because the job
that Zach Toons has done on this is incredible
And the other video we will play is 'I Love You But' which we've already spoken little
bit about
um Mona and Sam are gay
but cannot come out to their lebanese families... we really liked the show because its smart and it's
talking about an issue in a fun way and it really knows its audience
and interestingly enough it's an international audience
When we were looking at the stats the show's performing as well
in France for example as it is in Australia.
So let's have a look at the clips
(God Squad clip)
(God squad clip)
(God squad clip)
I love my mum but I can never tell her i'm gay
she'd kill me!
Yeah, well, we're going on holiday
Holiday? Just before they married us,
I felt fire coming out from underneath me
what we were doing was so wrong
Oh my god there's a woman in your backyard
what? it's my mother-in-law!
You're married?! Ssssh
Not another one...I've met so many Leb guys like you before
I'm not really married...Right!?...
I'm good... What are you doing here?
(Subtitles)
So, what you need to apply...?
well we've made the application process
more flexible. Previously we required you to have what
we call a marketplace element to the project. This is
a third party willing to put up some kinda money or support for your
project. Look, this just didn't work
We were bending over backwards trying to make things eligible
when the market matures further in Australia and there's some
serious Commission for online content then we might look at this again
but for now we've removed the marketplace element completely
and now its all about the pitch so you need to sell us
on your show and your team and we've introduced two
additional elements to the application process to deal with this - One, is a talk
to video from your team
and you know to be honest this is inspired really from those call-to-
action clips that you see on Kickstarter and Pozible
And the other element is a concept picture or mood video
which demonstrates the concept for your show.
I'll give an example for each and I just wanna say thanks to the
teams that have let us share these clips because they weren't
Created to be shared like this...
thanks a lot. So first of all we'll see Lawrence Leung's talk to camera
for 'Maximum Choppage' and then we're going to see a
video of a new interactive series called 'Seven Days Later'.
We've spoken a little bit about 'Maximum Choppage but Seven Days Later, I haven't yet...
this is a new series from Ludo studio it's a company made up from the creators
of hits like Beached Az, and Bondi Hipsters
and the ABC show 'Strange Calls'
and
like the best of examples
are self explanatory - So now we'll jump to the video.
My name's Lawrence Leung.
TV writer and comedian. Now growing up, my tv role models were guys like
Dieter Brummer, Bruce Samazan
and Alf, from 'Home and Away' not Alf, the lovable alien.
For an Asian Australian geek like me, TV was vanilla in colour.
So I turned to watching martial arts films where my
heros were Asian stars like Jackie Chan: all-action,
not very vanilla. Maybe a geek like me could relate like to that
I finally met Jackie Chan when I was 18... I snuck onto his movie set in Melbourne.
I just finished watching him kick someone's butt in a Mr Whippy van.
So I nervously approached him and said Jackie
one day I wanna be just like you... He took one look at this weedy, geeky
teenage in front of him, smiled, shaking his head and handed me
an ice cream - and it was vanilla in colour. It tasted like disappointment this makes me
ponder
is a possible to make a TV series that is distinctive in its cultural
diversity?
Innovative in its jaw-dropping action sequences yet also appeal to the weedy, inner geek
in all of us...we think so and we'll make it fun too. And
really funny... Our show is called 'Maximum Choppage' -
its a six-part action comedy series on ABC 2
produced by matchbox pictures - it's a chaotic genre twisting mix of kung fu
and comedy set in the colourful world of Cabramatta
It's not top Chopsocky parody.. we've created our own universe tightly scripted
adventures involving a collection of colorful characters where anything can
happen
and usually does. Now I'm really excited about
our creative team. I am one of the leading actors and co-wrote the series with Duncan
Sarkies
who also wrote for flight of the Concords is really funny and he loves
reading books about famous Hollywood chimpanzees
so you know he's qualified for something as nuts as this project
the other proposed leads include Maria Tran who is a bit of a local hero
in Cabramatta - she acts, fights and in her spare time choreographs incredible martial
arts
action sequences from film - she's the real thing...she
actually lives in a kung fu dojo... how cool is that?
and the show was produced by Sophie Miller and Julie Eckserley
from matchbox under the watchful eye of season comedy ep Debbie Lee,
definitely is best known for steering risk taking comedy series such as John
Safran
this is god and Wilfred what I really love about the show
is that creatively the style and content the series
matches the chaotic colorful real-world of cabramatta itself
it's a fun melting pot of hybrid genres across all episodes
mixing comedy with the action film the sports film
and even a ghost story. So Cabramatta is the heart of the series
a seting rarely seen on Aussie TV the action sequences are
bold and innovative and the comedy is twisted and the characters lovable
most have all it has heart. It's story about fighting for what you feel is
right
despite the threat of death or worse disappointing your mother
so that's our show thanks for considering our application
I'm off to get an ice cream.
ABCTV, Screen Queensland, Screen NSW and Ludo studio
the creators of the ABC TV series 'Strange Calls'
Beached Az and Bondi hipsters present to you an interactive comedy series
it's called seven days later the titles written with a hash tag
that's how you know its innovative. Its an interactive multi-platform
anthology comedy series... or something.. whatever
seven days later is a comedy series created with its online audience
each week the audience was presented with the young hot guest star
like Jurassic Park 3d Sam Neill that's the star of that week's episode
Hi Sam! the audience then chooses the ingredients of the Stars episode
or via social media innovative enough for you? scaring you yet?
Don't worry, the ingredients are then put into the seven days later machine and
seven days later that episode premieres on TV
and all other platforms. Seven days Later will have a fixed ensemble cast
made up of YouTube celebrities eho bring with them their own unique audience to
the show
talented creators and performers like Nick Bosher, Alex Williamson
johnnie and super wog will make up the ensemble cast
we like to think we're making choose your own adventure meet Saturday Night
Live
meets maybe the Golden Girls or something...whatever...each stand alone episode of 7 days later stand on Episode seven days later
is a mixture of comedy, contained genre and gravel
but the real magic at the show will come to the audience to the feeling of
there's no way they can to make this work we want the audience to feel like
they can ruin
everything and they can seven days later is a true multi-platform experience
connecting creators to their audience and lifting the veil off
and letting them behind the curtain of TV production. its innovative,
exciting and dangerous and is taking comedy to the scary arena of
interactive storytelling and oh yeah it's gonna blow your socks and pants off
beat that! Or should I say tweet that?
So while we were watching those videos are shortly before we watching those
videos we actually got a question about
what the expectations were for people coming into the fund
and hopefully those videos have given you a vivid example
but what I do want to say
is that you know you don't need to go to that level
we're not expecting super slick production values we're not expecting
you to spend a significant amount
of money creating these elements but you do need to put your best foot
forward
and pitch proposal as well as you can
I'm in the truth of the matter is this is what we call a high volume round
we get a lot of applications and again you need to stand up
to get noticed. So is that it?
Well no, it is because just because we've walked away from the marketplace
requirement
doesn't mind that where just ignoring the path to market.
You still need to provide us with an impressive marketing plan
Now what I'm going to do is actually throw to Mike Cowap, one of the investment managers
for the fund
to give us some further detail in this respect because it's always best to hear
from someone who
directly assesses the applications
so Mike what are some other things that we look for
in the marketing proposal? Well it is very significant that we drop the
requirement for
marketplace attachment. You know, the market place attachment was generally
the entity that was responsible
for taking your content to its audience you can't pull out that mechanism
without replacing it with something
not the current climate where you've got 100 hours of new
video uploaded to YouTube every minute we've got a hundred and fifty apps
uploaded to the Apple App Store every day that's a great deal of noise
You can't just upload your content, push it out there and hope for the best
in that sort of environment
likelihood is that it'll be tree falling in the woods
so we look for a strong and sophisticated distribution and marketing
plan but that does
essentially ball down to three things - Do you know your audience?
Do you know where they hang out online? Do you know how to reach them?
so a good distribution marketing plan is probably going to combine a number of
different factors
Probably paid advertising, then some inventive PR
perhaps some innovative multi-platform storytelling to
capture people's attention and create an engaged fan base
And it'll be backed up by research and evidence and hopefully look at some
comparative product. You might also choose to work with the
some third-party expertise like a a social media community manager or
digital agency. All the projects that we supported in the most recent round
had this to to some degree.
'Airlock' is a really good example and we're gonna take a look at it
a teaser for that moment the producer submitted a really persuasive
distribution marketing plan
they were able to demonstrate that they had a profile
within the horror and sci-fi online community is never going to capitalize
on that
with a comprehensive social media plan They'd also come up with a pretty
contemporary crowd funding strategy
where in itself that funding campaign
becomes a marketing exercise. They also propose some additional content
some multi-platform storytelling that'll hopefully capture some attention
to an engaged
fanbase. On all this will be supported by a paid ad campaign that will include
very targeted Facebook advertising and Youtube pre roles
so 'Airlock' provided us with a very good example of that and we'll take a look at
a teaser now that is actually part of their
submission materials:
3000 years
new frontiers exploration progress
always progress
you think its a noble pursuit.
you value yourself over everything
your own life worth more than the next
your a virus
a leach
bleeding the
universe dry. You make war.
until you forget, you're only human.
pretty scary hey
so now I'm gonna throw to Liz Stevens who is gonna
talk to us about the wonderful world of online documentary.
Thanks Tim. We could spend days trying to define this
and never be entirely happy about the result I think it's largely because we
haven't pinned
down all the forms of storytelling yet So this could be a bad place to be
in that we know lots of people wanna make multi platform docs
but do we really know what to do with the content and the
results can be less than satisfying but also it's a really good place to be
because it's exciting to be in a phase of experimentation right now where you
can be part of the evolution
of documentary - think how the invention of photography in the 1830s
created a whole new language for documenting fact and fiction
what is emerging though, in Australia
is only a small amount of documentaries are produced solely for
the web
and that's the space where we want to help fill
for the multiplatform documentary fund let's have a look at
an international project that uses the online
potential for storytelling really well 'Bear 71' was produced by the National
Film Board of Canada who seem to be on the cutting edge of producing web based
projects
at the moment. national park in the heart of the Canadian Rockies
bears and humans here live closer together than any other place on earth
that explains the radio collar constantly beeping my location to some
Ranger playing God.
They also gave me a number - Bear 71
For 11 years I did
everything right
Looking back on it now it all seems, unstoppable.
There are 15 remote sensing cameras in my home range
it's hard to say where the wired world
ends and wild one begins
the Rangers know where I am from that day I leave my den in spring
to the day I go back to sleep and in the fall.
so we might not be able to define multi-platform docs
fully or at Screen Australia participating in funding docs across all
platforms
so we focused the fund on online interactive documentaries
online documentaries are relatively straightforward I'm
and they might use the web for distribution or package it so theres
a little bit more interactivity involved they can be
traditional docs whose primary audience is found online
I'm gonna show you a short clip from northern pictures 'Cronulla Riots -
The day that shocked the nation' . It is about an hour in length as a documentary
and it was funded as an online documentary to be released through
SBS - it tells the story of the Cronulla Riots largely from the perspectives
of the arab community it isn't live yet so this is a sneak preview
Tensions at the beach
honestly? I never felt it
...until...
Life changed... I couldn't look at an Aussie the same
They couldn't look at me the same...You can see the storm coming but
you kind of can't stop it
No one wanted to admit
racism had anything to do with it.
The slogans...Aussie Pride..What is Aussie Pride?
I'm an Aussie... Ive got pride in Australia - I love Australia.. What are you trying to say?
Even up to now its like a bad dream
I just did not think that this could happen in Australia
I'm not sure yet how
SBS will extend the interactivity of the content
but they intend to broadcast it now because it's such a good piece a
storytelling
and that's a really good outcome for an online doc
'Goa Hippy Tribe' is an interactive
online doc it started its life on Facebook and grew from there
the moving image from the project like this may be able to be broadcast
or as interstitials or even a half hour or an hour
but it's not necessary for funding purposes is to have a broadcast extension
Let's have a look at the clip:
The director of the 'Goa Hippy Tribe' - what started out as a personal
exploration my family history ended up touching
thousands of people all over the world this is the story behind the project
an 18-month journey ending in this spectacular SBS
interactive documentary. My parents were part of the original hippie movement
and I spent the early years in my life on the beaches of Goa.
In January 2010 I decided to trace my family history
and attended 30-year reunion the original Goa hippy.
leading up to the reunion a Facebook page was set up
allowing many of these old friends to reconnect. I was inspired to film this
unique occasion.
And with the help of sydney-based production company Freehand
we began shaping the idea into a documentary
the project was commissioned by SBS which chose to run the content within
Facebook page itself
Fans of the page expressed delight
at being able to follow this story in real time. The facebook page thrived
with thousands of uses adding hundreds of comments every week
what began to happen is something you can never plan
organic insightful inspiring conversations
users watched the videos and responded
with the original hippies, our cast if you like, in direct conversation with the
audience
So what are we looking for
in the i-doc fund or online fund?
First of all we want you to tell us an excellent story
it can be any length but it should be compelling story
What really matters is the user needs to be able to browse and interact to some degree
they may even be able to change the content
whatever the form the i-doc takes, there definitely needs to be a fusion between
the audience
and the content. There needs to be intuitive navigation
you go through the front door and you can find your way
easily through the
documentary and it needs to be satisfying in that way
Your marketing plan needs to tell us how you will attract an audience
and how you hold their attention it can't be an afterthought
or incidental it needs to be woven through the life of the project. 'Goa Hippy
Tribe'
used Facebook to create a community and worked the crowd.
How will you do it? maybe your partner with another agency like a museum or library
or not-for-profit organization
If your partner's wanna these agencies or a broadcaster
what plans do you have to get the word out? The next clip brings together some
of these points
'Big Story Small Towns' is a collaboration between communities
and filmmaker and residents over the past four years- The documentary has evolved
and the producer-director Martin Potter and Anna Grieve are also working with
content providers
in communities in the pacific and Southeast Asia let's have a look a big
stories
(Clip)
(End clip)
So the projects don't need to wrap around a feature film or a broadcaster to
authenticate their experience
or their existence, they can exist on their own
Story may be king but technology can provide the style
let's have a look at the first minute or so from Patrick Clair's 'Conflict Now'
project
it's a visually stylish i-doc that uses voiceovers
an animated info graphics as a storytelling device
in June last year
a computer virus called Stuxnet was discovered lurking in the databanks in
power plants
traffic control systems and factories around the world
twenty times more complex than any previous virus code
it had an array of capabilities among them the ability to turn up the pressure
inside nuclear reactors
or switch off oil pipelines and Stuxnet could tell the system operators
everything was normal...
unlike most viruses Stuxnet doesn't carry the usual forged security
clearance that helps virus' burrow into systems
it actually had a real clearance, stolen
from one of the most reputable computer technology companies in the world
It exploited security gaps that the system creators are
unaware of - these holes are known
as zero days and the most successful viruses
exploit them. The details of a zero day can be sold on the black market for a
hundred thousand dollars
Stuxnet took advantage of twenty zero days
but once it got into a system it didn't always
activate. Very deep in the Stuxnet code was a specific target,
without that target the virus remained dormant
what was it looking to shut down? The centrifuges that spin nuclear material
at Iran's enrichment facilities.
Stuxnet was a weapon
the first to be made entirely out of code.
Well writers say their craft develops more
the more the read filmmakers the more they watch films
it's no different for i-docs, it's really a good idea to explore the form
and there's a wealth of material at these sites and I'm sure you could tell us
of many more
so I'm going to hand back to Fiona now...Cheers Liz,
wrapping up we come to our third plank in a multiplatform programs
- our digital extension program we make a big investment in screen content
and we have an obligation to do everything we can to maximize audience
now more than ever strategies need to involve social media
enter our regular extension program with Screen Australia identify projects that
we've invested in
that lend themselves to and online or social media extension
I guess the clarification point here is and we've had a couple questions along
those lines already
this isn't a fund that we call for applications to-
this is a fund where Screen Australia investment manages
work with applicants and identify projects that lend themselves
particularly well
to social media extension programs
broadly speaking this fund is limited to feature films at this stage limited
by of course money
so what we're trying to achieve here
is audience buy in as opposed to buying the audience for the 32nd ad
Of course the error of mass communications is not
over but it has evolved enormously and we are now in an era of mass communicators
Want and want and want and want in millions
if the audience like what they see will share and create hype
and hype in social media is absolute gold
just think about Justin Bieber a child of social media
dare I say it grumpy cat and of course our own
'Beached Az'... While not in the same category
the Morgans organic campaign for '100 Bloody Acres' is a do it yourself
campaign for the fictional fertilizer company featured in the film
it comprises 10 faux ads, a full social media presence across
all major networks and a humorous outreach campaign that involved
offering to evaluate body parts for purchase
to be used in the blood and bone.It has been named as one of the worst ads
to come out of Australia -
just the ticket! well the social media hype surrounding this film has
unfortunately not helped the box office
Our six screen release was always going to be limiting...
the film has received credible hype across social media
and is worryingly set to break
bit torrent records in Australia that is a
debate for another day. here is an example of
Australia's worst ad ever.
Jingle...
Hi, I'm Reg!
And I'm Lindsay and we're here to tell you
about Morgans Organic blood and bone fertilizer you've tried horse poop
you've tried mulch mall but nothing works our amazing new blend
Morgans organic blood and bone fertilizer 3
enriched in nitrate, calcium and potassium so whether you're sprinkling on your
veggies
or sowing it in summer
we'll get your garden going
that's a morgan brother's guarantee.
We'll fertilize ya!
Great...We're just going to
set up our last presentation
In summary we put together a Youtube promotion around our
multiplatform programs
it was put together in a rush but it does show a little bit about what we're
trying to do.
We hope you like it and share it.
I'd like to introduce you to two idiots
Hello, we're pitching a show called 'How to speak Australians'
is a parody of an Indian call center training
here good okay you like a he's not really a ***
that's just what Australians like do. I love
my mum but I could never tell her I'm gay.
No, we're leading double lives...It's my mother in-law...
this isn't just cutting-edge this is beyond cutting-edge
nothing can compare... It's a chaotic, genre twisitng mix of kung fu and comedy.
And it will go viral...
In all these weird and wonderful platforms that are out there
Just wait for the chicks to start flocking, man
Narrative thrad - thats horse ***. Great technology combined with this amazing timeless story.
Why don't you get a big black dog up you?
if you throw this, it will come back...
and oh yes it's gonna blow your socks and pants off
Innovative enough for you?
There you go
inspirational... so finally our
next drama multi-platform round closes on the 4th of October 2013
and drama documentary 2014 will close
in March. So we really are shaking and rattling the can here.
And asking you to apply. we are going to come back into your personal view now
well thank you dennis thing and it's time for I'm you in for Question Time
so I don't put that down and I'm gonna get my thoughts together and
the first question came from Pete Gately. Does the fund support
new multiplatform content extensions and existing
TV and film properties I actually just answered that question when I introduced
to the digital extension program
the extension program is a program that
we identify of projects that we're invested in
its limited to feature film only so
if you've got TV series or a drama or a documentary TV series it's in post and
someone else's ask this question
and you want to come to us for a social media extension
that's not going to work we need to be invested in the project
it needs to be featured film and it needs to have an obvious
social media extension on part potential opportunity
now we're not trying to be mean about this, it's a limited fund
and we're going to do everything we possibly can to get the product we invest
in
to and maximum marketplace
And secondly from guest
Are you only interested in funding drama series that have already got audiences
online?
ie episodes that already exist and are popular?
are you interested in funding new concepts based on scripts?' Oh yes we are
team are we not?
We are interested in both.. So it could be an original idea or an
existing idea... in the last round got a lot of proposals for second series'
amd that was interesting and obviously to be easier perhaps present your pitch video
if you've got something
already to show but absolutely we're just interested
in good ideas that doesn't matter if it's more episodes or something
that's already out there or something brand new - very interested in green
lighting stuff - bring it on! Lee asks
what are some of the things you look for in creative teams when deciding whether
to fund
iie short film awards/credits/production roles or more major TV or film projects? I
wanna throw over to my far left
and ask Justin at the end of the table to answer that question
yet this one is a actually covered in the application materials but the main
thing I am
the the first requirement we have for applicants is that they have a a
a producer or director on the team with at least one credit in the same role on
a comparable
project um and then other than that we don't have any
requirements for the team but we will look at anything that you bring to
whether you are an award winner in a similar area or in a different area
- All those things will factor into decision making to make sure that we do
choose the projects that have the best chance of success
Can I just say that that applies the documentary as well as drama
we'll be looking for the same things as well. Great, thanks Liz
Sorry that disembodied voice was Justin Halliday - one of the
investment managers in the drama stream
We've got Mike and Justin helping to answer questions but unfortunately we're
a bit cramped
for space so they will be the disembodied voices that will be answering
the questions in the background.
And they're not dressed well enough to appear on the panel anyway
This is one for you Liz: Is there room for faction projects that have
strong online presence in drama or doco?
what's your understanding about broadcasters here in Australia and their
attitude to it?
so we want to fund
really good stories - if it happens to be a faction project
then we'll look at it and consider it. It doesn't really matter what the
broadcasters think because these projects can exist on their won.
What are the expectations for how much work creators needs to do before coming
to the fund
Are creators expected to be able to demonstrate an existing audience
Should they have already created the content in part/ generated crowd funds
etc
Tim answered this a little bit in context to the presentation but maybe I can ask
you to recap
Yes you need to
to pitch to us, you need to
demonstrate what's great about your idea
you need to do put something together which gives us an idea of the type of
show it is - we don't want you going and spending a whole heap of money
it could be a mood reel, you can use clips from different things to
demonstrate what you trying to do
Part of that question also talked about
crowd-sourcing and I'll throw to Justin
there because that's a frequently asked question we get is
you know I'm I meant to come in with does it help if I come in with
funds that have been raised
for a crowd-sourcing campaign...Justin?
Thanks Tim, obviously I'm if you have already raised funds from a crowd
funding campaign then thats great and it establishes that you do have an audience
out there and they are willing to
at some point come with some money to support the show I'm that's fantastic we
also have
application where people plan, as part of the process of making the show,
to do a crowdfunding campaign and that's a bit more tricky because
many crowdfunding campaigns do fail so you have to convince us that your show
is good enough
and also that the show can survive without the crowdfunding campaign as
well as with it.
We wouldn't want to invest in something
if it was all predicated on a crowdfunding campaign that was not
guaranteed a success.
A successful campaign is obviously
like it demonstrates to a certain degree
a roven concept because it's demonstrated got people interested
online and its engaging with those people at an early stage
so they're invested with the show...
it's obviously going to impress us.. We will take the next question as a comment...
Hey Mike,
let's hope that the platforms like Iview, SBS on demand and Youtube follow the
steps of Netflix and Hulu who were/
are platforms
and now fund original content we talk about a lot
presentation and absolutely iview's started to do that and SBS has done so
with
with online docs. We've got a lot of room to grow
and by virtue of that slide I presented but it
is the opportunity and is very exciting And it's going to happen
those organizations you know. are starting to set up in Australia
starting an Australian presence and
it's only time until they start replicating
here what they're doing in the US. Absolutely where can we get an idea of
the level of funding and level of budgets for the project documentary
and drama.
well they we have guidelines which are on the
website so I you can
download those and it tells you all the parameters and the fun stuff that you
everything to apply
In terms of drama I
there's no cap on the budget but there is a cap on the amount of money which we can
put into a single project which is
500 thousand dollars
For documentary in the multi platform fund will be able to
to fund up to 300,000 and
that can be more than 75 percent of the budget so it's a great opportunity
a slightly different for Drama than to Doco - up to 300,000. Some people might be scratching their
head thinking that the guidelines say 200,000 Liz...? They do at the moment but
thats going to change..
Part of these evolutions of these funds is to make sure that the drama
documentary multiplatform programs are talking
and that we fund the best possible content across the genres
so that's why we are moving the decision date into line next year from today in
March 2013 so that we can spread the funds
across both funds.
Screen West doesn't have provisions for funding without a screen partner
and you can understand why the state agencies are often in that position
the beauty about this fund is that we can fund you
without a strict marketplace attachment So you need to demonstrate as we said
in the presentation
a route to market a sophisticated marketing plan but if your content is
great and you understand how to get to your audience
you need to come a knocking and we don't need the state agency
on board if the guidelines don't quite match up
so that's ok. But read your guidelines before you put in the case
Glenys asks, I'm working on a project that includes both screen-based
and non screen-based content
Should the pitch
present the project overall including
the non- screen content? Well if this was coming in for the documentary fund
I's say you need to tell us exactly what's going on with the project if it
extends beyond
a web based project to some other form like a book or
photography exhibition then we
we should be aware the whole picture but clearly we're not gonna fund
that photography exhibition or that book but we will certainly look
at the web-based material that you are going to prison
Cathy asks it needs to be ready for production right?
Not funding development? Great question, Cathy because I'm we have
previously
been in ignition development fund - ah funded development
that's not the case now Tim?
Yeah, we've decided to focus on production
we're willing to take the the leap and try and create something that
developments obviously create but often you put out alot of
other funds and you never actually produce anything so
we are keen to to greenlight program so we're focusing on
production at the moment... And the same for the multi-plaform platform documentary fund
we will be funding production but you can come in
to the documentary development fund for
development funds but read the guidelines because it's quite different
but sorry just to flesh out a little bit more
It's like a tv show - you don't need to come in
to screen Australia with every script for example you need
to come in with enough to sell the concept of your show
We are not expecting you know every
element of the show as been
prepared. Right can we have a call for any final questions
before we call it a day?
So any final questions
we do have one question about whether or not we would
look at historical docudrama the melding of both streams
Can you give us clues as to things you
aren't interested in? You know docudrama
potentially is of interest..It's probably quite difficult to say what you not interested in?
funding cat videos... at this stage
So docudrama if it has elements
of documentary and it's not just wall to wall drama
then we will definitely look at it I'm I think is
this question seems to me, will we fund out of both streams -
drama and documentary...
so you've got to decide if it's a
docudrama where it fits
and then come into that fund.
So if there are no more final questions we will
end the streaming...
Thank you very much for your attendance this afternoon
and we will be in Melbourne doing a session from 5:15 if you're in Victoria
at Acme and you want to come along and see it please do.
Otherwise you can always download at your convenience and watch
in your own time thanks again and good evening.