Press release from Film Vic
Over the past two months we've bunkered down to review all our funding programmes. It's something we do annually to ensure our programmes remain relevent and responsive to industry trends and developments, while delivering positive outcomes for the industry and government.
This year we also considered the Victorian Screen Industry Strategy, which outlines the Government's priority areas for the screen industry for 2009-2014; as well as the impact of reduced revenue.
This special eNews will cover the changes, both minor and major, to our funding programmes, which programmes are still under review, which programmes we'll no longer offer, and what happens next.
Deadlines now online
We made minor changes to the following programmes:
• Production Investment
• Internship on a Production
• Internship with a Company (Film and TV)
• International Festival Support
• Factual Development (Early and Advance stages)
• Fiction Development: Feature Film
• Fiction Development: Feature Film Final Stage
• Fiction Development: TV Concept
• Fiction Development: TV Co-Funded
In most cases the changes streamline processes, reduce the number of deadlines (to address Victorian Govenment reporting requirements), or make the language in our guidelines crystal clear. All programme changes have been summarised on our website, and the deadlines are up too.
Get connected, globally
We've integrated two of our programmes - International Market Support and Global Connections Business Support. Integrating them addresses the increase in demand for funding in this area and acknowledges the importance of attending markets and making international business relationships.
In summary, the revised Global Connections Business Support programme:
• Will fund attendance at approved international markets and/or targeted international business travel
• Will still include funding for first-time market attendees to engage an experienced market mentor
• Has a requirement for applicants to contribute at least 25% to the cost of their market and/or targeted business travel.
This means we will no longer offer International Market Support as an individual programme, however market attendance will be ddressed by the new programme. Comprehensive guidelines for Global Connections Business Support are up on our website.
So what's happening with Digital Media?
The short answer is our Digital Media programme suite is still under review. We're definitely funding digital media and games into the future, but we're still working out how best to support games and other businesses.
We will announce the first of our new programmes for digital media practitioners in October, so stay tuned. We've got a long history of support in this area, and that's not going to change!
The following programmes will continue in 2010/11:
• Internships with a Company (Digital Media)
• Public Screen Engagement (with limited capacity)
We will not offer the following digital media programmes in 2010/11:
• Cross Platform Development
• Digital Media Scoping
• Production Investment for Games
• Global Connections (Digital Media)
• Screen Industry Development (Digital Media)
• International Market Support (Digital Media)
• International Festival Support (Digital Media)
We will definitely continue to fund digital media and games into the future, and we're lokoing forward to announcing the first of our new programmes later in the year.
The number of programmes we offer is pretty huge - more than 30, in fact - so to get the most out of the review process within a reasonable timeframe, we had to prioritise according to demand within the industry. As a result, we're still reviewing a few programmes (in additional to Digital Media, above). They are:
• Industry and Audience Development
• Slate Funding Business Support for Emerging/Established Producers
• Propeller Shorts.
We'll announce further information about these programmes by November.
Programmes we're no longer offering
We needed to make some tough decisions as part of this review. Due to an increase in demand across all of our programmes, as well as reduced funds, we're no longer able to offer the following programmes in 2010/11:
• Catapult
• Series Proof of Concept
This is in addition to the digital media programmes mentioned above. We know some practioners will be disappointed to hear this news, and we regret that we're no longer able to fund these areas.
If you've got a project you think may fall into one of these areas, check out the other funding programmes we have available to see if you're eligible for one of those.
What's next?
Following the conclusion of our formal review process, we'll launch 'phase two'. Here's the scoop: we're changing the structure of our programmes and guidelines to align more closely with the Victorian Screen Industry Strategy (VSIS).
What does this mean? Well effectively, our programmes will be grouped according to the VSIS priority areas, rather than by 'theme' or 'stage of production' as they are now, and we'll have five overarching guidelines instead of one for each and every programme.
The changes will reduce repetitive copy across guidelines, and allow us to rework the language in the guidelines themselves so they're more user-friendly for practitioners. Stay tuned for an announcement in November.