Screen Australia’s announcement last week that it will fund up to three short dramas, each budgeted at $70,000, in a new program entitled Hot Shots raised eyebrows in sections of the industry.
Five years ago the agency drew flak when it abolished short drama production funding, prompting an open letter from about 50 filmmakers.
“We feel the short film program is vitally important in kick-starting careers and developing new talent and thus should be retained,” said the letter signed by the likes of Angie Fielder, Matthew Dabner, Anne Robinson, Polly Staniford, Amiel Courtin-Wilson, Tim Maddocks, Beth Frey, Nicholas Verso and Nick Ball. “Many of us would not have made our start in this industry, or have any reasonable stature within it now as establishing producers, if not for this fund.”
Some producers viewed the Hot Shots announcement as a major change of policy but that’s not the case, according to Screen Australia’s Head of Development Martha Coleman.
“We’ve always supported short drama production through our Talent Escalator program strands – Springboard, Shorts Completion and Shorts Animation,” she tells IF. “ We also support entry level filmmakers through Raw Nerve. So Hot Shots isn’t a change in policy, rather it’s an evolution.
“We continually look at the landscape to see that our Talent Escalator strategies to support our filmmakers are still best serving our industry and to see if there are any gaps that have opened up that might be inhibiting our target constituency from progressing as well as they might.
“In the last couple of years funding for short films has dried up so that Springboard was one of the only sources available with a decent budget so that filmmakers could operate to a professional standard. Possibly because of this, we had noticed that in recent years some talented people were applying for Springboard before, in our view, they were ready.
“Hot Shots is intended for people who have some experience (it’s not for entry level) and are clearly on a path towards feature film making, but they are still honing their craft and exercising their voice ie, it’s not likely to be their last short.
“Making short films through a government source such as Screen Australia is expensive because we require filmmakers to adhere to our Terms of Trade, and Hot Shots is designed to allow for that. Because the number of shorts we can fund at this level is limited we want to see these funds go towards people who have demonstrated skill and are most likely to benefit from the opportunity. This fits exactly into our strategic objective of resourcing the most talented filmmakers to progress their skills and careers. “
The initiative has been warmly received by producers and state agencies. "This restoration of federal funding for script-stage live action drama short films is great news and now positions Screen Australia as supporting the full spectrum of short films for talent development from the entry level Raw Nerve to Springboard with Hot Shots in the middle," said Melbourne International Film Festival Industry Director Mark Woods, who oversees the MIFF Premiere Fund and the MIFF Accelerator emerging director program. "A healthy mix of short films, ranging from low budget DIY films to animations to to fully-budget classic dramas, is vital for diverse talent development outcomes."
Hot Shots is open for applications until Monday 28 October. Coleman, who departs at the end of the year to join Goalpost, says she expects Hot Shots will be a continuing program.
Screen Australia continues to support entry level filmmakers through Raw Nerve. Also ongoing are the agency’s shorts completion, Springboard and shorts animation funding strands.