By Travis Johnson
At Melbourne’s MIFF 37°South Market, Screen Australia CEO Graeme Mason unveiled the latest two steps in Screen Australia’s $5 million Gender Matters plan, which is aimed at correcting gender imbalance issues within the film industry.
The Better Deals pilot program is designed to incentivise distributors to consider female-driven film projects by matching distributor marketing contributions up to the value of $300,000. It’s hoped this will ensure greater collaboration between producers and distributors. The program is available to any that has female principals in at least three of the following: writer, director, producer, protagonist.
Attachments for Women is a program running parallel to existing Production Investment Programs that requires all scripted drama projects that receive $500,000 or more from Screen Australia build a paid female attachment position into their budget. Participating projects will be granted $20,000 to help cover wages and other associated costs.
These two initiatives are the final stages of the Gender Matters program, which began in December 2015 with alterations to Screen Australia’s assessment criteria, and continued with Brilliant Stories and Brilliant Careers, which distributed more the $3 million dollars in funding to 58 recipients.
For more information, head over to Screen Australia’s Gender Matters Hub.
