By Jackie Shannon
“Shane Brennan is an amazing, extraordinary creature,” Australian actress, Jacqueline McKenzie, told FilmInk in 2015. “He should have won The Australians In Film Awards several times over by now…he runs NCIS: LA and NCIS, and he’s done all sorts of other things. Oh my god, he’s amazing. He wrote for Snowy River: The McGregor Saga years ago, and lots of other Australian TV shows. He’s a show runner and writer, and he’s one of our most successful exports. Shane Brennan, there you go! He did CSI: Miami for like 24 episodes, and that’s how he started out. He did NCIS for 190 episodes, and then NCIS: LA for 140. He’s amazing.”
It’s high praise from the Australian actress (who Brennan cast in a guest role on NCIS: LA), but Shane Brennan certainly deserves it. The TV veteran has gone way above the call of duty with an extraordinary act of encouragement and generosity. Brennan has put an initial $1 million of philanthropic seed funding into the new programme, Scripted Ink. Also backed by The Australian Writers’ Guild, Scripted Ink is designed to find, develop, and promote talented Australian screenwriters and their work. The donation from Shane Brennan is among the most generous private donations to any writing organisation in Australia.
Using the infrastructure and track record of The Australian Writers’ Guild’s acclaimed script development Pathways programme, Scripted Ink will identify high quality scripts and concepts through proven peer review; provide support to ensure creative and commercial reward for the successful exploitation of writers’ copyright; provide tailored incubation and facilitated script and project development; showcase high-quality concepts and scripts to local and international producers, broadcasters and investors for commercialisation; and partner with the industry in getting the best scripts and writers to the market. There are no direct comparisons to Scripted Ink in Australia (though the name does sound a bit like, well, FilmInk), but it does share some of the most successful elements of schemes such as The Black List in the United States, a network of script buyers, script representatives, and script writers. 
Great to see a successful practitioner giving back to his industry.
Goodonyer Shane!
A grand, philanthropic act, which I personally commend as a starving actor here in Sydney! Thank you Mr Brennan.
Philanthropic?…It is actually. The prescience required… of those that ultimately fit the bill. of being able to write congruently…is elusive. Ain’t it so?
Someone has to spend the time to be philanthropic it always comes back… for all who travel forward, today…as it was yesterday.
Terry Rossio had the same idea before he got too busy. [The page [s] will still be there…
I for one am not too proud to bend the knee.
To find a confidant.
The first aspect is always trust, I note the truth of it.
But
if you option work, you waste your time.
A writer’s confidence is better than that,
the work makes of itself its own message…of a particular probity.
It always has…
I know…particularly how Curtiz was relevant.
And he was no friend of scriptwriters.
Well done Shane Brennan. How exciting for Australia to have your amazing talent back on our shores. We are desperate for good Australian TV since the Gov bled the ABC dry.
Would like to meet up to discuss further your initiative.
Best – Bob Barton
Would like to meet up to discuss further your initiative.
Website not presently available.
Best, Bob Barton
Best thing to do Bob is to reach out to the Australian Writer’s Guild
I went to school with Shane Brennan in Bendigo – Marish Brothers. He was the nicest guy in the school. In Form iv the school bullies challenged him to a fight in Rosalind Park. It was outside the Bendigo High School and all the staties swarmed down to watch the Micks brawl. Shane handed me his beloved blazer, calmly walked over to the gang and punched the toughest kid in the nose which flattened him onto his back. The others just backed off, the high school kids roared approval, he calmly walked back to me, took his jacket, calmly put it on and sauntered off. The poor bastard who he flattened left the school shortly after that and we had relative peace for the last two years of our education – well except for the Brothers, but that’s another story.