Documentary Development Program
Screen Australia
Development money for documentaries headed for cinemas, television or direct-to-audience platforms such as YouTube and VR.
up toA$30kRepayableany time
Film funds in Australia and New Zealand
Screen Australia, the state agencies, the New Zealand Film Commission and the arts councils of both countries.
39 listed.
Nothing matches. Try another stage, or leave the country on "any country": international funds are listed under every country they are open to.
Documentary Production Program
Screen Australia
Three lanes for documentary production: Producer First for films still closing finance, Platform First for commissioned programs, and Direct-to-Audience for work released on YouTube…
up toA$500kInvestmentcloses in 95 days
First Nations Documentary Development
Screen Australia, First Nations Department
Treatments, draft scripts, research and sizzle shooting for documentaries by First Nations key creatives, including emerging producers.
up toA$30kGrantcloses in 74 days
First Nations Feature Development
Screen Australia, First Nations Department
Draft money for feature screenplays by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writers with a track record.
up toA$45kGrantcloses in 74 days
First Nations Feature Production Fund
Screen Australia, First Nations Department
Production and post-production investment for low-budget features written and directed by First Nations filmmakers.
VariesInvestmentany time
First Nations TV Drama Development
Screen Australia, First Nations Department
Series bibles, treatments and scripts for telemovies and television drama led by First Nations writers. The series cap of AUD 65,000 is the highest of the department's development strands.
up toA$65kGrantcloses in 74 days
Narrative Content Development
Screen Australia
The national agency's one development door for drama and comedy on any platform: cinema features, television and streaming series, and work released straight to online audiences.
rangeA$50kGrantany time
Narrative Content Production
Screen Australia
Production finance for features, television and direct-to-audience drama, in two feature lanes: Market First for packages with distribution attached and Creative First for bolder films…
VariesInvestmentcloses in 32 days
ABC First Look, Early Development Grant
South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC) with the ABC
Early concept money aimed at one buyer: drama, comedy, children's, factual and documentary ideas for the ABC, developed in South Australia from an outline or treatment.
up toA$50kGrantcloses in 12 days
Development Fund
Screen Queensland
Since July 2024 Queensland's development money has been a straight grant with no copyright interest taken, unusual among the Australian state agencies.
up toA$50kGrantany time
Development On Demand
VicScreen
Victoria's open-door development scheme for fiction, documentary and VR, with no closing date.
up toA$50kRepayableany time
Development Program
Screen NSW
New South Wales pays only the NSW spend, so a Sydney-based writer's fee is exactly what it covers.
up toA$50kRepayableany time
Direct to Audience Production Program (Canberra Screen and Games Fund)
Screen Canberra, for the ACT Government
Grants for Canberra creators who publish their own short-form narrative, comedy, factual or animation online, with two local key creatives and no commission attached.
up toA$40kGrantcloses in 138 days
Diversity Development Grant
South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC)
A development grant that opens after the first draft and asks for a South Australian writer or director from an underrepresented group, with D/deaf and disabled creatives first in line.
up toA$20kGrantbetween rounds
Documentary Development Investment Fund
Screenwest
Pitch decks, treatments, sizzle reels and the attaching of producers for Western Australian documentary features, singles, series and large-format work.
up toA$25kRepayablecloses in 50 days
Documentary Production Fund
Screenwest
Production money for Western Australian documentary singles, series, features and large-format films that already have a market partner, matched against that partner's cash.
up toA$400kGrantcloses in 43 days
First Nations Project Development Fund
Screenwest
Year-round development money for First Nations writers and producers in Western Australia, covering writers' rooms, new drafts, story developers and casting agents for scripted work, or…
up toA$35kRepayableany time
Matched Development Investment Fund
Screenwest
Once a broadcaster or distributor puts development money into a Western Australian project, Screenwest can match it within eight weeks of the deal. The investment is repaid on production.
up toA$50kRepayableany time
Matched Market Development Grant
South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC)
Automatic rather than judged: if a project led from South Australia has development money confirmed from Screen Australia or the market, the SAFC matches it, subject to funds.
VariesGrantany time
Online Production Grants
Screen Queensland
A rare production grant a solo writer-creator can hold alone: episodic series for YouTube, TikTok or Instagram, or one-off XR, with no IP taken and marketing costs allowed.
rangeA$100kGrantbetween rounds
Originate Slate
VicScreen
Slate money for established Victorian drama and comedy companies: at least three early-stage series over 12 to 24 months, with VicScreen's grant matched by the company and not recouped.
up toA$150kGrantcloses in 22 days
Production Fund (Production Finance Fund and Regional Filming Fund)
Screen NSW
The state's production money is a grant, not equity: Screen NSW cash-flows it and the producer keeps ownership.
up toA$1.1MGrantcloses in 22 days
Screen Finance Fund
Screen Queensland
Production finance for features, series and documentaries that spend in Queensland, scaled to that spend.
up toA$850kGrant or repayableany time
Screen Production Fund
South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC)
South Australia's main production money, sized at up to a tenth of what a project spends in the state and open all year.
VariesGrantany time
Screenability Filmmakers Fund
Screen NSW
A short-film production fund for New South Wales teams led or co-led by a filmmaker with a disability.
VariesGrantpaused
Scripted Concept Development Fund
Screenwest
Small early money, AUD 10,000 at most, to take a long-form idea to market-ready pitch materials in Western Australia.
up toA$10kGrantcloses in 121 days
Scripted Production Fund
Screenwest
Grant finance of up to AUD 700,000 for features and series shot in Western Australia with a buyer already attached.
up toA$700kGrantcloses in 85 days
Scripted Project Development Fund
Screenwest
Development money for Western Australian features and television series that already have real material: outlines, a pilot, a bible or a draft screenplay. Four rounds a year.
up toA$35kRepayablecloses tomorrow
Short Film Fund
Screen Queensland
Grants of up to AUD 50,000 for 5 to 15 minute shorts aimed at cinema screens, with a polished screenplay required at application and no treatments accepted.
up toA$50kGrantbetween rounds
TV and Film Production Program (Canberra Screen and Games Fund)
Screen Canberra, for the ACT Government
Canberra's production grant for scripted and unscripted work with a confirmed path to audience, from a commercial half hour upward, paying up to AUD 300,000 without recoupment.
up toA$300kGrant or repayablecloses in 138 days
Victorian Production Fund, Screen
VicScreen
Production investment tied to how much a film or series spends in Victoria: between 3 and 10 percent of that spend, cash-flowed into the production while the producer keeps the equity.
up toA$500kInvestmentany time
Aotearoa Scripted Series Initiative
NZ On Air with Sky and Dynamic Television
A new co-development fund, announced October 29, 2026, for up to three one-hour New Zealand drama series with international legs.
up toNZ$75kGrantcloses in 32 days
Diverse Content funding rounds (Ngahau, Whāngai, Kura Pounamu, Mōhiohio, Reo Māori Content Co-Fund)
Te Māngai Pāho (Māori Broadcasting Funding Agency)
The Māori broadcasting agency funds te reo Māori content by language level rather than platform, through themed rounds: Ngahau for entertainment, Whāngai for learners, Mōhiohio for factual…
VariesGrantcloses in 32 days
Feature Film Development Fund
Te Tumu Whakaata Taonga, New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC)
The commission's single development door, folded from the old Early and Advanced schemes, and one a writer can walk through alone.
up toNZ$35kGrantany time
Feature Film Finishing Grant
Te Tumu Whakaata Taonga, New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC)
Finishing money for low-budget New Zealand features made outside the commission's production funding: grading, sound, effects polish and festival costs, once a festival has said yes.
up toNZ$60kGrantany time
Feature Film Production Investment
Te Tumu Whakaata Taonga, New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC)
The commission's main production money for features with significant New Zealand content, as equity up to NZD 2.5 million or a grant up to NZD 500,000, decided by the board five times a…
up toNZ$2.5MGrant or repayablecloses in 8 days
He Kauahi, Catalyst Short Film Funding
Te Tumu Whakaata Taonga, New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC)
The commission's short film grant, up to NZD 90,000 for narrative shorts with festival prospects, judged on talent development, critical potential and innovation.
up toNZ$90kGrantbetween rounds
He Pounamu Te Reo Māori Feature Film Production Investment
Te Tumu Whakaata Taonga, New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC)
A dedicated production lane for dramatic features told in te reo Māori and led by Māori filmmakers, on the same money terms and calendar as the commission's general feature investment.
up toNZ$2.5MGrant or repayablecloses in 8 days
Scripted and Non-fiction funding (Creation stream)
Irirangi Te Motu, NZ On Air
New Zealand's public media fund backs local television, on-demand and online content through three rounds a year, and sets aside about NZD 1 million of it for content development, mostly…
rangeNZ$50kGrantcloses in 88 days
Also useful
Fellowships and labsPrograms that pick a few writers and work with them for months, on the events pages.Where Creative Europe's development money goesEvery MEDIA development grant since 2014, by country, company and year.How to write a treatmentThe document a development application is built on, step by step.Screenwriting eventsContests, labs, festivals and conferences, with their deadlines.