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
National fund Australia, Sydney
Narrative Content Development
Run by 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. A writer may apply without a producer. Story weighs 60 percent of the assessment, so the script pages matter more than the package.
Grant, a$10,000 to A$50,000Open to writers in AustraliaA writer alone, a writer with a producer or a production company
Applications taken any time
That closing date has passed. We check the funder's page every day and add the next dates once they are published.
The money
- Amount
- A$10,000 to A$50,000AUD 10,000 to 50,000 per application; a project may come back for a limited number of further tranches if it has moved on
- What it is
- Grant
- To apply
- Free
Who can apply
- Applicant
- A writer alone, a writer with a producer or a production company
- Where you write
- In Australia
- Rules
- Open to Australian citizens and permanent residents, alone or as a team, and to companies incorporated in Australia and run from there. An ABN is needed by every applicant. Writer and director both have to be Australian citizens or hold permanent residency, unless the project is bound for an official co-production.
- Stages
- Development
- Formats
- Feature, Series
- Language of the application
- English
When to apply
Applications are taken at any time; decisions follow in the fund's own rhythm. Applications are taken at any time through the SmartyGrants portal; a decision follows within about eight weeks of the file moving to assessment
Also open to writers in Australia
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
More development funding elsewhere
Grants for Artist Projects (GAP)
Artist Trust
Small, fast and plentiful: 65 Washington artists a year receive USD 2,500 toward a specific project, from research travel to a first draft.
range$2.5kGrantbetween rounds
Incubator Fund
ITVS, Independent Television Service
ITVS's development door, replacing its earlier diversity development fund: a small first payment to shape a nonfiction feature or web series for PBS streaming, with a few months of…
up to$10kGrantpaused
Public Media Content Fund
Latino Public Broadcasting
Documentaries and limited series about Latino life for national public television, funded from first research through the final mix.
range$100kInvestmentbetween rounds
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Grants at Film Independent
Film Independent, with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
Science on screen pays here: three cash grants a year for fiction projects about scientists or technology, awarded inside Film Independent's Episodic Lab, Producing Lab and Fast Track…
range$30kGrantbetween rounds
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.