Local stories from across NSW are set to take centre stage on our screens with a new $200,000 fund encouraging producers to option intellectual property (IP) rights from under-represented NSW creators to turn home-grown ideas into screen and gaming content.
The new IP in Motion Fund, delivered through Screen NSW, will support producers to harness the appetite from local and international audiences for Australian stories, improve sustainability of the NSW screen and digital games industries, and increase visibility, representation and participation in screen and gaming content from under-represented groups.
The fund will wholly or partly reimburse, up to $5,000, a screen or digital games producers’ cost to option IP created by people who are included in the Screen NSW Priority Areas including First Nations people, people living in Western Sydney and regional NSW, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, people with a disability, and LGBTQIA+ people. The fund will also improve sustainability for the screen and digital games industries by encouraging the adaptation of existing NSW IP, and have these stories reach wider audiences on screen.
The IP in Motion Fund was announced in October 2024 as part of the three-year NSW Screen and Digital Games Strategy. The NSW screen and digital games industries employ over 13,500 people in NSW, with ancillary businesses including tourism and hospitality operators reaping benefits from productions filming on location, particularly in regional areas. With the encouragement of the IP in Motion Fund, there will be an increase in demand for stories set in locations across the state for the screen and more collaboration between NSW screen and digital games producers and NSW-based practitioners from other creative industries.
For full guidelines and information on how to apply for the IP in Motion Fund, visit the IP in Motion Fund page on the Screen NSW website.
Head of Screen NSW Kyas Hepworth said:
“The screen and digital games industries are essential to the cultural fabric of NSW. It’s vital that our local stories are shared with the world and that these stories are reflective of everyone in NSW – including those who have been traditionally under-represented on screen.
"I’m thrilled that this Fund will provide opportunity for more stories from voices that we may not often see represented in screen or gaming content, as well as creating an exciting pipeline of work in NSW, contributing to a sustainable future for these industries in our state.
“The IP in Motion Fund will give more opportunities for local stories, which have found success through other channels to be developed into groundbreaking tv series, films and digital games so that we see ourselves, and our breathtaking locations in NSW, reflected on our screens.”
Managing Director of Curio Pictures Jo Porter said:
“As we recently saw with The Narrow Road to The Deep North, the power of brilliant underlying work is so often the key to cut through in a crowded and competitive marketplace.
"The original work has already done the heavy lifting of building out the characters and world and help to prove a concept. The most valuable, of course, also brings an existing audience to the story.
"I’m looking forward to seeing what new opportunities the IP in Motion Fund will present for local producers and what new stories will be uncovered.”
Image: The Drover’s Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson. Credit: John Platt. Supplied by Bunya Productions
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