Screen Australia has announced 23 feature films and six television productions that will share in over $810,000 of story development funding. Included in this slate are 19 projects that have been supported through the Generate Fund and 10 through the Premium Fund.
Among the funded projects is Willy, the latest animation series from Ludo Studio, the production company behind world-wide phenomenon Bluey; family feature film The Last Tiger, about the remarkable friendship between 12-year-old girl Pippa and an injured thylacine pup; and horror/comedy feature The Black Talons, written by Maria Lewis and directed by Shari Sebbens, the star of Jon Bell’s psychological horror The Moogai, which recently had its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.
“We’re absolutely thrilled to be supporting such a diverse array of TV drama and feature film projects in this latest development slate,” said Bobby Romia, Screen Australia’s Head of Development. “All of these projects are driven by teams deeply connected to the content they’re creating, opening up new avenues for creative expression whilst championing new voices to tell their unique stories. Screen Australia will be following each of their development journeys closely.”
Willy (10 x 24′), from Ludo Studio, Mad Ones and Sad Man Studio, is a coming-of-age animated series: It’s 2003 and 15-year-old Willy is on the cusp of a sexual awakening, which would be great if he wasn’t stuck in the rural sugarcane farming town of Toee. Willy’s only salvation is his colorful imagination and the cast of fantastical friends who inhabit it, including razor-tongued rescue cat Beverley and a scornful op-shop portrait of the Virgin Mary. But soon the arrival of hot new neighbor Jack threatens to bust Willy’s carefully constructed inner-world wide open, changing the lives of Toee locals forever.
The series is created by writer and visual artist Samuel Leighton-Dore (How to Be a Big Strong Man) and his husband, Bradley Tennant (props master, The Bureau of Magical Things; AD, High Ground), of Sad Man Studio. SPA Award and AACTA winner Lian Heyen (Voice Activated, Latecomers) is producer, Chloe Hume is development producer and the exec producers are Daley Pearson and Charlie Aspinwall.
See the full rosters of TV series and feature films approved for development funding at screenaustralia.gov.
