Australia’s SBS calls for factual pitches with up to A$50,000 in development funding available

SBS is seeking new factual pitches for a A$50,000 development fund

Australian multicultural broadcaster SBS is seeking new factual pitches for a A$50,000 (US$32,000) development fund with the remit of pushing creative boundaries and igniting national conversations.

The SBS factual commissioning team is seeking pitches that target the 35–55-year-old demographic with proposals encouraged to include initial ideas for complementary digital content.

The successful applicants will receive up to $50,000 in development funding to help bring their vision to life.

SBS says it is looking for projects that embrace its charter and tackle hot button issues impacting Australia today. “We’re after ideas that challenge beliefs, provoke national conversations and trigger transformation. The kind of series that makes people think, feel and act,” the network said in a call to producers.

Ideas should range from three- to eight-episodes of up to an hour, submissions should be no more than four pages and include a title, logline and a single paragraph synopsis. This should include details on how the development fund would be spent and a list of deliverables if successful.

SBS head of unscripted, Joseph Maxwell, said: “At SBS we are always looking for bold new ideas that push boundaries. We want to work with the production community to deliver distinctive Australian content that matters. We are encouraging risk taking and innovation with SBS’s audience and charter always front of mind.”

The broadcaster has had success with recent callouts for new documentaries, including The People vs Robodebt, dissecting a recent political scandal via a format blend of documentary and scripted drama from producers CJZ and The Hospital: In the Deep End from Smashing Films which explored the realities of working in the frontline of the public health system.

All applications must be eligible for state and/or federal documentary funding programmes and entries are open until February 9. Submissions must be emailed to the SBS Factual pitching portal [email protected], with the subject line ‘New Factual Format Call out’.