Screen Australia adds former ABC exec Margaret Ross to online investment team
Funding agency Screen Australia has hired former ABC executive Margaret Ross as an online investment and development manager.
Margaret Ross
Ross joins after over 10 years with the ABC, where she was most recently executive producer, scripted and factual in the children’s and family content arm. Prior to that, she also spent time at indigenous broadcaster NITV as a digital producer.
Ross replaces Alyce Adams, who is leaving this month having been at Screen Australia since the early days of its online investment unit, working on initiatives such as Digital Originals with SBS and Skip Ahead with YouTube Australia.
During her tenure, Adams developed a slate of projects that included series Robbie Hood, Appetite, First Day season two, The Formal, and Flunk.
Meanwhile, Screen Australia’s online and gaming unit has announced A$750,000 (US$490,000) in funding for nine online screen projects, which feature new formats for TikTok and Instagram serialised content.
Lee Naimo, Screen Australia’s head of online and games, said the Online Development Fund is still in its early stages and is supporting projects in production and development. “It’s been amazing to witness so many emerging creators taking advantage of the opportunity and taking the time to develop their online projects,” he added.
Over the past five years, Screen Australia has provided more than A$23.5m in funding to online creators for projects across a variety of platforms, including Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and Instagram.
The projects supported for production include Buried, a five-part YouTube series, also funded by VicScreen, about a busy mum who kills a cyclist on the morning school run; Deadbeat Ends Meet, a four-part animated series for Instagram created and written by cartoonist Evie Hilliar with Holly Tosi (Neighbours); and Last Party of Summer, a 24-part TikTok series about a coming-of-age party, from writer/director Mark Day and producer Lawrence Phelan.
Sporting docuseries Young Bloods is a 30-part TikTok series from director/producer Hugh Humphreys that looks behind the scenes with the next generation of Australian Football League players using access to the Sydney Swans Academy. The project is financed in association with Screen NSW.
