Screen Australia, YouTube join forces again for Skip Ahead development initiative

Garn: The Series was created by comedy duo Declan and Connor Evanson

Screen Australia and YouTube have funded four new fledgling projects and creators in a pool of AU$480,00 (US$311,00) in funding as part of the Skip Ahead development programme.

The selected projects include Garn: The Series (3×8′), created by comedy duo Declan and Connor Evanson about two small-town tradesmen who receive a record-breaking and life changing lottery win with a twist.

Bug (working title) was developed by Australian animation hub Minibitt, directed and written by Mel Shin and Skye Henwood, and produced by Tom Murray. It tells a tale of garden ant nymphs fighting for survival in a post-apocalyptic world.

Re:Plastic, a three-part documentary series that blends DIY experimentation with expert insight to explore Australia’s complicated relationship with plastic, is written and directed by engineer Bryce Cronin with Matthew Phung as executive producer.

The Vegetable Plot (6×2′) is a preschool series about a family travelling home on a beat-powered double-decker bus, inspired by the music from the children’s band of the same name. It is created by Luke Escombe as writer and producer and Alvaro del Campo and Nick Lorentzen as producer, with former TV host Tania Lacy as writer.

In addition to funding, the four selected content teams will participate in a three-day workshop to develop their projects.

They will be mentored by industry leaders and alumni of the programme including comedian Jordan Raskopoulos; writer/producer Luke Clark and editor Elizabeth Price from Never Too Small; director Michael Shanks and producer Mike Cowap of Princess Pictures.

All four projects will be released on YouTube on their own dedicated channels. The competitive selection process has the criteria of applicants having: a current YouTube channel with at least 25,000 subscribers, or a maximum of two current YouTube channels with a combined subscriber base of 40,000, or a YouTube video which has achieved a minimum of one million views on a channel which has a subscriber base of at least 10,000.

Skip Ahead was launched in 2014 to help Australian YouTube creators elevate their production values and develop cross platform narrative skills. Since inception, the initiative has supported 43 content creation teams.

The Australian government recently included YouTube in its controversial move to ban children from social media as the Google-owned platform comes in for criticism for over the lack of curation on the platform, particularly in relation to content for children.