Screen Australia introduced a major overhaul to its funding guidelines, marking one of the biggest updates in years.
Now in effect as of July 2025, the changes will impact your budget, production timeline, and funding strategy if you’re looking for financial support from Screen Australia.
We’ve broken down the key elements that impact filmmakers of scripted content and documentaries.
If you’re working in online content or short film, there are changes for you, too, which you can check out on the Screen Australia site.
Let’s dive into the big changes that will impact your production.
Strategic Decisions You’ll Need to Make Upfront
If you are asking for:
• Less than $500K: you’ll receive a grant (non-recoupable).
• More than $500K: you’re looking at an equity investment, where Screen Australia becomes a recouping partner.
The first big change people will notice is how Screen Australia is structuring its funding, starting with the terminology.
• Scripted content is now called “Narrative Content”, covering features, TV, and online.
• Online content is now called “Direct-to-Audience”, including YouTube, TikTok and VR/AR/XR.
• Fiction feature film funding is split into two tracks:
–> Creative First: for projects without a distributor or sales agent.
–> Market First: for projects with a distributor and/or sales agent.
• For documentaries, the old Commissioned and Producer programs are gone. You’ll now apply under one of four new categories:
–> Producer First
–> Platform First
–> Direct-to-Audience
–> Documentary Development
When you’re planning your production, remember that projects must also demonstrate “significant Australian content”, such as key creatives (e.g., writer, director, producer), lead cast, filming location and post-production.
Funding Changes That Affect Your Ask
There are also some big financial planning shifts to consider.
Screen Australia is also encouraging you to “ask for what you need”, highlighting that lowballing doesn’t help and might imply you can’t deliver.
For feature films, a buffer of a 10% contingency is now required in your budget, while television projects require 8%.
You’ll still need a completion guarantor for all feature films.
If you’re applying for development funding, keep these caps in mind:
• Narrative Content (features, series): Up to $75,000 per tranche
• Documentary Development: Up to $30,000
Within that, you can budget for things like:
• Audience strategy (up to $10K for narrative content)
• Concept artwork, pitch decks, animatics (for narrative)
• Proof-of-concept footage (for documentaries)
• Audience testing (especially encouraged for documentaries)
For documentary projects, the funding you can ask for is different again:
• Direct-to-Audience: You can ask for up to 80% of the total budget.
• Other projects: Cap is 35% if under $500K, or 65% including the Offset if over $500K.
The maximum budget eligible for Screen Australia support has increased to $30 million, primarily affecting larger TV projects.
Funding Changes That Affect Your Film Budget
There are also additional changes that impact your film budget. When planning your film finances, you now need to consider:
• For all film and TV projects, captions and audio descriptions are now required for accessibility. That means you’ll need to budget for them even if they weren’t previously part of your post-production costs.
• The development stage now allows you to include budget lines for audience strategy and testing. That could include things like running test screenings or bringing on a marketing consultant early to help identify who your audience is and how to reach them (more on this later).
• Study Guides are encouraged, especially for features or series with educational value. If your project might end up in schools, universities, or film studies programs, you can factor in costs to develop a study guide. (Not mandatory under $5 million, but it can help your project’s life span and exploitation.)
Additionally, be sure to cross-check key creative role costs against your budget to avoid underquoting or underpaying essential crew, as overall fees have increased.
Changes To Your Pre-Production Timeline
Previously, many productions commenced quickly after funding. Now, Screen Australia requires that projects start pre-production no sooner than six months after applying. The goal is to reduce cash flow pressure and allow time for assessment and contracting.
Make sure to factor this into your planning, especially if you’re aiming for a specific shoot window.
New Focus on Audience Strategy
It’s no longer enough to just make a great film – you now need to show how you’ll reach your audience.
• Development budgets can include up to $10K for audience strategy.
• Application forms ask detailed questions like:
–> “How will you connect to your audience?”
–> “Do you already have community connections or a pathway in place?”
For documentaries, audience testing and design are now also eligible development expenses.
This means audience thinking is part of your planning from day one, not as an afterthought.
Changes to the Application Process
The application process now goes through SmartyGrants, an online system for applications.
Screen Australia is aiming to streamline applications in other ways too, like:
• No more pitch videos for Narrative content, but Documentaries will still need content like sizzle reels to support the application.
• Templates will be provided for core documents.
Depending on your funding stream, application requirements vary:
• Market First (features) and Platform First (documentaries) require at submission:
–> Finalised finance plans
–> Confirmed deal memos or agreements for each investor
• Creative First (features) and Producer First (documentaries) do not require market partners at the time of application, but do before contracting. In fact, these programs are designed for projects that are still attracting distributors or sales agents.
So, make sure you understand which stream you’re applying under: it’ll affect what you need to prepare.
Key Changes To Keep Across For Your Next Screen Australia Application
To get ready for your next Screen Australia Application, consider:
• Do you know whether your project is Creative First, Market First, Producer First, Platform First, or Direct-to-Audience?
• Have you built a budget that includes required contingencies?
• Has your budget factored in updated fee expectations for creative specialists?
• Are you applying for a grant or equity funding, and what’s your total “ask”?
• Have you factored in audience strategy costs and responses to new audience questions?
• If you’re applying to Market First or Platform First, have you secured all investor agreements before submission?
• Are you prepared for a six-month buffer before production starts?
Want to dive into the nitty gritty details? We recommend reviewing Screen Australia’s guidelines yourself, or feel free to give us a call at Above The Line Accounting.
Need Help With Your Next Steps?
We help creatives translate screen funding guidelines into real-world production budgets. Above The Line Accounting can help you stay compliant, strategic, and production-ready. Let us focus on the numbers, so you can focus on telling stories.
A note on this article:
Information provided by the Above Line Accounting on this website is general in nature and does not take into consideration your personal financial situation. It is for educational purposes only and does not constitute formal financial advice.