22 JAN 2021

3 days. 40 sessions. 120 speakers. Endless opportunities. The program for next month’s SCREEN FOREVER conference is bursting with prospects for storytellers to reconnect, be inspired and fuel business momentum. Now being held online and sorted into three ‘tracks’ for a customisable delegate experience, the exhilarating program will help screen professionals adapt and respond to the ever-evolving and always exciting screen industry. 

“For 35 years, SCREEN FOREVER has stood as the cornerstone of screen business, connecting Australian storytellers to buyers, financiers and fellow producers from around the world and generating $100 million in deals on the market floor annually, stimulating the local creative economy. 

“After such an unprecedented year I am proud to launch the program for our conference’s 35th iteration, bringing together creative workers from all stages of the production life cycle to further the reach of Australian stories and dissect the issues we collectively face in a post-pandemic era,” said Screen Producers Australia (SPA) CEO Matthew Deaner. 

Track one, Business, gets down straight down to it, with the biggest buyers in Australia – including ABC, SBS, Seven, Ten, Stan, Foxtel, Netflix, Amazon and Discovery - assembling for Meet the Buyers. We’ll take a deep dive into emerging business models and changes in financing for various genres in Screen Entrepreneurship and Diversifying Business Models, How to Find Money for Your Must-Tell Doco and Australian Feature Films - 2021 and Beyond. After a year of upheaval, lockdown, and reinvention, it’s time to adapt and move forward with new thinking.

The second track will provide the tools and insights to Future Proof your screen business as those who shape our policy engage directly with the industry. We examine what's to come in an ever-changing environment and collectively discuss ways to evolve and adapt to the ultimate outcomes. 

Delving into the government’s proposed historic changes to content regulation, The Hon Paul Fletcher MP will deliver a keynote, while The Hon Tony Burke MP and Michelle Rowland MP have the Right of Reply and a panel of screen leaders will analyse what this all means for producers in Brave New World. Live from Queensland, industry insiders will also tackle the topic of ‘Disrupted, Cancelled and Reimagined’ in a special live rendition of ABC’s flagship program Q+A.

Focusing on the data, Tell ‘em They’re Dreaming? and The Big Picture will paint a data-driven picture of Australian content’s international appeal and the difficulties facing producers of scripted content. The future is now, screens are everywhere, and everyone is a creator. We’re shining a light on the social media platforms winning the battle in the fight for new audience attention, with the Got a Minute? TikTok pitching competition exploring 60 second stories and Like, Comment, Subscribe dissecting creating content for digital natives.

Last but not least, the Content track examines the subjects of our story universes. We will look at the rise of the Showrunner in the aptly named What is a Showrunner? and talk to international legends of showrunning Sera Gamble (You and The Magicians) and Bruce Miller (The Handmaid’s Tale) as well as the founder of the ground-breaking The Black List, Franklin Leonard.

Addressing the momentous world events of the passed 12 months, we’ll profile the development of Indigenous stories in Australia in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement in Netflix, Screen Australia & Bunya Productions Indigenous Development Hub and talk to the brave souls who incorporated COVID-19 into their narratives in Avoid Like the Plague. 

And to top it all off, delegates have increased chances to do business with a greater range of national and international industry leaders than ever before at the first online edition of the SPA Connect market. Buyers from around Australia as well as Canada, the UK, US, Europe and Asia are accepting pitches at Ready, Steady, Pitch! and exploring co-production opportunities at the Screenrights Roundtables, while leading publishers celebrate the best unproduced kids’ books at the Kids Publishers Market. More details on market opportunities will be announced soon.

Register for SCREEN FOREVER here.