The 2027 industry forum will be developed around four tracks: Market Intel, Screen Innovation, Audience: The New Currency, and The Value Proposition.

Together, the tracks will explore how screen businesses can make more informed commercial decisions, respond to technological and workplace change, connect with evolving audiences and maximise the long-term value of their intellectual property.

Not all market intelligence is created equal. While producers are flooded with public reports, trend pieces and industry commentary, the real decisions shaping commissions, valuations and deals are often driven by information they never see. This track explores: who has the data, how they use it, and why it influences everything from development priorities to financing outcomes. Sessions will explore how producers can access and use the market insights to make more informed creative and commercial decisions.

• What do agent, distributors and financiers actually know before a producer walks into a pitch or negotiation?
• How platform commissioning data shapes greenlights
• The gap between "market trends" reported publicly and the real-time intel deals get priced on 
• Is a shared or collectively resourced market intelligence function is viable for the sector?

The production you'd have run two years ago has changed dramatically. Psychosocial safety, inclusion, AI-assisted VFX, shrinking costs of virtual production, new tools in the edit & sound suites have redefined our budgets and culture has redefined what a crew looks like. This tracks skips the "will AI take your job" debate and goes straight to the ledger: which tools are already changing real budget lines, which crew roles are new and changing. Grounded in productions that have actually used these tools, not speculation about what's coming.

• New tools and budget impacts
• Virtual production and AI-assisted post: what's genuinely production-ready versus overpromised 
• How crew composition and roles are shifting - psychosocial safety, accessibility
• Localisation effects on international sales and delivery timelines 
• What producers should be budgeting and crewing for differently on their next production

The Australian cinemas enjoyed record-breaking audience numbers through much of 2026 - but at home, the audience is the commissioner. Creator-led talent, fandom-driven development, and vertical platforms are starting to function like a parallel commissioning system - building audiences, testing formats, and proving demand. The demand for original ideas and the "experience economy” is showing exponential growth yet for Australian content, discoverability remains a key focus.

• Creator-economy talent and fandom-driven development as a parallel commissioning system 
• Vertical and short-form platforms as proof-of-demand testing grounds before traditional greenlight 
• Where traditional producers still add value once a creator already has an audience 
• Case studies: creator-to-screen deals that have worked, and ones that haven't
• What partnering into this ecosystem looks like versus competing against it

The industry has become increasingly sophisticated about financing content, but far less sophisticated about valuing it. As traditional revenue models fragment and new forms emerge, producers are being asked to make strategic decisions about rights, ownership, partnerships and long-term value creation. This track tackles the growing value gap: how IP is exploited, where value sits across the rights chain, and how producers can build businesses rather than simply deliver projects.

• What buyers, investors and financiers look for and what will they pay
• Retaining versus selling rights: when ownership matters and when cash wins
• Building enterprise value beyond individual productions
• The changing role of libraries, catalogues and recurring revenue
• New investment models, private capital and the exploitation of screen IP

We strive to curate a program bursting with unmissable networking events, business meetings and inspiring thought leadership. As we build our program, we want to hear your thoughts on topics, projects, speakers and moderators you want to see in the SCREEN FOREVER program.  

You can submit your idea for SCREEN FOREVER 41 by clicking on the button below.