Applications closed 20 June 2021
Recipients:
Jessie Hughes (Head Above Water)
Drew MacDonald Only One Survives
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Screen Queensland will support-the placement of one Queensland based writer who successfully receives a spot in Impact Australia 2 – the follow up to last year’s highly coveted screenwriter accelerator program, by Impact and Gentle Giant Media Group, financed by Screen Australia, along with principal partner, Film Victoria and Learning Partner the University of Melbourne.
The program aims to discover, cultivate, and empower Australian screenwriters. This year, the eight-week mentorship program will begin on 13 September 2021, and take place in-person on the Victorian College of the Arts’ Southbank campus at the University of Melbourne.
During the program, local Creators will be paired with a world-class screen and television writer, or Shaper, to help craft their project and prepare them for Pitch Day with the goal of selling their project. Impact Australia supports participating Creators with all they need to succeed, including a stipend to allow them to relocate to Melbourne and focus on their projects during the eight-week intensive program.
The inaugural Impact Australia program last year featured fourteen Australian writers who were mentored by Stuart Beattie (Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Collateral), Shaun Grant (True History of the Kelly Gang, Berlin Syndrome), Sarah Heyward (Girls, Modern Love), Jason Smilovic (Condor, My Own Worst Enemy), and Kai Wu (Paper Girls, Carnival Row).
The 2020 Screen Queensland-supported Impact Australia recipient was Devi Telfer for her project Taronga. Read more.
Eight of the 10 projects from last year have been set up with attachments in Australia or the United States and three of the unrepresented writers found American representation. Alumni of the program have since been hired in writing rooms for Netflix and AMC, and hired on assignments by companies such as LuckyChap and Hoodlum.
Applications are open from 9 – 20 June 2021.
About Impact
Founded by Brian Grazer and Ron Howard and led by CEO Tyler Mitchell, Impact discovers, cultivates and empowers creative storytellers around the world through its innovative talent discovery and development accelerator, which enables promising writers to create their best work and break into the industry in a matter of months. Impact recently launched The Impact Network, a market-network designed for entertainment industry professionals. Impact’s talent identification system is able to rapidly evaluate thousands of submissions and ensures that all creators are given equal access, opportunity, and transparency, while removing any barriers to entry. Since 2018, Impact has built a robust network of more than 60,000 writers across over 125 countries and developed 71 projects – (a rate of three, high-quality pieces of original IP per month). 35 of the projects have been set up at major studios throughout the industry, including but not limited to: Netflix, Sony, FX, Amblin, Legendary, Village Roadshow, Quibi, Di Boneventura Pictures, Scott Free, Imagine Entertainment. 36 Impact writers who came into Impact without representation were signed by major agencies and management companies, including but not limited to: Verve, CAA, WME, UTA, Management 360, Lit, 3Arts, Anonymous, Grandview, Circle of Confusion and Writ Large. Impact’s content accelerators have featured 86 diverse writers: 44 men and 42 women, 33 BIPOC, 10 LGBTQIA+-identifying individuals, and 14 writers over 40. Impact also announced in October that the organization was a majority BIPOC company, further demonstrating its commitment to diversity and inclusion. The Impact Network is used by industry producers and executives from over 350 companies, including ABC, Amazon, CBS, Disney, HBO, Netflix, NBC, Paramount, Universal, Amazon, and Warner Brothers.
In addition, Impact is working with Netflix to source and develop original feature film content and Skydance Television to source TV pitches from the next generation of screenwriters. In 2021, Impact also partnered with Imagine Entertainment to source an emerging writer to pen an original family basketball film and worked with Screen Queensland to source crew attachments for Ron Howard’s in-production feature Thirteen Lives. They also launched their first international accelerator program in Australia in association with Gentle Giant Media Group and Screen Australia. Impact also recently launched a podcast, which is an outgrowth of its speaker series that accompanies the accelerator. “IMPACT: The Podcast” features conversations with world renowned artists such as: Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights, Lone Survivor); Issa Rae (Insecure); Judd Apatow (40 Year Old Virgin, Trainwreck): The RZA (Wu-Tang: An American Saga): Dave Burd aka Lil Dicky (Dave): Jeff Schaffer (Curb Your Enthusiasm); Saladin Patterson (The Last O.G.); Academy Award winners Frances McDormand (Three Billboards, Fargo), Damien Chazelle (La La Land, Whiplash) and Akiva Goldsman (A Beautiful Mind, Cinderella Man), and many more.
For more information, visit impact.net, subscribe to the Impact newsletter, and/or follow on Instagram @impact.development, Twitter @TweetsByImpact, and Facebook @impact.developmentFB.
About Gentle Giant Group
Gentle Giant Media Group is an independent producer of Hollywood film and television and Australian treaty co-productions, which promotes the film and television production in Australia. Gentle Giant partners with major studios and independent producers, matching projects with creative and technical talent in Australia and co-producing both film and TV. Leveraging its extensive networks and contacts across Hollywood, Australia and China, Gentle Media Group also acts as a financial mediator for creative visionaries and specifically seeks out projects best suited for production in Australia. Chairman and CEO,
Chairman and CEO, Greg Basser, co-founded and led Village Roadshow Entertainment Group for over 18 years, producing 126 films with global box office exceeding U.S. $19.5 billion. gentlegiantmedia.com.
