Development

Please note this Skills Lab is sold out. To be put on a waiting list please send an email to andrena@screenabc.com.au 

Overview:

So you hold the underlying rights for a great project. Perhaps it’s a one line synopsis with a great hook, or a fully fleshed-out mini-bible with a clear series arc. What next?

Development is a long and wieldy process, and not for the faint-hearted. The producer’s main function is to ensure that the development stages are supported with money and resources, so it is a constant juggle between business responsibilities and meaningful engagement with creative collaborators through the creative process (why you’re there in the first place).

In this Skills Lab, you will lean how to take a great idea (as formed or unformed as it may be) and put it through a rigorous structured development process with the end goal of pitching successfully to the feature film or television marketplace. Learn what questions to ask yourself and your collaborators as you navigate the creative development process, to give your project the best chance.

Producers Sue Milliken and Liam Heyen will discuss development of both features and television series and their experiences as independent producers who do not have easy access to finance.

In this Skills Lab you will learn:

– Development Pathways
– Producer choices in shaping development
– Timelines
– Financing options
– Building teams
– Communicating with your teams
– Market-place engagement

Downloadables:

– Development Checklist

Lab Presenters: Sue Milliken and Liam Heyen

Sue Milliken is a producer across features, television drama and documentaries. Her credits include most recently Ladies in Black for which she wrote the screenplay with Bruce Beresford, Paradise Road, Black Robe, Dating the Enemy, and My Brother Jack. She has published two books about the industry, a memoir, Selective Memory, and There’s a Fax From Bruce – correspondence about making and not making films – and with Andrena Finlay, Producing for the Screen: A Handbook. In a case of optimism over experience, she currently has several projects in development.

Liam Heyen is a producer whose credits include co-producer of the upcoming revisionist western mini-series New Gold Mountain (SBS/All3Media International), associate producer on the upcoming Helen Reddy biopic I Am Woman, co-producer of the box-office hit Top End Wedding, Associate Producer on acclaimed series Cleverman (ABC/SundanceTV) and producer on the award-winning web series Location Scouts. Alongside this long form work he has produced a catalogue of award-winning short films. In 2020 he formed boutique production company Mad Ones Films alongside fellow producer Cyna Strachan.

Cost: $99 (incl GST) (less 25% introductory discount code UPSKILL)

Date: Wednesday 22nd July 2020 – SOLD OUT – to be put on a waiting list please send an email to andrena@screenabc.com.au

Session Times: 10am and 7pm – SOLD OUT – to be put on a waiting list please send an email to andrena@screenabc.com.au

Duration: 2 hours

Capacity: 5-15 participants

Location: Online via Zoom