ABC Commission Five New Adelaide Shows

Five Adelaide TV projects have been given funding via the South Australian Film Corporation and ABC TV’s iview originals initiative grant.

The joint half a million dollar investment was setup in an effort to shine a spotlight on the state’s writing, filmmaking and production talent through production funding that leads to exposure on ABC iview.

The projects include three comedies and two documentaries and were picked from a total off 44 submissions that included a detailed proposal and short demo clip, which sees one extra than initially planned due to an overwhelming amount of talent in the mix.

The grants were given to Groober, the tale of an autistic Uber driver’s search for love; Pop Ability, which sees pop stars overcoming their disability barrier; Prisoners And Pups, which sees prisoners rehabilitate retired greyhound racing dogs; coming-of-age romantic black comedy Almost Midnight and the story of an immigrant adjusting to Australian life in Lost In Pronunciation.

South Australian Film Corporation chief executive Annabelle Sheehan said it was an exciting project that will pair experienced industry professionals with upcoming talent.

“The exciting aspect of this initiative is the marriage of established, experienced filmmakers with emerging talents to create innovative projects which will take advantage of the online platform offered by ABC iview,” Sheehan said.

“The filmmakers will be given the opportunity to not only showcase their work to a national audience, but also to increase their profile and create valuable new networks within the industry.”

ABC director of television Richard Finlayson said the national exposure for the young filmmakers was an exciting prospect.

“Uncovering and developing these original ideas from South Australian creative talent, and being able to share them with a national audience on ABC iview, is very exciting,” he said.

Production will take place over the next six months and each project will produce six five minute episodes, due later this year. The next stage of the project will see SAFC take the winning teams through a workshop and mentoring program.