SCREEN FOREVER releases final tickets as full program announced

With over 54 sessions at the conference, the previously sold-out event will not have these last few tickets remaining for long.

Screen Producers Australia (SPA) today launched its conference program covering 3 days, 54 sessions and over 150 speakers as part of Australia’s premier screen industry event.

It will be held from 28 March – 01 April, Gold Coast and Online.

Following negotiations with our venues and in line with the continued easing of restrictions in Queensland, SPA has also confirmed a final, limited number of Gold Coast tickets have been released and are now on sale.

In exactly a month the who’s who of our Australian screen industry will be joined by key international guests and converge on Queensland’s Gold Coast to reconnect, reinvigorate, and celebrate the dynamic business of storytelling.

SPA CEO Matthew Deaner said:

“Now in its 36^th year, SCREEN FOREVER is the mainstay for screen business in Australia. Our program has been created purposely for Australian content creators to connect with buyers, financiers, and producers locally, and globally. Our domestic and global marketplace generates over $100 million in deals on the floor annually, and after near 2 and a half years of online connecting, we’re excited to be able to bring everyone back together in person and to help drive our industry forward to its next phase.

“We look forward to welcoming familiar faces, along with those first-timers to SCREEN FOREVER and our 2022 program launch today reveals just how many great opportunities are in store for these delegates.”

SCREEN FOREVER would like to thank the many contributors that have helped to create this program but particularly our Program Advisory Board who committed many hours of discussion and engagement to participate in the planning of the 2022 program.

The business of storytelling makes the world go round and is front and centre of this year’s program. Delegates have the chance to Meet the Buyers as decision-makers from ABC, Foxtel Group, Nine, Paramount Australia and New Zealand and SBS, providing insight into what is a hot commodity right now, and what they are actively seeking.

Meet The Streamers will see executives from Binge, Netflix, Paramount Australia and New Zealand, Prime Video and Stan discuss what’s new in the streaming space and what trends are impacting their commissioning decisions.

Meet the Funders sees representatives from every State Screen Agency, the Australian Children’s Television Foundation (ACTF) meets the new guard at Screen Australia sharing the inner strategies that drive their investment decisions and outline their priority areas for future projects and international distribution.

In the golden age of streaming, many producers are unsure of their rights when it comes to streaming platforms. We take another look at Streaming Rights to investigate this and address the importance of commercial and industrial agreements to ensure opportunity is maximised for all.  

Building a sustainable Australian screen industry is an ongoing concern, The Importance of Partnerships and Co-productions will look at successful Australian production and marketplace partnerships and how these collaborations provide stability and value.

Production companies have struck gold when developing wacky formats which have become global phenomenons. Delegates will hear about how these formats came to be, and what is next for them in a series of sessions including Digging for Treasure and What’s The Secret to Stripped Reality Television.

Continuing the theme of game-changing content, the program investigates our appetites for diverse content surrounding true human experiences in An inclusive Room, exploring how screen stories from marginalised industry professionals often face systematic barriers in the writer’s room The Frontrunners: She’s calling the shots explores the balance of power and gender equity across the industry with a panel of women paving the way from Australia, the US and UK.

The inclusion of diverse programming has become critical for streamers, broadcasters and legacy platforms if they are to retain their audiences, and this is creating new, long-overdue opportunities for many in the industry.

Self Determination in First Nations Filmmaking includes Indigenous filmmakers from Canada, the USA and New Zealand who discuss a framework of collaboration rather than a consultation to support the rights of Indigenous peoples to control their intellectual and cultural property.

Australia has an abundance of screen industry greats, but in The New Wave of Aussie Talent some of the freshest emerging talents will explain what it’s like to be part of a progressive group creating unique content, the challenges they face and what opportunities budding creatives can look forward to in their careers.     

As cutting-edge stories continue to flow out of Australia, The Transatlantic Hybrid explores how Australian television has started adopting elements of foreign creative processes for productions and how production and development processes from the US and UK are merging into a new Australian model

After the tragic death of Halyna Hutchins onset in the US in 2021, many questioned who was to blame? In the agenda-setting session, The Buck Stops Where? a panel of industry experts discuss who is liable when it all goes wrong and what measures are in place in Australia to help prevent tragedies ongoing. 

The screen industry is continuously evolving, and here in Australia screen professionals continue to adapt in the wake of ever-changing policy and government reform. Brave New World Pt.2 returns to offer a fresh perspective on new opportunities and the upsides of the new environment.

One of the biggest audiences globally is children. The Crazy Fun Craft and Business of Kids Content looks at why and how Australia has become so prolific at producing world-class children’s content. Age Appropriate – creating YA content of relevance follows on this train of thought and tackles the 14-18-year-old age bracket who have outgrown children’s content, and why there is often a lack of young adult or teen content in the Australian market.

The SCREEN FOREVER 2022 program has been specially curated to deliver world-class opportunities for learning, collaboration, and deal-making to all delegates, and this includes the SPA Connect Market. More details about the market will be released shortly.

Final Gold Coast tickets are now on sale and delegates are urged to act quickly to secure their place at SCREEN FOREVER.

Link to SCREEN FOREVER 36 ticketing information here.