Deadline Date: March 16, 2026
The Project Development Grants program offers financial support to assist in the significant development of screen projects at various stages of production.
The program focuses on supporting both first stage and late stage project development, with objectives that include advancing a project from concept or proposal to treatment or script, enabling strategic research and acquisition of rights, facilitating scriptwriting, story and character research, creating visualisation materials such as storyboards, conducting script readings, workshops, or writers’ rooms, and developing pitch materials, teaser trailers, and sizzle reels to attract further finance. The program prioritizes projects in documentary, feature film, TV/web drama, and narrative comedy formats.
Applicants can apply for up to $10,000 for first stage project development or up to $20,000 for late stage project development, with the possibility of multiple grants for the same project up to a total of $30,000, unless exceptional circumstances are demonstrated. Funding received at the development stage may be considered as part of the total equity if the project later progresses to production finance through recoupable investment.
Development plans can vary depending on the stage of the project. Early-stage projects may focus on research, acquiring rights, drafting outlines, treatments, and scripts, creating scene breakdowns or beat sheets, developing visualisation materials, and conducting script readings or workshops. Late-stage development projects may emphasize budgeting and scheduling, consultation on digital elements and audience engagement strategies, and the creation of materials to attract investment, such as pitch decks, teaser trailers, or sizzle reels.
Eligible applicants include individual writers or writer/directors, or production companies and producers applying on behalf of a team that includes at least a writer and a producer. Applicants must be Northern Territory residents or Northern Territory-based companies. Co-production applications are accepted only when there is a genuine collaboration and the project is generated in the Territory with a Northern Territory writer or writer/director. Applicants must hold the necessary rights to the project or have an option to acquire them, with funding for option purchases released only after the option is secured.
To qualify for first stage funding of up to $10,000, applicants must have at least two eligible screen credits of ten minutes or longer, while late-stage applications between $10,001 and $20,000 require at least two eligible credits of one hour (or two 30-minute broadcasts). Eligible screen credits are defined as ‘produced by’, ‘directed by’, or ‘written by’ credits on a project that has been selected for an eligible event, had a theatrical release on at least five screens in a major territory, been broadcast on a recognised television network, or made available through a major SVOD or AVOD provider.
For more information, visit Screen Territory.
