Content initiative & opportunities

Across SBS and NITV, there are a range of career pathway initiatives and content opportunities for creatives from historically under-represented backgrounds, across our original Unscripted and Scripted content. They are part of SBS’s commitment and investment in ensuring everyone has a pathway in our sector, improving representation on and off screen, and seeing more stories on our screens reflecting and exploring the diversity of contemporary Australia. SBS shares information about these opportunities and how to apply on the SBS website, here, and opportunities are also promoted through our state and territory funding agency partners. To stay up to date, keep checking this page, read SBS media releases and sign up to your local screen agency’s mailing list. If you have any questions, please email [email protected].

In this article

Talent Escalator

The SBS Talent Escalator is a nation-wide initiative focused on creating opportunities for creatives from historically under-represented communities within the television production sector. The Talent Escalator is a partnership between SBS and state and territory screen agencies.

The Talent Escalator supports career development opportunities for emerging and mid-level screen practitioners through opportunities for participants to work with production companies of SBS-commissioned programs across unscripted and scripted, in roles that are a step up from their existing level of experience.

Since 2017, SBS has supported more than 30 Talent Escalator positions including Associate Producer, Production Manager, Assistant Editor, Director’s Attachment and other roles.

Talent Escalator participants have worked on a wide variety of programs across our documentary, factual, food, entertainment, and drama slates. Examples include unscripted shows Mastermind, Lost For Words, Come Fly with Me, and scripted shows Hungry Ghosts, New Gold Mountain, and The Tailings.

SBS and the state and territory agencies collaborate with production companies working on SBS-commissioned programs to secure flexible, on-the-job, paid learning and immersion opportunities.

Talent Escalator roles become available on a rolling basis throughout the year on various programs. To submit an expression of interest, please contact [email protected].

SBS UNSCRIPTED

Learn more about initiatives and opportunities at SBS in factual, documentaries, food, and entertainment.

AIDC Leading Lights

SBS supports the Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC) Leading Lights Program for practitioners from under-represented backgrounds.

Leading Lights is AIDC’s philanthropic funding program dedicated to creating a more inclusive and diverse screen industry. Designed to enable early career, Indigenous, and/or Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) nonfiction practitioners to attend AIDC for the first time, the program assists industry newcomers to establish themselves as part of Australia’s screen community.

Since the launch of Leading Lights in 2018, 180 emerging and diverse screen creatives have been able to attend AIDC for the first time and participate in the Leading Lights professional development program. In 2023, SBS once again sponsored five positions in the program. For more information read here.

AFTRS Graduate Program

SBS is a host organisation in the AFTRS Graduate Program, a 13-week paid industry internship program for a third year AFTRS student from a historically under-represented background. In 2021/22, Raquel Cuevas joined SBS to work across a number of programs, followed by Alan Dan in 2022/2023 who has worked across programs The Cook Up with Adam Liaw and Mastermind.

Screen Producers Australia Practitioner Program (Early Career)

In 2023, SBS is sponsoring seven places for early career producers from under-represented background to participate in the year-long Screen Producers Australia Practitioner Program (Early Career). The package includes 12 months of SPA Associate Producer membership, access to masterclasses, networking and training and free access to the Screen Forever Conference in March 2022, Gener8 and more inclusions. This follows the inaugural cohort of six practitioners in 2022.

VicScreen Key Talent Company Placement initiative - Associate Producer placement

From 2022-2023, SBS co-funded with VicScreen, a 12-month Associate Producer placement for a practitioner from an under-represented background to work at Blackfella Films through the VicScreen Key Talent Company Placement initiative. The intention of the placement is to allow an Associate Producer to develop skills over the course of a year and emerge with the ability to take on a producer role. The placement is co-funded by VicScreen, Blackfella Films and SBS.

Createability Internship Program

SBS has been a host organisation in the Createability Internship Program for people with disability. This program is a partnership between Create NSW and Accessible Arts and a range of NSW based arts/culture/screen organisations, with the purpose of developing more pathways for people with disability to have successful careers in these areas. In 2022, SBS hosted a Createability intern to work as a Diversity and Inclusion Research Assistant in the TV and Online Content Division. For more information read here.

Curious Australia

Curious Australia is a collection of standalone half-hour documentaries reflecting the diversity of people and experiences of contemporary Australia in an innovative way, targeting mid-career practitioners working on lower-budget, exciting and risk-taking projects, and supporting screen practitioners from under-represented backgrounds in the sector.

A partnership with state and territory agencies VicScreen, Screen NSW, Screen Queensland, Screen Tasmania, Screen Territory, Screenwest and the South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC), at least two key creative roles on a project are held by people from an under-represented background, including those identifying as First Nations Australians; women, those with diverse age backgrounds; people from cultural and linguistically diverse backgrounds; people living with disability; people of diverse sexuality and gender identities including LGBTQIA+; people from under-represented locations (including regional and remote areas); and people from diverse socio-economic backgrounds.

In June 2021, SBS and NITV announced a call out for submissions, and in January 2022, SBS and NITV announced a collection of seven documentaries commissioned through the initiative.  Successful documentaries were broadcast on SBS VICELAND, NITV, and SBS On Demand. 

SBS SCRIPTED

Got a story you want to pitch to SBS Scripted? Read the SBS Scripted Pitch Guide, a resource created to help practitioners communicate their story and ideas to SBS in the most comprehensive way possible. It also provides checklist of what SBS is looking for when they review pitches for scripted programs. Learn more here.

Learn more about initiatives and opportunities at SBS Scripted in drama and short form series below.

SBS Scripted TV Lunch Sessions

In June 2022, the SBS Scripted commissioning team launched 'TV Lunch' sessions, a monthly virtual industry information session and Q&A with the team (held on the second Friday of every month over Zoom), designed for early to mid-level practitioners. In 2023, topics to be covered include pitching, being in a writers’ room, inclusive storytelling, understanding the marketplace, budgets and finance, and tips for taking your career to the next level with initiatives and industry opportunities. Read more and register for an upcoming session here.

Emerging Writers' Incubator

The Emerging Writers’ Incubator is a nationwide initiative to support the development of under-represented screenwriting talent in Australia.

Launched in 2021, with Screen Australia and state and territory agencies, and with the assistance of the Australian Writers’ Guild, the Emerging Writers’ Incubator provides a 12 month paid placement for six emerging writers in leading Australian production companies acclaimed for their delivery of Australian drama. Through their placement they further develop their skills, knowledge and networks while working across the production company's slate of drama productions. They are also supported by the Australian Writers’ Guild with access to creative and training workshops.

In September 2021, SBS announced six screenwriting creatives from across Australia who were selected as the inaugural participants in the Emerging Writers’ Incubator and in October 2022, SBS announced six more writers selected for the second year of the initiative, chosen from hundreds of submissions.

Applications for the 2023 Emerging Writers' Incubator are currently open and will close 16 June, and are made with each participating screen agency:

Read more about the initiative in 2023 here, including the six production companies set to host writers this year.

Digital Originals

The Digital Originals initiative is a partnership between SBS, NITV and Screen Australia, which aims to develop exciting and innovative short-form drama projects from screen creatives who are historically under-represented in the sector. This includes people who identify as culturally and linguistically diverse, First Nations Australians, people with disability, female and gender diverse, LGBTQIA+; and those who are located in regional and remote areas.

The initiative is bringing more diverse stories to our screens, creating bold new drama projects to premiere on SBS VICELAND and SBS On Demand, with themes that resonate with all Australians. Digital Originals is an evolution of SBS’s Short-Form Content Initiative which funded original projects including the critically acclaimed Homecoming Queens, and Robbie Hood. It is also providing a career pathway for creatives with alumni including Dylan River (Mystery Road: Origin), Corrie Chen (New Gold Mountain), and Stevie Cruz-Martin (The Tailings) directing SBS and Screen Australia’s latest drama series, Safe Home.

In 2020, SBS premiered Digital Originals project The Tailings on SBS On Demand. The 6 x 10 minute murder mystery series, set against the fragile and beautiful landscapes of the remote west coast of Tasmania, celebrates the tenacity and pride of regional communities and provides an intimate portrayal of the human experience with grief, guilt and loss.

Heartfelt drama comedy series, Iggy & Ace, exploring friendship, addiction and recovery through a queer lens, was the next Digital Originals project to receive production funding, and premiered on SBS On Demand in September 2021.

A Beginner's Guide to Grief premiered on SBS VICELAND and SBS On Demand in September 2022, followed by Latecomers, which premiered in December 2022 to widespread acclaim and international recognition, including as the only Australian project selected for Series Mania in France, among six international series featured in the Short Forms Competition at the prestigious TV series festival.

In December 2022, SBS announced another two Digital Originals series would premiere in 2023 - Night Bloomers, an anthology of horror stories from the Korean diaspora; and Appetite, a food delivery rider dies on the streets of Sydney, and an unlikely trio of fellow riders are entangled in a mystery to uncover the truth.

Appetite premiered on SBS VICELAND and SBS On Demand in April 2023, and was also one of 10 series selected in the Short Form Competition at Canneseries 2023, and the only Australian production to be in the Official Selection at the major international television festival.

The successful initiative continues in 2023, with three new projects selected for further development funding from the seven teams who received initial development funding in 2022. Up to three projects will be chosen to move into production, to be revealed later this year.

Applications for the fourth round of Digital Originals are currently open, with applications made through Screen Australia. Shortlisted teams will be chosen to attend an exclusive workshop in October 2023, run by Screen Australia, SBS and NITV. From these teams, up to six will be chosen to take their projects into further development, and from these up to three will be chosen for production funding and commissioning with SBS, NITV and Screen Australia. Read more here. 

Read the guidelines here and learn more about the partnership here.

Originate

SBS partners with VicScreen, Arenamedia and Screen Australia to deliver Originate Features - a dynamic development and production program designed to support and amplify feature film writers and writer/directors from traditionally under-represented backgrounds, from start to finish.

Devised in conjunction with internationally acclaimed story developer and facilitator Angeli Macfarlane, the multi-stage development program seeks to elevate projects from early-stage concept to low budget production-ready screenplays, and is targeted towards people who come from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds, are First Peoples of Australia, are living with disability, LGBTQIA+ or are trans and/or gender diverse.

In June 2023, VicScreen announced four feature films being fully financed and greenlit - the four successful teams and their projects are:

  • Into the Blue by Writer/Director, Katie Found and Writer, Markella Kavenagh.
  • Sweet Milk Lake by Writer/Director, Harvey Zielinski and Producer, Rosie Lourde.
  • Pasa Faho by Writer/Director, Kalu Oji and Producers, Mimo Mukii and Ivy Mutuku.
  • Leviticus by Writer/Director, Adrian Chiarella and Producer, Hannah Ngo.

Participants have been mentored throughout the process by industry figures, including Head of Scripted at SBS, Julie Eckersley and Commissioning Editors of SBS Scripted, Loani Arman and Donna Chang.

Originate Features applications are currently closed.

NITV

National Indigenous Television (NITV) supports career pathways focused on the development of First Nations creatives. Fina out more about NITV commissioning here. 

NITV also partners with SBS on initiatives including Digital Originals (see above).

Centralised Documentary Australia Foundation Indigenous Fellowship

Launched in 2019, Centralised is an initiative designed to boost First Nations filmmakers and screen creatives in South Australia and Northern Territory with specialised funding, support and development opportunities.

Developed by the South Australian Film Corporate (SAFC) and Screen Territory, NITV is a collaborating partner in the Centralised Documentary Australia Foundation’s Indigenous Fellowship, with the Documentary Australia Foundation (DAF) and the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS). Over three years, the Fellowship supports the professional development of Indigenous documentary filmmakers who are resident in the Northern Territory or South Australia, providing up to $30,000 to a selected fellow each year with a bespoke program designed to meet their specific needs.

Tamara Whyte from Nhulunbuy in the Northern Territory was selected as the Inaugural Fellow in 2020 for her documentary project, Base 8, exploring the use of mathematics in Indigenous Culture. For more information click here.

South Australian First Nations filmmaker Ngarrindjeri man, Josh Trevorrow, was awarded the Fellowship for 2021. Josh receives a grant for professional development and mentoring, and development of his documentary project Kondoli- Ngarrindjeri whale project (working title), as well as support to attend training opportunities at AFTRS. For more information click here.

The third Fellow awarded under the initiative in 2022 is Travis Akbar, who is writing, directing and co-producing his documentary Kuta New Wiltja (Toward New Camp). Read more here. 

SBS PODCASTS

Since the launch of the network's first podcast in 2008, SBS has continued to grow its podcast collection and currently produces podcasts in more than 60 languages. As Australia’s multicultural and Indigenous broadcaster, SBS is committed to ensuring all Australians hear their stories reflected and on demand audio is a key opportunity to showcase this.

In 2021, SBS called out for Australian podcasters to submit ideas showcasing originality and diverse storytelling, for the opportunity to be a part of SBS's distinctive multilingual podcast offering across news, information and entertainment. Series commissioned through this call out include Bad Taste, New Home, My First Year on Aussie Soil, Our Deaf Ways, Noongar Wellbeing, Conversations on Country, Chinese-ish, Transitioning in Translation, Mother Country, and Harmful. 

Following on from this success, SBS once again called out for submissions in August 2022, seeking more podcasts telling diverse stories and share new ideas.

Read more here. 

SBS VOICES

SBS Voices was launched in 2018 as an online platform for emerging writers from backgrounds traditionally under-represented in the media, with a focus on first person, memoir-style content, sharing unique stories and perspectives with all Australians.

SBS Voices is no longer commissioning new content, but all the stories shared and writers who have contributed continue to be showcased on the SBS Voices website – sbs.com.au/voices.