Google and Screen Australia have today announced the second annual recipients of the Skip Ahead initiative. Skip Ahead will provide the five 2015 recipients with the funding and production resources required to create unique online content and engage new audiences around the world. Google will contribute funding and resources, and will support the successful applicants to travel and work at the YouTube Space in Los Angeles this November.
“Considering that Skip Ahead is only in its second year, we were thrilled with the range and originality of content that Australian creatives pitched to us this year,” said Screen Australia’s Investment Manager Mike Cowap “We’re really confident the 2015 recipients will not only deliver great content, but will demonstrate Australia’s creative ingenuity internationally.”
Comedy trio SketchShe will deliver Traffic Jam – The Musical, whilst French SungaAttack and The Roundabout Crew will collaborate on tongue-in-check series Australiana Hostel. In factual programming, Draw with Jazza plans to create a documentary The Tale Teller about animated storytelling whilst How To Cook That’s Ann Reardon will go on tour to find (and make!) The Sweetest Thing – Australia’s most extreme dessert. Finally the team from Aunty Donna will deliver absurdist web series 1999 based on the Y2K panic of last century.
“Skip Ahead fosters the next generation of Australian storytellers by providing funding, education and support for the production of new online content. The first round winners created fantastic online series and we think that this second wave of funding will help even more Australian voices to reach global audiences,” said Maile Carnegie, Managing Director of Google Australia and New Zealand.
“I am beyond ecstatic to have received the Skip Ahead,” said Josiah Brooks of Draw with Jazza. “For me YouTube has been an incredible resource to deliver work directly to my fans, and Skip Ahead gives me the boost I need at this stage in my career to take my work to the next level.”