Screen Australia and Google Australia have announced $500K in funding for five online creative teams to ‘skip ahead’ their YouTube careers.
Now in its fifth year, Skip Ahead will provide production funding to Chloe Morello for her project YouTube Famous, Chloe Ting for The Not So Social Networks, Fury Fingers for Love, Guns and Level Ups, Neel Kolhatkar for Crossing The Line and Piéra Forde for Nevernight.
The Skip Ahead initiative supports Australian online content creators, who have YouTube channels with a substantial existing subscriber base and/or content which has reached significant viewership, to expand their vision and create more ambitious content to grow their audience.
The projects this year represent a range of voices from across Australia, with creative teams from Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia.
Since 2014, Skip Ahead has supported the likes of Aunty Donna, Superwog, Skit Box and SketchShe to help them take the next step and build their careers in the screen industry. In total, the videos made from the program have received over 40 million views on YouTube.
This year’s recipients will participate in a workshop in Sydney later this month to develop their projects, which include a range of comedy, drama and documentary series.
Lee Naimo, Online Investment Manager at Screen Australia said: “Skip Ahead has a proven track record of launching the careers of some of Australia’s best online content creators, and we’re thrilled to be partnering with Google Australia to support five teams again this year. Each of these teams are already producing unique and engaging content that is resonating with audiences, and this is a fantastic opportunity for them to take their projects to the next level.”
Daniel Stephenson, Content Partnerships Manager, YouTube Australia and New Zealand said: “Heading into our fifth year, we continue to be blown away by the calibre of ideas and projects YouTube creators are developing for Skip Ahead. It’s exciting to be able to support them in this journey to create longer form, quality videos, to further drive their careers and garner recognition globally.”
Completed projects will be released on YouTube later this year and include:
More information on these projects is available here
Chloe Morello and Piéra Forde
Skip Ahead Alumni
Channel | Title | Funded |
Axis of Awesome | Axis All Areas | 2014 |
Mighty Car Mods | Lend Us A Ride: Australia | 2014 |
Sexual Lobster | Fernando’s Legitimate Business Enterprise | 2014 |
Veritasium | This Will Revolutionise Education | 2014 |
Neighbours | Neighbours vs Zombies | 2014 |
The Roundabout Crew and Frenchy SungaAttack | The Australiana Hostel | 2015 |
Aunty Donna | 1999 | 2015 |
SketchShe | Traffic Jam – The Musical | 2015 |
Draw with Jazza | The Tale Teller | 2015 |
How to Cook That | The Sweetest Thing | 2015 |
Superwog | The Superwog Show | 2016 |
Charli’s Crafty Kitchen | Crafty Kingdom | 2016 |
The RackaRacka | Stunt Gone Wrong (Live) | 2016 |
BrainCraft | Mutant Menu | 2016 |
Van Vuuren Bros | Over and Out (to be released) | 2017 |
Study with Jess | Life of Jess | 2017 |
Timtimfed | Rebooted (to be released) | 2017 |
Wengie | Parked (to be released) | 2017 |
Skit Box | Skit Box (to be released) | 2017 |
Fury Fingers