Screen Australia and the Australian Children’s Television Foundation have selected eight projects that will be funded through phase two of their digital-first Kids IP Incubator Initiative.

Each project, including one from Cheeky Little Media (Kangaroo Beach, Vegesaurs), will get a grant of up to US$12,000 (AUD$20,000) for the next stage of development. And over the next three months, the teams behind them will also take part in a series of weekly development workshops, with former WildBrain Spark director of digital prodiction and digital studio, Nico Lockhart (who now runs his own YouTube-first IP consultancy) leading the whole program. 

Finally, in the program’s third phase, all eight of the following projects will be pitched to a panel of ACTF and Screen Australia reps and invited to apply for additional funding. 

• Bookstore Duck – Angus Woodiwiss, Celine Goetz, Patrick Egerton and Sophie Knoblanche (Cheekly Little Media) 
• Moving Out—The Mini Series – David Smith and Bill Northcott (Half Giant) 
• My Brother the Monkey King – Nicholas Lin and Aven Yap
• Pit-Pats – Darcy Prendergast and Josie Mackerras (Oh Yeah Wow) 
• Proudfoot and Friends – Lucas Proudfoot, Ellenor Cox, John Armstrong, Mikalya Nicol, Georgie Bauman, Freddy Komp, Tim Shultz, Jenny Hanslow, Lauren Woods and Douglas Watkin
• The Void Diner – Monique Mulcahy, Millie Holten and Caitlyn Staples
• Weird Warden – Nicole Delprado and Grace Rein
• Woolings – Liam O’Leary and Amanda Spagnolo (Woolings World) 

ACTF and Screen Australia selected these projects from a wide variety of sources. Cheeky Little Media is one of Australia’s best-known animation studios; Moving Out comes from a full-service animation company called Half Giant, which specializes in video games; and Woolings is the brainchild of indie creators Liam O’Leary and Amanda Spagnolo (both formerly with Cheeky Little). 

Pictured are the creatives behind the eight selected projects.