ACTF to make a record investment of $9.6 million in new children’s content

The Australian Children’s Television Foundation (ACTF) has committed a record $9.6 million to develop and produce new children’s content since receiving additional funding. The ACTF was given $20 million over two years from 1 July 2021. At the halfway point, it has committed more than $1.3 million in development funding and over $8.3 million in production investment. More than $1.3 million has been committed to the development of 25 separate projects, the most intensive development period in ACTF’s 40-year history. Over $8.3 million has been committed to the production of 14 new projects. This investment resulted in almost $90 million of production spending, resulting in a significant economic boost for the industry.

Projects on both the development and production slate are aimed at all children, from pre-school age through to teenagers. They feature diverse characters and are made by increasingly diverse companies and creatives. ACTF CEO, Jenny Buckland, said: “Australian writers and producers are bursting with new ideas for children’s television shows. This funding has enabled the Australian Children’s Television Foundation to supercharge the creation of new projects across a broad slate of high-quality live-action, animation, and factual content. The additional investment to the ACTF is delivering a strong group of diverse, entertaining, and high-quality productions, which would not exist without this support.”

SUPPORTING KIDS SHOWS
Among the programs to share in the production funding are teen drama "More Than This," the adventure drama series "MaveriX" and the political comedy-drama "The PM’s Daughter". A second series of "The PM’s Daughter" is now underway for ABC, and "MaveriX," which aired to Australian audiences on ABC ME in April 2022, is now showing in 244 countries after the world rights were acquired by Netflix.

Upcoming projects to have received production funding from the ACTF include the tween horror-comedy series "Crazy Fun Park" and "Barrumbi Kids," a coming-of-age story about two 11-year-old best friends growing up in a remote community in the Northern Territory. Animated series to receive support include the fourth series of "The Deep," a second series of "100% Wolf", a fourth series of "Li’l J and Big Cuz," and new seasons of "Kangaroo Beach" and "Space Nova."