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SAFC welcomes SBS and NITV Roadshow to Adelaide

26 August 2022

This week the SAFC was delighted to welcome the executive teams of SBS and NITV to Adelaide for a special program of meetings, pitch sessions and networking opportunities for the South Australian screen sector.

The program of events kicked off on Sunday with a special preview screening of new SBS Digital Originals series A Beginner’s Guide To Grief with cast and crew at Mercury cinema. Supported by Screen Australia and the SAFC, this exciting new dark comedy comes from Adelaide based KOJO Studios with executive producer/creative producer Linda Ujuk and South Australian producers Kate Butler and Julie Byrne, and is written by and stars emerging regional South Australian writer Anna Lindner,

The screening was attended by SBS Head of Commercial and Production Chris Irvine, SBS Head of Scripted Julie Eckersley, SBS Commissioning Editor for Scripted Loani Arman, Screen Australia Head of Content Grainne Brunsdon, as well as cast, crew and screen industry guests.

A Beginner’s Guide to Grief premieres on SBS Viceland on 4 September – check out the trailer and photos from the screening event below.

On Monday SBS and NITV launched their Meet the Broadcaster event with a program of “speed pitching” sessions at Adelaide Studios, with selected South Australian screen creatives connecting with network commissioning executives in individual 15-minute sessions to pitch their projects and discuss ideas across factual, scripted, food and entertainment and NITV.

The activities continued into the evening with a special presentation event at Tandanya, where presenters included SBS Director of Television Kathryn Fink, SBS Director of Indigenous Content Tanya Denning-Orman, Commissioning Editor for NITV Marissa McDowell, SBS Head of Unscripted John Godfrey and Commissioning Editor Bernadine Lim, Head of Scripted Julie Eckersley and Commissioning Editor for Scripted Loani Arman, Head of Food and Entertainment Emily Griggs and SBS Content Industry Diversity Manager Michelle Cheng.

About 100 attendees from across the South Australian screen sector learned about SBS and NITV’s commissioning slate for 2022-23 and content trends for both broadcasters, and heard advice on what the teams are looking for, how to pitch to them and available initiatives, followed by networking over drinks and nibbles.

To conclude, the SAFC was pleased to host the SBS and NITV teams at Adelaide Studios for a roundtable discussion on how the organisations can continue to partner successfully and support South Australian practitioners and businesses. 

Check out photos from SBS and NITV’s visit below.