News Corp’s With Her In Mind Network partners with Screen Australia to fund female-directed documentaries
Screen Australia has partnered with News Digital Networks Australia’s soon-to-launch female content platform, the With Her In Mind Network (WHIMN), to fund six new short documentaries directed by women.
Doco180 will fund six female directors to each make a 180-second documentary designed to make the viewer “do a 180” on a topic relevant to Australian women.
The documentaries will be available to view for free on whimn.com.au later this year and will be supported with analysis and discussion around the six topics on the website and on the platform’s social media accounts.
Graeme Mason, Screen Australia CEO, said in a statement: “Documentary is a powerful storytelling device, and more recently we have seen works like That Sugar Film and Deep Water: The Real Story prompt worldwide discussion online, and indeed documentaries like Taryn Brumfitt’s Embrace were born out of Facebook itself.
“Doco180 is an opportunity for early career female documentary makers to distil a single idea of their choice into a social media-friendly three minutes, in order to explain, provoke and entertain.”
Whimn.com.au’s executive editor Melissa Overman said: “Co-funding Doco180 will allow us to offer our female audience access to exclusive video content of a premium quality, which is designed to have gravitas and start conversation.
“I encourage applicants to submit documentary ideas that will resonate with Australian women – what challenges us, what motivates us, what makes us laugh. We’re interested in everything from politics to the environment to work to kids – no topic is off limits. The most important element is that all Doco180 applications must be female-centric stories told by women.”
Doco180 is 50/50 funded by Screen Australia and the With Her in Mind Network, and is the latest in a range of media partnerships Screen Australia has brokered to offer content makers a direct path to audience, including Skip Ahead with Google and Fresh Blood with the ABC.
The partnership follows on from Screen Australia funding Mia Freedman’s news website Mamamia in July last year to enable the website “to move into the narrative story space while also providing an avenue for an online web series supported by Screen Australia to gain access to audiences and generate revenue”.
Miranda Ward worked for Mumbrella from 2013 to 2017, eventually becoming deputy editor. Miranda joined Mumbrella in September 2013 from Sky News.
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