Proudly presented by Film Victoria, The FACTory is AIDC’s international pitching showcase for new documentary and factual projects.
UPDATE – The FACTory closed for submissions on November 28, 2021.
Projects with strong market potential will be selected to pitch to international and local decision makers across three strands: Central Showcase, New Talent Showcase and Rough Cut Showcase. Decision makers come from a range of backgrounds and include commissioning editors, funders, broadcasters, sales agents and distributors.
Evolving with the times, The FACTory has been reconfigured for 2022 to harness its full capacity in a hybrid event environment. Shortlisted teams will have the opportunity to present their work to a dynamic group of both international and domestic decision makers.
In 2022 The FACTory will feature:
- a enhanced line-up of international decision makers assessing and providing feedback on projects;
- access to more extensive online mentoring conducted by experienced screen practitioners, in addition to group and individual pitch training.
- greater opportunity for one-on-one meetings with key international decision makers.
AIDC has supported more than 60 project teams to participate in The FACTory across its seven-year history. Don’t miss your chance to pitch to the people that can help realise your vision!
Working closely with an international assessment committee, AIDC will shortlist projects for this prestigious program. The program will offer tailored feedback and training from industry experts in the lead-up, and increased opportunities for business outcomes by hosting both a live pitch and a tailored one-to-one meeting program with decision makers during AIDC.
Selected projects will pitch and present their trailers over 7 minutes (or 15 minutes for Rough Cuts), and will also be required to submit a pre-recorded pitch ahead of AIDC (with trailer or footage included in this edit), to be made available to decision makers who cannot physically attend. Select decision makers will then:
- Request meetings with projects to occur during AIDC
- Provide feedback on the projects
Entry to The FACTory is competitive, so please ensure your projects are original ideas that appeal to targeted buyers across the international and local markets.
Applications open: Thursday, 30 September, 2021 at 11:00 AEDT
Regular Deadline: Wednesday, 24 November 2021 at 23:59 AEDT
Submission cost AUD $50.00 (inc GST) per project
Late Deadline: Sunday, 28 November 2021 at 23:59 AEDT
Submissions cost AUD $60.00 (inc GST) per project
Submissions received after 28 November 2021 at 23:59 AEDT will not be accepted. Once the submission process is complete, submissions can no longer be amended.
The FACTory’s Central Showcase is designed to present experienced project teams to international decision makers, including commissioners, funders, streamers, networks, distributors, and sales agents. Projects in development and production demonstrating strong international potential will be automatically considered for this showcase.
Applicant eligibility
- Australian and international filmmakers are eligible to apply.
- Individuals, teams or companies may apply.
- Applicants must be the rights holder in the work.
- Applicants must be 18 years of age or over.
- There is a fee to cover handling and administration of your application.
- Entry for each project must be submitted via The FACTory portal (see below).
Project eligibility
- Entry is open to feature films, singles, and series.
- Projects should be at development or production stage (projects in post-production may be eligible for The FACTory’s Rough Cut Showcase – refer to the submission guidelines below for this strand).
- Projects need to be recognised factual or documentary formats intended for broadcast and distribution. The Australian Content Standard defines documentary as ‘a program that is a creative treatment of actuality other than a news, current affairs, sports coverage, magazine, infotainment or light entertainment program’. For more info, visit the ACMA website.
Your project should closely identify with at least one of the following genres:
- Arts
- Culture
- Geopolitics
- History
- Music
- Natural History
- Politics
- Science
- Society
- Sports
- Technology
- Wildlife
If successful, applicants will be required to purchase a discounted All Access In-Person Pass $800 (inc GST) or discounted All Access Virtual Pass $625 (inc GST) to pitch. Refer to relevant submission guidelines for further details.
The FACTory’s New Talent Showcase is designed to present the brightest new screen talents to decision makers and production companies around the world. Projects in development and production featuring a director or producer presenting their first major work will be automatically considered for this showcase.
Applicant eligibility
- Australian and international filmmakers are eligible to apply.
- Individuals, teams or companies may apply.
- Applicants must be the rights holder in the work.
- Applicants must be 18 years of age or over.
- There is a fee to cover handling and administration of your application.
- Entry for each project must be submitted via The FACTory portal (see below).
PLUS
- The director or producer must be presenting their first major documentary or factual work (excluding shorts).
- The director or producer may have experience working in XR, online, commercials, fiction or theatre, and previous credits in these fields will not disqualify them.
- The director or producer may have experience working in documentary, factual or unscripted production, in roles other than their Central credit on the submitted project (e.g. cinematographer, editor, assistant director, etc).
Project eligibility
- Entry is open to feature films, singles, and series.
- Projects should be at development or production stage (projects in post-production may be eligible for The FACTory’s Rough Cut Showcase – refer to the submission guidelines below for this strand).
- Projects need to be recognised factual or documentary formats intended for broadcast and distribution. The Australian Content Standard defines documentary as ‘a program that is a creative treatment of actuality other than a news, current affairs, sports coverage, magazine, infotainment or light entertainment program’. For more info, visit the ACMA website.
Your project should closely identify with at least one of the following genres:
- Arts
- Culture
- Geopolitics
- History
- Music
- Natural History
- Politics
- Science
- Society
- Sports
- Technology
- Wildlife
If successful, applicants will be required to purchase a discounted All Access In-Person Pass $800 (inc GST) or discounted All Access Virtual Pass $625 (inc GST) to pitch. Refer to relevant submission guidelines for further details.
The FACTory’s Rough Cut Showcase is designed to present projects that need to close financing gaps, and secure sales, distribution and festival opportunities.
Applicant eligibility
- Australian and international filmmakers are eligible to apply.
- Individuals, teams or companies may apply.
- Applicants must be the rights holder in the work.
- Applicants must be 18 years of age or over.
- There is a fee to cover handling and administration of your application.
- Entry for each project must be submitted via The FACTory portal (see below).
Project eligibility
- Entry is open to feature films and singles at post-production stage that will not be completed before AIDC in March 2022.
- Applicants must submit up to 20 minutes of footage (max), which can comprise of either a length of consecutive film or an assembly of sequences (approximately 2-5 minutes each), provided in a single streamable link. Please do not submit an entire film.
- Applicants must submit a full treatment, a director’s statement, a producer’s statement, and an audience engagement plan (i.e. pathway to market and audience).
- In addition to the Central materials submission, you may supply a trailer or teaser of up to three minutes.
- If selected, the team will have 15 minutes to pitch (approximately 5 minutes for a verbal pitch and 10 minutes of footage).
- Projects need to be recognised documentary formats intended for broadcast and distribution. The Australian Content Standard defines documentary as ‘a program that is a creative treatment of actuality other than a news, current affairs, sports coverage, magazine, infotainment or light entertainment program’. For more info, visit the ACMA website.
If successful, applicants will be required to purchase a discounted All Access In-Person Pass $800 (inc GST) or discounted All Access Virtual Pass $625 (inc GST) to pitch. Refer to relevant submission guidelines for further details.
All 2022 submissions for The FACTory are independently assessed by a panel of highly experienced screen professionals hand-picked by AIDC.
Projects are assessed and shortlisted based on the following criteria:
- Strength and originality of the project;
- The commercial viability of the project in the marketplace;
- The project’s international appeal;
- The track record of the creative team and any finance already in place.
Applicants are strongly encouraged to provide visual materials (trailer, teaser, or footage from the project) as part of their submission.
MEET THE PANEL
- Salma Abdalla – Autlook Filmsales (Austria)
- Opal H. Bennett – POV (USA)
- Kenny Brown – IDA – International Documentary Association (USA)
- Susie Jones – Netflix (Australia)
- Clara Vuillermoz – Point du Jour – Les films du Balibari (France)
Building on previous offerings of support to FACTory pitching teams, AIDC is increasing the opportunities available to selected projects. Teams will be paired with a mentor/tutor in the lead-up to AIDC, and sessions will focus on:
- Story interrogation
- Budget and finance interrogation (if needed)
- Pitch training
- Trailer consultations
MEET THE MENTORS
- Brigid O’Shea – Documentary Association of Europe (Germany)
- Mila Aung-Thwin – EyeSteelFilm (Canada)
- S. Leo Chiang – Walking Iris Media (USA / Taiwan)
“I WAS DELIGHTED TO TAKE PART IN THE FACTORY SESSIONS AT AIDC. IT’S A FANTASTIC WAY TO SEE SOME OF THE CREAM OF INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY MAKING AND THE SHEER RANGE OF SUBJECTS AND DIRECTORIAL STYLES ON SHOW IS REALLY IMPRESSIVE. IT WAS ALSO HUGELY WORTHWHILE TO MEET A WIDE RANGE OF FILM MAKERS.”
– DAVID HARRON
COMMISSIONING EXECUTIVE, FACTUAL, BBC SCOTLAND
Each year, selected AIDC partners award prizes to the strongest pitches presented as part of the FACTory showcase. These prizes can be awarded across the Central Showcase, New Talent Showcase or the Rough Cut Showcase.
2022 PRIZES
Sheffield Doc/Fest (United Kingdom)
- 2 x complimentary industry accreditations for one project to attend the next festival, which will be delivered in 2022.
Sunnyside of the Doc (France)
- 2 x complimentary passes for one team plus a 2-hour online mentoring session for the winning project team.
- Accreditations will be valid for online or physical attendance at Sunny Side of the Doc 2022.
Doc Edge (New Zealand)
- 2 x complimentary All Access passes to the Doc Edge Forum
More prizes will be announced soon.
Free footage for your FACTory pitch
To help you prepare your best possible pitch, Getty Images have partnered with AIDC to provide you – absolutely free – a selection of clips you can use for your application. The Getty Images online library has over 17.5 million clips, including content from leading editorial video producers such as TVNZ, NBC News Archives, BBC Motion Gallery, ITN and Bloomberg. Content is available for every subject imaginable – from the moments that define humanity, to wildlife, climate change, cityscapes and much, much more. You can search by keywords, filming technique, viewpoints and composition, among other options.
UPDATE – The FACTory is no longer taking submissions for AIDC 2022. Consider registering and submitting to Cut to the Chase.
Entry to The FACTory is competitive so please ensure your projects are original ideas that appeal to targeted buyers across the international and local markets.
Please refer to the submission guidelines (see above) for the Central Showcase, New Talent Showcase and Rough Cut Showcase before submitting your application/s.
Applications open: Thursday, 30 September, 2021 at 11:00 AEDT
Regular Deadline: Wednesday, 24 November 2021 at 23:59 AEDT
Submission cost AUD $50.00 (inc GST) per project
Late Deadline: Sunday, 28 November 2021 at 23:59 AEDT
Submissions cost AUD $60.00 (inc GST) per project
Submissions received after 28 November 2021 at 23:59 AEDT will not be accepted. Once the submission process is complete, submissions can no longer be amended.
The FACTory closed for submissions on November 28, 2021.
Questions? pitch@aidc.com.au
