In a move to support domestic content, the ABC has joined regional screen agency SAFC (South Australian Film Corporation) in a new funding partnership. 

The ABC SAFC Content Pipeline Fund has committed to investing US$3.4 million over the next three years in order to support South Australian content made for the country’s public broadcaster.

The first project to tap into this new financing source is season two of Beep and Mort (pictured), commissioned by the ABC from Adelaide-based Windmill Pictures. 

This 20 x 11-minute mixed-media series debuted last October, and centers on unlikely best friends⁠—a robot from outer space and a cuddly creature from a village called Mollyvale. Last month, Sky in the UK acquired the series for its new Sky Kids linear channel and VOD platform.

The fund has launched on the heels of four Aussie kids and family projects receiving support from Screen Australia’s US$5-million production fund. The trade org’s head of content, Grainne Brunsdon, noted that there’s currently a strong demand for Australian content in the global marketplace.