Projects

BRIEF

Film practitioners in NSW with disability are underrepresented in the film industry and on screen. Funning since 2017, the Screenability Film Fund is an initiative by Screen NSW designed to increase the participation of underrepresented groups in the screen sector. It creates opportunities for filmmakers in NSW with disability to grow their skills and professional networks through making a short 12-minute film.

NSF Consulting was commissioned to evaluate the program. The evaluation was designed to measure the merit of Screenability and its effectiveness in delivering on its intended outcomes.

APPROACH

The evaluation was designed as a combined Process and Outcomes evaluation. The Process evaluation explored the inner workings of Screenability to determine its efficiency and effectiveness. The Outcomes evaluation component measured the extent to which the program had delivered on its intended outcomes, the extent of changes observed, and captured unintended outcomes, both positive and negative.

We conducted in-depth interviews with 26 people, including film makers, internal stakeholders and industry experts. We adopted good practice accessible consultation when required by drawing on a range of strategies to ensure the evaluation was accessible to all, including meeting participants face-to-face when requested, and providing an Auslan interpreter when required.

We also reviewed relevant industry documents and data to enable a better understanding of the inner workings of the program within the broader screen sector.
An evaluation rubric was used to define the differences between various levels of performance for each focus area (criterion of merit).

We produced a strategic report that included recommendations on two tiers; high-level agency recommendations suggested broader actions for Screen NSW as a whole, whilst detailed recommendation were also provided for the Screenability program.

(Image: Executive Producers across Screenability films. Credit: Screen NSW)