·January 13, 2026
Deanne Weir.
Producer Deanne Weir opens the books on ‘The First Dress’, sharing its financing and creative process to spark conversation about attracting more private investment to Australian film.
Whether or not we really can say that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, there is little doubt that we need to reimagine elements of how we raise financing for Australian feature films. Our stories are magical; they create whole new worlds, they inspire and entertain, and we are very lucky to have a policy environment that recognises the value of screen stories with significant taxpayer subsidies. But this funding is our backup. Our first mission should be to generate market and investor interest – helpful validation that there will likely be an audience for our film. Without that validation, should we really be embarking on a creative pursuit with such a high financial cost?
In a predominantly ‘high financial risk/low financial return’ environment, raising money is difficult, particularly with the changing distribution and exhibition environment. My companies WeirAnderson Films and Storyd Group have invested development and production funds into more than 25 projects, and with the joy of being part of the creative process also comes the challenge of ensuring that overall, our slate of projects will deliver positive investment returns in the medium term. Many of the projects I am involved with have first-time feature directors, usually women. For some reason these projects have a ‘triple-pike, backward somersault’ degree of difficulty rating when it comes to financing. In some cases, even where we have been prepared to invest, it hasn’t been possible to close out the finance plan, and we are all left with dreams of what might have been.
I recently spoke with Sashi Arnold at the Screen Australia Filmmaker Masterclass day at the Australian International Movie Convention. Our talk covered the arcane world of finance plans and recoupment, and the inescapable conclusion is that for independent feature films in particular, we must find a way to bring more private funding to the table, or stop making as many films, also a fair topic for discussion but I will hold that for another day. Over the last 30 years, the average amount of private investment in an Australian feature film has dropped from around 17 per cent of the budget to 4 per cent. Some of this change is explained by changes to the tax regime, but it is also because private funding of narrative features tends to be ad hoc and an often bewildering process for investors, and many producers feel ill-equipped to deal with private funders. Screen Australia has recognised this and is facilitating a taskforce that I am part of, led by Ian Murray of 113 Partners, seeking to better understand the challenges at hand and create some resources to help inform and simplify things for both investors and producers.
In the documentary space, there is a very simple way to donate to, rather than invest in, qualifying films via Documentary Australia. The WeirAnderson Foundation has used this avenue for many documentary projects that have important stories to tell but little chance of financial return. The taskforce, which will be releasing some materials this year, is looking at the role of philanthropy in narrative feature projects, and how we can make blended approaches work. I have been experimenting with such a blended approach over the last year with Boss Cat, a Bus Stop Films production with WeirAnderson Films, coming soon to a cinema near you.
The innovation journey continues with our next project, and I would like to take you on the journey as my creative colleagues and I embark on our mission to finance Melissa Anastasi’s debut feature film, The First Dress. A beautiful, intoxicating story of first love between 18-year-old Mina and older woman Leyla, our film is set in a Western Sydney bridal salon, where the making of a wedding dress is the spine around which we will weave a story of love, loss, creativity and self-expression. We believe that The First Dress will be a moving, entertaining and sexy feature film with commercial breakout potential. There are not enough stories that deal with female desire and sexuality from a queer perspective, and there is a significant audience with whom the story will resonate.
Given we are experimenting, we have decided to adopt an approach of radical transparency, and share our financing and creative process, to help create conversation and debate, and maybe even some friendly funders!
Let’s start with the basics:
The team: Writer/director Melissa Anastasi with producers Rebecca Barry, Deanne Weir and Bernadette Murray. A Media Stockade production with WeirAnderson Films
Project pedigree: Melissa is an award-winning Greek-Cypriot/Australian filmmaker. Mel was the recipient of the SFF Lexus Fellowship for her short film Chlorine which was awarded Best Director by the ADG (Australian Directors Guild) and nominated for Best Short at the AACTAs (Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts). Melissa is a graduate of the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) where she was awarded both the Kenneth Myer Award for Artistic Excellence and the EU Film Award. Under a different title, The First Dress has had a range of development support including from the Venice Biennale College Cinema and Screen NSW.
The budget: $3.1m
Finance plan assumptions using rough round numbers: We are theatrical with ANZ and ROW support, let’s say $70k total (yes, it’s tough out there), that means a 40 per cent offset (call it $1m). Fingers crossed for 10 per cent budget support from Screen NSW ($290k for round figures), and for a $500k grant from Screen Oz (aiming for the Feb Screen Oz round), reinvestments of $360k, and private support of $880k. (Obviously, if Screen Oz support is higher or lower, this number moves, but let’s stick with this for the moment.) Today we have commitments of $325k of private investment and $76k of philanthropic donations leaving us an assumed funding shortfall of $479k.
How did we raise the private money so far?: We believe we can target a number of communities of interest to help us raise money and build potential audiences, so we applied to Creative Australia, and they have approved our film to receive tax-deductible donations via the Australian Cultural Fund (ACF). We launched a page on the ACF website and also held a fundraiser event, leading to $76k of donations and $325k of investment.
How will we raise the rest? Obviously we are not done yet, so we are embarking on a social media campaign to raise awareness, spread some joy, and hopefully raise the remaining funds via a blend of philanthropy and investment. We want to build a community of supporters and advocates, and have some fun doing so. Think about the campaign possibilities; get your friends together for a girl’s night, everyone wearing their wedding dresses, and all commit some money to the ACF site? Or, how about every woman in Australia agrees to contribute the price of 1 cup of coffee to the ACF site (we would be totally sorted!).
We have lots of great ideas (feel free to share any suggestions!), and we plan to share regular updates with you over the next six months as we progress. We really want to make this film in the spring of this year, and share it with audiences in 2027. Not only do we want to engage audiences with a beautiful film, but we want to find ways to share possible new approaches to fundraising.
Of course, the capital raising process isn’t the only challenged element of the feature film ecosystem. There are significant issues to debate around the distribution, exhibition and audience engagement environments, which in turn impact return profiles and likelihood of funding. The best way often to have those debates is to have an actual film to use as a case study. We are happy to offer up The First Dress for that purpose, and to keep the conversation going.
Please follow us on Instagram @TheFirstDress_Film and join us on our journey.