Paramount Writers Mentoring Program

Closed for this cycle

Entries closed on 10 May 2026 and winners are announced live at the festival, running 24 to 30 September 2026. No 2027 dates have been published. The last three cycles have been consistent: entries open in the first week of December of the preceding year, early-bird falls in the second week of January, regular in mid-March, late in late April and the final deadline in the first half of May. The 2023 cycle opened on 2 January and ran roughly a month later throughout, so treat the December opening as a three-year pattern rather than four. Results run quarter-finals in late June or July, finalists in early August, and winners at the festival in September. One practical caution: the competition no longer has its own page and now sits on a year-stamped festival entries page, with the rules delegated to FilmFreeway, so the official link is likely to move again around December 2026.

Closed for this cycle

The 2026 challenge (the 23rd annual) finished with final round results on 29 July 2026, and no 2027 dates have been published. It has run every calendar year without a gap, always in three rounds, with entries closing in February and final results landing late July or August. The early-bird entry deadline falls in the first week or two of January, which is the moment to watch. One caution: the start date has moved earlier every single year (24 March 2023, 15 March 2024, 21 February 2025, 13 February 2026), so treat February as the shape rather than assuming a repeating date.

Closed for this cycle

The 2026 cycle closed on Friday 13 March 2026 at 12 noon, described as a strict deadline; no timezone is published, though RTÉ is Dublin-based. Finalists were named on 17 April, commissions on 15 May, with delivery in October 2026. The next cycle is unannounced, and this is one to watch rather than plan around: the cadence is reliably annual but the deadline month swings hard, running December for the 2022 edition, April for 2024, May for 2025 and March for 2026. The slate size moved too, from eight developed and three commissioned to ten and four in 2025 and back again in 2026, and 2026 switched from drama to comedy-only. Expect a call, but do not expect it in any particular month.

Closed for this cycle

The most recent cycle opened on 21 November 2025 and closed on 19 December 2025 at 11:59pm ET, with sessions running from February 2026 and the table reads and Face2Face events in August 2026. The 2027 window is unannounced, but the annual cycle is well evidenced across 2024, 2025 and 2026 cohorts, all reported in the trade press. Announcement timing drifts between February and April; the cycle itself does not. Note that the programme is headed as five months with an end date of August 2026 while the FAQ says sessions run February to May with the table reads and Face2Face in August, so taught delivery is roughly four months with a gap before the August showcase events.

Rolling applications

Always open. Applications can be made at any time through Screen Australia's portal, with assessment taking approximately eight weeks from the point eligibility is confirmed. There are no rounds and no deadlines to plan around. The guidelines were issued on 1 July 2025 and updated on 2 July 2026, so the stable pattern here is annual guideline revision rather than an annual application window.

Closed for this cycle

The 2026 cycle is complete and no dates have been published for the next round; the festival says to check back in autumn 2026. That cycle opened on 18 September 2025 and ran four tiers, early on 6 November at 45 dollars for a feature, regular on 15 January at 60, final on 19 February at 80 and extended on 5 March 2026 at 95, with notification on 22 May. Episodic and short categories run cheaper. The pattern across the two evidenced cycles is consistent: opening in mid-September, four tiers from November through early March, notification in May and the festival in the third week of June, with fees held flat between cycles. No deadline times or timezones are published anywhere.