SBS acquires cutting edge, entertaining and exciting films, drama, comedy, documentary, factual and factual entertainment programming from all around the world for broadcast on SBS TV and Online.

SBS invites distributors and producers of completed programs to submit them for consideration by SBS for potential acquisition. (If you are an Australian producer with a great drama, comedy, documentary, factual or entertainment proposal, click here.) Submissions should be addressed to the relevant coordinator:

Documentary and factual series: documentary@sbs.com.au
Short Films and filler series: shorts@sbs.com.au
Feature films: features@sbs.com.au
Drama, comedy and entertainment series: drama@sbs.com.au

All submissions should include:

1. Title.
2. Year of production.
- Please note that we do not consider programs more than 2 years old.
3. Duration.
4. A one paragraph synopsis.
5. Short bios of key creatives, i.e. Producer, Director, Writer.
6. Details of any festival or broadcast screenings and award nominations/wins.
7. Links to additional online content, including trailers.
8. Full contact details of the distributor, including postal address.

Catalogues of recent programs from distributors are also welcome.

All submissions will be considered for suitability for the SBS schedule. If interested we will contact you to request a viewing copy for assessment. We do not accept unsolicited material. Please note that due to the volume of submissions we receive we are unable to provide feedback in individual cases.

DOCUMENTARIES – EDITORIAL GUIDELINES

SBS Programming aims to acquire the very best in documentary from around the world. We look for programs that are high impact, high profile and offer an insight into the world we live in. We acquire programs for specific slots within our television schedule on subjects that include history, science, politics, sexuality, and adventure travel. Producers and distributors submitting programs are advised to familiarise themselves with recent and current documentaries on SBS (www.sbs.com.au/documentary).

Please note that:

•    Documentaries must be of a high standard and able to appeal to our weekly audience of more than 5.4 million Australians in metro areas and 2.7 million in regional areas.
•    SBS does not have an acquired slot for personal human interest stories. We prefer journalistic overviews of issues to personal explorations.
•    We will consider all completed Australian documentaries, however producers should note that in most cases Australian content on SBS is developed with SBS Commissioned Content.
•    Due to the limited number of slots we can acquire for we must often turn down content that would otherwise be suitable.