Acclaimed commercials, short film and documentary director Kriv Stenders has finally got his dark and irreverent debut feature The Illustrated Family Doctor over the financing line. He wrote the script in conjunction with David Snell, author of the novel on which it is based.

The commitment of UK-based sales agent Moviehouse enabled producer Catherine Kerr to access public subsidy from the Film Finance Corporation (FFC).

But while securing an international sales agent is the biggest challenge for Australian producers in the current environment, she would not have got a greenlight without strong support from TV player SBS Independent and pay-TV player PMP/Showtime, both of whom are investors. Distributor Palace Films and the FFC. Persistence also helped.

The FFC has also agreed to be a minority investor in two second films: Jonathan Teplitzky's comedy Gettin' Square and Evan Clarry's comic thriller Under The Radar. Both are being predominantly financed by private investors via the Nine/Macquarie fund. Working Title's Tim White has now joined Martin Fabinyi and Trisk Lake as a producer on Gettin' Square. Chris Brown and Chris Fitchett are Under The Radar's producers.