CJZ MD Nick Murray has a cautionary message for those who are calling on the Federal Government to double the Producer Offset for TV productions to 40 per cent: Be careful what you wish for.
Screen Australia is taking a slightly tougher position in evaluating feature film projects this year, while the agency is seeing a spike in feature documentary and high-end TV drama pitches.
If elected, Labor has promised $40 million to the ABC to support drama, comedy, children’s and music programming, and $20 million to SBS to support more Australian content.
The screen industry needs to "meaningfully grapple" with the longstanding, systemic issues that impact upon parents/carers in the sector, according to Professor Deb Verhoeven, one of the researchers behind Raising Films Australia's recent survey report.
The Australian Directors' Guild is worried about cuts to feature film fees for some of its members and is unhappy about a lack of consultation with Screen Australia on remuneration.
Eleven years since the introduction of the Producer Offset, Screen Australia has expressed concern about an increase in applications for feature films that have unreasonably high fees.
The Federal Government's proposed changes to the Producer Offset’s ‘Gallipoli’ clause would effectively limit the ability for Australian productions shooting offshore to use non-resident Australian actors, directors and crew, and therefore opportunities to raise international finance, industry bodies have argued.
If the government were to adopt the recent House of Reps inquiry’s recommendations to level each of the offsets to 30 per cent and decouple the Location and PDV Offsets, the total value that offset-supported production adds to the Australian economy every year would grow by almost 35 per cent to $1.6 billion by 2021-22.