Australia's film industry needs a total re-boot

From ABC ONLINE:

The bottom line is that Australian films accounted for just over one in 200 cinema tickets last year, bringing in only $12 million out of the $900 million we spent at the movies.

So what do they (the industry) want? More taxpayer's money from the Federal Government. I can't find out (quickly enough) what we spent on the local film industry last year but I did discover this:

The Australian Government (including State and Federal agencies, the ABC and SBS) invested A$81.4 million in the local film industry for Australian productions in 2002-03. Industry and private investors contributed A$147.6 million, with another A$41.4 million coming from foreign investors.  

In 2002-03, a total of 80 feature films and television drama programs were made in Australia with a total production value of A$737 million, of which A$513 million was spent in Australia. Foreign film production spending in Australia has increased by 48 per cent since the introduction of a refundable tax offset for film production in 2001. Australia provides world-class studio facilities, high-quality technical expertise and a diverse range of stunning landscapes for location shooting.

So in 2002-03 there was $700 million spent on 80 feature films and TV programs. That's an average of $8.75 million on each. Let's assume we spent at least an equivalent amount last year. And they returned only $12 million in ticket sales?

Someone (an up and coming Melbourne film producer) told me recently that the AFC and Film Victoria just keep funding the same producers over and over again. That, even though these producers' film keep losing money, they keep getting funded, year after year. He suggested the industry is fairly in-bred, with mates funding their mates. If it's true, maybe it's a good thing that we stick with our producers, giving them a chance to blossom. Or maybe it's time that we gave some of that funding to new players. Would you keep giving business entrepreneurs money time and time again if they kept failing to produce a satisfactory result?

We keep hearing how the Australian film industry has this "world class" talent. Aussies keep winning international awards. Then why the hell can't we make films that people here want to see? Is it still a case of cultural cringe? Or aren't we funding the right kinds of films? Where is the modern Australian MAD MAX? Where is the new ROMPER STOMPER? Where is the new BLISS?

 

Comments

[Chris Blake]

Or is the industry just waiting for an indie type revolution.. Hmm.. maybe the podcast network can evolve into making short documentaries.... Cameron?.... That's your new challenge... Maybe get together with the Fang and do some Music Clips to get the ball rolling?..... Blakie

[Cameron Reilly]

yeah that's totally on the cards Chris. Our first vidcast is coming out shortly. And we'll move on from there to produce a wide range of digital video-based content. But that's not going to solve the Aussie film industry's issues. $700 million a year is a lot of money that obviously isn't getting into the right hands.

[Duncan Riley]

You've gotten close to hitting it on the head: the reason people don't go and see Australian films isn't cultural cringe, its because they're crap. Same producers making the same rubbish about inner city Sydney and Melbourne and a lifestyle most Australians cant relate to.

[Anonymous]

Tax dollars being spent half-arsed on the Australian film industry has become the norm. Tell me Steve Bracks gave a toss about Central City Studios after flushing $40 million down the toilet on five empty sheds? "Ghost Rider" you say? So what, one American offshore production since the studios were completed in 2003. "Hating Alison Ashley" you say? Another Australian box-office flop, whoop-dee-do! Tell me the studios wouldn't be making more money if they hired out to rave parties? At least that lot have amassed a following that started strong in the late eighties and is still kicking on. Maybe the film industry should take some pointers in marketing product from them (Delta Goodrem doth not necessarily make a good film sayeth the Film Bible)! Last I heard peoples "positions" at CCS were being "reassessed" because of the lack of product booking in to use the space. Meanwhile, I've got a AUD$300 million dollar trilogy, with a financial commitment from private investors, and the support of both actors and crew from the Aus and NZ film industry, sitting on my shelf gathering dust because I'm refused any assistance from organisations such as Film Victoria, FFC, and the AFC to help tie up the loose ends and get people working; the studios producing; and a substantial amount of private investment recirculating through the Victorian economy. Hang on a minute, that's right, I forgot, this is Australia we're talking about. The country were 60% of television content is about "white" Australians, and the other 40 is from a country most "quiet" Australians thought it was a bad idea to go to war alongside in Iraq. Australia, the country where any idea is a good idea as long as it didn't come from a wog, spic, chink, jew, turk, lebo, black, abo, and any other variation you may have heard. Australia, the country where a Greek representative in Parliament is shot down for being too boisterous the minute she speaks her mind (it's not the Aussie way. Hang on a minute some of these "white" Pollies should take a good look at themselves during Question Hour on the ABC). Australia, the country that's had Greeks and Italians shipping in since the forties, yet in almost six decades, the only thing learnt from ethnics is from stilted representations in films like "The Wog Boy". Yes, of course it made money, remember; wog's are funny! We speak funny and we act funny. Why else is it that the only other Italian we remember was in "Kingswood Country" and "They're A Weird Mob". Ever seen an Italian-Australian romance? "Love's Brother" you say? Giovanni Ribisi's a yank! Maybe there aren't any Italian-Australian actors? Open up a copy of Showcast; find me one that wouldn't have fit the bill. The biggest disappointment with that picture is that Ribisi's wage is money spent out of this country. It's money lost. Not to organised crime syndicates like the SPAA though. The Screen Producer’s Association of Australia controls who is and is not allowed to bring international talent into the country to work on a feature film. How do they control it? By forcing independent producers to join their so called union at an annual fee of $500+ a pop. You don’t become a member; they make it hard for you to produce product. Not to mention the hefty levy they charge you, out of the production budget you’ve struggled five to ten years to get your hands on; for the right to produce a film in a democracy like ours. Last time I looked that was called blackmail. Why else do you think they’re crying out for a further AUD$15 million from the Government to be pumped into local production every year. SPAA is dependent on that levy to exist, without it their administration is threatened. Since Macquarrie shut down their film fund in 2004, SPAA’s financial wealth-spring has been capped to what comes out of the FFC, AFC, and state film boards. But since the FFC has decided to “relook” at its funding paradigms; SPAA is starting to feel the pinch. I don’t see SPAA feeding my kids while I’m struggling to get a film off the ground. Why the hell should I become a member? They’re not there to negotiate my rights. Everybody knows every project you work on is a case of independent negotiation, and independent contracting. Not to mention most producer’s nowdays are hoping to work with people on a sub-contract basis anyway because budgets are so low; money is hard to come by; and no producer wants the headache of night time loadings and all the other penalty rates that make any feature film venture a joke. Truth be told, the Australian film industry is in disarray because it's run by bigots with a hand on their own pulse, an eye on their own wallets, and no clue of what goes on in the streets, in the neighbourhoods, in the slums, and anywhere outside the Sydney or Melbourne CBD. Places where real stories grow from. The stories most executive producers are too scared to touch because they'll be shunned by the boards during the next round of funding applications; and the Government funding bodies will never fund because it’s not the face of Australia they want portrayed. Yet it’s the Australia that's been growing for over half a century. How can you expect a country without a grasp on its own identity to ever produce anything any of us would want to watch? Or the rest of the world for that matter.