Australian film and TV producers have responded positively to the country’s new investment slots for streamers, but caution that no one knows what impact, if any, it will have on the currently stagnant local film industry.
It is unlikely that feature films will be privileged on a quota basis, although the details have not yet been thoroughly eliminated. So far, the streamer has done little to support the 35 or so Australian independent features produced each year. Stan, the only locally owned SVoD platform, is an exception.
That said, most film producers also produce television, and additional financing can help them start a company, finance development, retain staff, and pay overhead costs.
Broadly speaking, streaming platforms with more than one million subscribers in Australia must commission or acquire first-release drama, family, documentary, arts or educational programming. Spending must be 10% of what each operator spends on programs of this type from anywhere in the world, or 7.5% of Australian revenue.
Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, Paramount+, Binge, Stan, and Apple TV are expected to be required to comply. Apple TV is believed to have a project in development, but it has not yet begun operating locally.
Setting the base rate
“Some distributors are going to be hit harder than others,” said Kylie Du Fresne, co-CEO of film and TV company Goalpost Pictures. His credits include the romantic comedy Five Blind Dates for Prime Video, the Blumhouse co-production The Invisible Man and the Australian-French co-production Carmen.
“Every streamer has a different model,” she continues. “Some companies produce the same amount, and some companies produce more. The industry is shrinking, and it’s good to have a base price even if production doesn’t increase right away.”
There’s a big question mark over whether features made for streamers will make it to theaters. Du Fresne points out that local tax rebates are beneficial to this, with producer offsets equal to 40% of qualifying expenditure for theatrical films and 30% for home viewing films.
“If all[streamer]features can account for 40%, it will have a positive impact on film production,” Du Fresne suggests.
Producers say investing in Australian content is good for business. “When we support Australian films, people watch them,” says Arena Media producer and director Robert Connolly. “We’re not being told to do anything that’s not in the interests of the streamer.”
Connolly’s producer credits include: Memoirs of a snail and The Drypreparing to direct a romantic drama set in Antarctica tremblean adaptation of Nicky Gemmell’s book of the same name.
See-Saw Films co-CEO Emile Sherman said the allocation was “generally welcomed.” “Raising the flag and recognizing quotas as a component of an ecosystem is a good first step,” he says.
But Sherman has concerns about the nature of the spending. For example, if a streamer is “fully financed,” at least a third comes from producer offsets, he says, so they shouldn’t be allowed to include the full amount in their total spend calculations.
He also argues that funding models should allow producers to retain their intellectual property and not force acquisition archetypes. “It would be easy to implement as it would not force streamers to increase their spending,” he suggests. At the end of the day, he added, licensing content for three to five years rather than owning it outright isn’t that big of an obligation, as the biggest benefits for streamers come immediately after release.
Paul Wiegaard, CEO of indie distribution company Madman, said if the allocation is good for the ecosystem, it will also be good for Madman and its producer partners. He’s happy that commissions and initial release periods count towards his quota.
“This means that production companies can raise private funds, produce work without any restrictions, and then bring it to market and sell it,” he says. “That’s the only way to increase private investment. If it were a fee, the streamer would hold the rights forever.”
But like Seesaw’s Sherman, Wiegard has concerns about what is being billed as expenditure. “We want transparency and we will use the gross proceeds to do that.”
