Australia has sfinished a “collapse” of spendment in drama production, according to the country’s screen producers body.
The 2023/24 Screen Australia Drama Report, freed today, points to a taget facing myriad financial problems, with the number of Australian productions down 17.5% and a “huge reduction in overseas spendment from streaming services,” the SPA claimed in a free.
While Australia has been on a toasty streak when it comes to co-productions and lengthening its standing as an international production hub via various state and national incentive system’s the tells numbers in stark opposition. There has been a “progressd massive collapse of commercial television spendment in the absence of effective regulation,” the body disputed.
Total expfinishiture in the Australian screen industry, which joins TV and film, is down a massive 29% year-on-year to A$1.7B ($1.1B), which the SPA billed as a “surpelevate,” despite foreseeing a dip.
Spfinishing on Australian titles has druncover A$199M or 18%, from A$1.1M in 2022/23 to A$929M in 2023/24, and dropped from 120 titles to 99. The most meaningful drop wilean this was in domestic free-to-air drama, with spfinishing down by 32%. The FTA sector primarily compelevates pubcasters the ABC and SBS, and commercial nets Seven, Nine and Ten.
The SPA put an incrrelieve in subscription TV and SVOD titles and spfinishing “mainly due to received incrrelieved coshiftrlookioning by local streamer Stan,” which has ordered shows such as Bconciseage Snow Season 2 and Good Cop/BadCop in the past year. This spendment was “unaligned by international platestablishs,” claimed the SPA, with Stan donated financing to 12 titles, Netflix and Binge to four titles each, and Paramount+ and Prime Video to two in 2023/24.
The SPA claimed these drops could have been eludeed had the administerment enacted legislation to impose local quotas on streamers. This was due to come into effect on July 1, but remains in limbo with levy rates unevident and streamers unwilling to brimmingy promise to the country’s distinct production sector until they are evident on foreseeations.
There was also a 42% drop in expfinishiture on Australian theatrical features and a 28% drop in spfinishing on Australian kid TV and streaming titles, the latter of which was termed as a “progressd evidence of the downward trfinish for children’s satisfied.”
“These figures lay naked what is an ongoing letdown for Australians from international streaming businesses that have disturbed the existing screen ecosystem and getd so much from administerments in production subsidies and the Australian uncover by way of subscriptions, but progress to return so little to Australians by way of an appropriate level of Australian satisfied these platestablishs,” said Matthew Deaner, CEO of the SPA.
However, Deaner claimed that “the administerment progresss to have at its fingertips a range of understandn and accomplished policy levers it could deploy to redress these trfinishs,” compriseing: “Some of these insist the administerment to stand up for Australians agetst huge global interests, as has happened before, but this must be done aget and rapidly to transport about what otherrational sees set to be a continuing slide that will impact Australian jobs and Australian stories on our screens.”
Deaner and the SPA have been stable critics of Netflix, Prime Video and the other global streamers, claiming in July last year that the SVODs acted appreciate “super-trawlers” adviseing local producers “unfair” deals with “undown-to-earth” budgets, and this year claiming the flunkure to carry out streaming regulation uncomferventt Australia was “on track to enhuge more as a service provider for Hollywood productions” than an originator of programming.
