The U.S. labor strikes, global economic conditions and uncertainty around incentives were key factors in the 29% drop in drama production spend in Australia in 2023/24, according to Screen Australia.
Revealed in the Screen Australia Drama Report released today was that total spend was well down year-on-year at A$1.7B ($1.1B), with only A$929M spent on Australian stories, down 18%.
Screen Australia CEO Deirdre Brennan has called on the industry to reunite to combat the myriad issues facing the market. Screen Producers Australia has already claimed the report had confirmed the “collapse” of investment in drama.
Screen Australia was keen to provide more color on the fall, noting that a “reduction in high-budget production activity across international TV and Australian theatrical features” had occurred, combing with weak global economics that caused “disruption across distribution platforms, business models and audience shifts influencing the market.” The U.S. writers and actors strike further compounded the issue, while changes to the Location Offset, which were confirmed in July, made for more confusion.
Screen Australia CEO Deirdre Brennan said A$1.7B expenditure on 169 Australian and international drama productions represented “a solid result after a three-year peak driven by Australia’s status as a COVID-safe filming destination, streaming growth and a number of high-budget theatrical features.”
Expenditure jumped from A$1.1B in 2019/2020 to a high of A$2.4B in 2021/22 and 2022/23, but has sharply fallen in the following 12 months, the Drama Report revealed. Notably international TV and streaming drama productions have gone from A$575M in 2021/22, when many productions shifted to Australia to avoid COVID lockdown restrictions, to just A$122M in 2023/24.
Theatrical feature spend has also nosedived, down from a record A$794M in 2021/22 to A$214M. Screen Australia noted that in previous years, the likes of Mortal Kombat, Elvis and Mad Max: Furiosa had been filmed in Australia.
Australian TV and streaming commissions have broadly held up (A$657M), with the SPA yesterday crediting local streamer Stan for investing in 12 production, three times the amount of the next streamer. Investment from Australian broadcasters, local streamers and distributors was up 36%, which was a higher proportion to production costs from the local market.
Producers tell us they still believe SVODs are waiting on what levy rate will be imposed non their local revenues before committing more investment in the country. The government was due to implement its levels in July, but there has been no movement since.
Investment in children’s content remains negligible, at A$58M, down from A$81M the year before but up on the 2019/20 figure of A$51M.
Meanwhile the Producer Offset contributed A$245M of investment in all drama, with $75M in financing provided for Australian theatrical features.
“The Drama Report is one of many resources providing insights into the opportunities and challenges facing the Australian screen sector,” said Brennan. “This year’s results confirm key trends in domestic activity, a contraction of free-to-air commercial TV drama and the increasing role of SVOD commissioning.
“Children’s content continues to face significant pressure and remains reliant on government support, so we’re working to broaden the opportunities for development of Australian kids IP. We will also explore the needs of feature filmmakers working in the $1-5 million budget range, dominant again in this year’s data.”
“We understand how competitive funding is, with Screen Australia supporting 27% of the direct funding applications received for scripted content in 2023/24. In an environment where international financing is also increasingly harder to source, we need to pull together as an industry to ensure the sustainability of the sector.”
“Despite these challenges, we’re optimistic about the future and confident that there will be an uplift in production in the year ahead. Screen Australia will continue to collaborate with industry to identify growth opportunities and ensure Australian screen stories thrive.”
Screen Australia has unveiled plans to expand its research program through a new Screen Currency report that will provide insights into the economic and cultural value of Australia screen and games production. A suite of further research projects, grouped as the Viewfinder series, will look deeper into audience behavior and attitudes.
English (US) ·