Australia is more than a set for US stories: why government needs to back local film

Global streaming services have transformed the way the world not only consumes film and TV but also produces them. In Australia, 78% of households subscribe to at least one streaming service and we spend around $2 billion a year on subscriptions, yet the average amount of Australian content on those streaming services is less than 2%. In some cases, it is zero.

Is that because Australia is not capable of making high-quality film and TV for domestic consumption? No. Australian film and TV rate extraordinarily well domestically. In fact, it’s not just Australians that like our stories — our cultural product is highly exportable, with almost half of Australia’s production companies generating export revenue, compared with an average of 7.6% for Australian businesses.

The amount of local content on streaming services could be a lot higher with investment from streamers and the right policy framework from government. The Koreans are exporting their film, TV and music, the Nordic countries successfully export Scandi-noir; it is well within the capacity of the 12th wealthiest nation in the world to export what others call our “blue-sky drama”, “desert noir” — a genre all of our own — as well as other high-quality content.

The real reason we don’t have more Australian content is simple: it’s a lot cheaper and easier for streamers to pay for a show made elsewhere and to beam that out across the globe. Pay once, stream everywhere. The streamers are businesses and naturally they seek to maximise profits by minimising costs. The interests of Australians are different, though complementary: local jobs and local stories. 

Local stories and a national culture require an investment in local content.

This is the concern of the Australian screen sector. We want an Australian screen sector that goes beyond functioning as a giant set for American film productions, that goes beyond a fly-in-fly-out (FIFO) service model. Our vision of an Australian screen sector is one that supports local actors, writers, directors, editors, set designers, composers, editors and the entire screen ecosystem. We want to tell our own stories — who else would have produced Gallipoli, Picnic at Hanging Rock, Prisoner, Muriel’s Wedding, Samson and Delilah, or The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert? A Wentworth, a Wakefield, a Rake?

The streamers have raised concerns about potential capacity constraints that might push up production costs. Bottlenecks and constraints may occur in the use of studio space, but that’s not the only place to shoot good TV and films. In Australian productions we can shoot on site, in smaller studios, we can animate in workshops of various sizes, and can develop, cut and engineer across our entire continent.

Quality stories are told with good investment in good writing and creative development up front.

In terms of human capital, the screen sector is one of the most under-utilised sectors in the Australian economy, with no shortage of actors, editors and writers. Many of our best pursue careers overseas after starting their work here, but these opportunities are disappearing without an investment pipeline at home. We used to have a well-worn travelling circle of talent: cut your teeth here on quintessentially Australian shows, work overseas, then return home to make great stories, with a career spanning continents. If we continue as the streamers seek, with limited to no Aussie content, that circle breaks. 

But even if there wasn’t capacity, you don’t extinguish your national culture and the potential growth of a sector because we don’t yet have the capacity. You build and train that capacity. 

Local content quotas are in the ballpark of 30% in many European countries. The Australian sector is advocating for a modest 20% content quota and for sub-quotas to ensure Australian content isn’t just reality TV but also drama, documentary and kids TV. Substantive productions where Australian writing, acting, directing and screen talent are employed and, importantly, where we will continue to generate and hopefully export our culture.

And the benefit to the Australian taxpayer? It would come at no additional cost to consumers but be drawn from existing subscription fees paid to global streaming services. We could also see ourselves on the world stage, and generate revenue from what we know is a highly exportable product.

These are the types of jobs a highly developed economy can be proud of supporting.