Screen Australia Television Funding

Australian Broadcasting Corporation submission to Screen Australia Television Funding A Review of Screen Australia’s Role and Objectives 2010 August 2010 ABC Submission to Screen Australia’s Television Funding Review 2010 1 Executive Summary The ABC proposes, in relation to Screen Australia’s current review, the following outcomes: • A clear articulation of Screen Australia’s strategic intentions, in relation to production and broadcasting industries, including the national broadcasters, and an undertaking to explore with industry ways in which to increase transparency in relation to decision- making, funding and guidelines. • Screen Australia should consider increasing partnerships with broadcasters in relation to feature film funding. Support for a 40% Producer Offset for high-end television drama, including children’s drama, and documentaries, subject to appropriate guidelines. • Should Government agree to an enhanced Offset, a continuation of Screen Australia’s role in relation to terms of trade, with minimum licence fees becoming part of the certification process. • If a 40% Producer Offset were to eventuate, Screen Australia should consider alternative ways to support the sector, including: (a) targeted development strategies for television drama, including resource-intensive approaches, extended development and workshops; (b) more engagement with young innovators and innovation strategies for content delivered to Australian screens; (c) an alternative approach to programs with artistic and cultural merit, which could encompass broadcasts of live events. • In the absence of a 40% Producer Offset, continue Screen Australia’s role as gap “financier”. • Consider the meaning and funding available for Nationally Significant Programming in the context of national free-to-air broadcasting. • Explore initiatives to fund a variety of nationally-significant Indigenous programs, and so continue to build the Indigenous independent film sector. • Re-affirm and develop the relationship between the ABC and Screen Australia in relation to documentaries; review and formalise the funding split for domestic documentaries; acknowledge the importance of “slate financing” in the building of a sustainable sector; and recognise the ongoing benefits of the National Documentary Program (NDP) and tied funding. • Screen Australia should maintain its current approach on minimum licence fees, and restate the case for free-to-air broadcasters and pay-TV in relation to the NDP. • Acknowledge and act on the validity of the ABC’s concerns in relation to children’s programming, as they relate to branding, the necessity for holdbacks, and the need for pay-TV to make a stronger contribution to licence fees. ABC Submission to Screen Australia’s Television Funding Review 2010 2 Introduction The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) welcomes the opportunity to make a submission to Screen Australia’s review of its role and objectives in relation to television funding. As a statutory corporation under the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Act 1983 (“the ABC Act”), the ABC seeks a presence on all major electronic media platforms. The ABC Act, which includes the ABC Charter, requires the Corporation to provide access to all Australians to a range of information, entertainment and other programming. As a result, the ABC plays an important role in contributing to Australia’s screen culture. The ABC Charter requires that the Corporation broadcast programs that “contribute to a sense of national identity and inform and entertain, and reflect the cultural diversity of, the Australian community…” Diverse, high-quality and innovative local content, which is of national significance and which engages with Australian audiences, is at the centre of the ABC’s Charter obligations, and such programming finds a home on ABC1, ABC2 and the recently-launched ABC3 for children. The Corporation recognises the tremendous cultural benefits generated for Australians by government support for Australian content through a variety of mechanisms, including tax rebates, contestable direct funding, funding of the national broadcasters and regulations specifying minimum local content levels. In particular, many ABC programs, such as documentaries, short-form mini-series and children’s drama programming, involve funding provided by Screen Australia. The ABC plays an integral role in the broadcasting environment and is intimately involved in supporting and sustaining an independent production sector. From 2006–07 to 2008–09, the Corporation’s commitment to independent production across all genres was $144 million. This contributed to production budgets of $318 million, delivering almost 700 hours of Australian content to Australian audiences. Historically, the ABC has been a leader in the delivery of innovative and high-quality Australian drama, although resourcing or funding issues have impeded its ability to do this in some periods. Significant increased funding for drama in the 2009 Federal Budget has enabled the ABC to resume a leading role, working with industry partners to develop, finance and produce Australia drama for delivery across an increasing range of platforms to the Australian community. The Australian Government’s 2009 increase in ABC funding involved two significant outcomes: • $67 million over three years for a new dedicated children’s channel, ABC3; and • $70 million for local drama production over three years. ABC Submission to Screen Australia’s Television Funding Review 2010 3 The ABC‘s expects that over the current funding triennium—from 2009 to 2012—it will commit $238 million, generating over 1,000 hours of production ultimately worth over $400 million. This will include $82 million for new Australian drama, generating 133 hours of content and a total of $130 million in Australian production. It will also include $26 million for Australian comedies, generating 43 hours of content valued at $35 million. The ABC will allocate a further $48 million to Australian children’s programming over the three years, generating over 450 hours of production worth over $100 million. It will spend some $90 million for Australian documentaries, entertainment and factual programs, generating 405 hours of content and, ultimately, $150 million in production. The ABC will need to work with Screen Australia to reach these targets. As a broadcaster closely involved with the independent production sector, with funding bodies, and with providing Australian content to Australian audiences, the ABC has a keen interest in and engagement with the cultural policy settings that apply to the creation of audiovisual content, and which are designed to promote and support the creation of high- quality local content for Australian audiences. Accordingly, the ABC suggests that the following matters should be considered in relation to Screen Australia’s objectives and role, especially when considering television programming funding in what is now a rapidly-changing media landscape involving many new forms of content delivery and business activity, none of which has yet delivered a satisfactory business model for funding high-end television productions. The Role of Screen Australia Strategic Intentions The first term of reference for the Review is to: 1. Confirm the objectives and role of Screen Australia with regard to television funding, taking into account levels of investment and the role the agency has in developing and producing innovative and nationally significant television programming. The ABC acknowledges and values the vital role that Screen Australia plays in supporting the development and sustainability of Australia’s independent production sector. The ABC and Screen Australia share a common interest in ensuring that Australian audiences have access to high-quality, innovative and culturally-significant Australian-made television content and, to that end, have engaged in various formal and informal partnerships to deliver these shared goals. As a television broadcaster, the ABC naturally has a focus on television content, and on developing and refining an appropriate mix of measures to ensure that high-quality television content continues to be produced. There is currently a significant alignment between the ABC and Screen Australia in relation to policy and the funding of Australian television content. The ABC welcomes this Review as an opportunity to identify and confirm ABC Submission to Screen Australia’s Television Funding Review 2010 4 common goals and identify further opportunities for collaboration and partnerships, and so continue to leverage these synergies to deliver content. This review also provides a timely opportunity for Screen Australia to define its objectives and role in relation to television funding. Broadcast television is, and will remain for the foreseeable future, the most significant source for the funding and delivery of Australian content to Australian audiences. In the ABC’s view, it is important for Screen Australia to articulate its strategic intentions with regard to its relationship to the independent sector and the broadcasting sector, especially the national broadcasters, in the context of its overall framework for funding. The national broadcasters are another key source of direct government funding for Australian television programming, and it is important that Screen Australia presents a vision regarding the way it sits in the policy landscape, along with the national broadcasters, as one of the Government’s policy levers for such programming.

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