Cinema Cities, Media Cities: the Contemporary International Studio Complex
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Cinema Cities, Media Cities: The Contemporary International Studio Complex by Ben Goldsmith and Tom O’Regan Faculty of Arts, Griffith University, Brisbane Screen Industry, Culture and Policy Research Series Australian Film Commission, Sydney Australian Key Centre for Cultural and Media Policy, Brisbane, and Creative Industries Research and Applications Centre, Brisbane September 2003 A project commissioned by the Australian Key Centre for Cultural and Media Policy and the Australian Film Commission. © 2003 Australian Film Commission, Ben Goldsmith, Tom O’Regan, Creative Industries Research and Applications Centre. All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the Australian Film Commission. The information provided in this book has been drawn from a variety of sources. The authors have undertaken all reasonable measures to ensure its accuracy and therefore neither they nor the publishers can accept any responsibility for inaccuracies or omissions, and specifically disclaim any liability for any loss or risk, personal or otherwise, which is incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and application of any of the contents of this book. ISBN 0-9580152-7-9 Australian Film Commission Level 4, 150 William Street Woolloomooloo NSW Tel: (02) 9231 6444 Fax: (02) 9357 3737 Email: [email protected] Web: http://www.afc.gov.au Faculty of Arts Griffith University Brisbane Qld 4111 Tel: (07) 3875 7111 Fax: (07) 3875 5511 Email: [email protected], [email protected] Creative Industries Research and Applications Centre (CIRAC) Creative Industries Faculty Queensland University of Technology GPO Box 2434 Brisbane Qld 4000 Tel: (07) 3864 4111 Fax: (07) 3864 1031 Email: [email protected] Web: www.creativeindustries.qut.com/research/cirac Copy editing: Catherine Gray Design and production: Australia Region Media Printed by Southwood Press 2 Acknowledgments Sincere thanks to all the interviewees who so generously gave their time and experience: (in alphabetical order) Lynne Benzie, Louisa Coppel, John Cox, Elle Croxford, Dale Duguid, Lynn Gailey, Barbara Gibbs, Carol Hughes, Terry Jackman, Robin James, Vic Kasper, Gary Keir, John Lee, Garry McDonald, Murray Pope, Veronica Sive, Henry Tefay, Marc van Buuren, and Kim Williams. The views expressed and any errors committed in this report are the authors’ alone and do not represent the views of the individuals interviewed or their institutions, nor do they represent the views of the Australian Film Commission. All direct quotes in the report are from interviews conducted by the authors between July 2001 and February 2003. Thanks also to our research assistants on this project: Dr Susan Ward, who assisted us with most of the interviews, lending her considerable knowledge of the Queensland film milieu; Tiziana Ferrero-Regis for her help in negotiating the byways of Cinecittà; and Mark Ryan for last minute checking. We would like to acknowledge the support and encouragement of Professor Stuart Cunningham in initiating the research project and sticking with it; and the Australian Film Commission for their patience as this project took much longer than anticipated. The research for this project was initially funded through an Australian Research Council SPIRT grant and finalised through funding from the Australian Research Council’s Postdoctoral Fellowship (Goldsmith) and Discovery Research grant schemes (O’Regan). A Griffith University Research Grant on international production in Queensland also funded part of the research for this report. About the authors Dr Ben Goldsmith is an Australian Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Faculty of Arts, Griffith University. His Fellowship examines the contemporary international audiovisual production environment, with particular focus on studio complexes, footloose production and co-productions, and the impacts of free trade agreements on film and television production. He was a Research Fellow at the Australian Key Centre for Cultural and Media Policy from 1998 to 2002, where he worked on a variety of projects covering Indigenous culture and intellectual property, film policy, cultural diversity and cultural policy, and broadcasting regulation and policy. He is a co-author of the recent report The Future for Local Content (Australian Broadcasting Authority, 2001). Professor Tom O’Regan was Director of the Australian Key Centre for Cultural and Media Policy (CMP) from 1999 to 2002 inclusive. He was integrally involved in developing the role of policy analysis and study in communication, media and cultural studies in Australia and internationally. He co-founded the cultural and media studies journal Continuum (1987–1995). His books include Australian Television Culture (Allen & Unwin, 1993) and Australian National Cinema (Routledge, 1996). He is a co-author of the recent report The Future for Local Content (Australian Broadcasting Authority, 2001) and co-editor of a book on audience development strategies in the arts and media sectors, Mobilising the Audience (UQP, 2002). In 2002 he was elected a Fellow of Australian Academy of the Humanities. 3 Contents INTRODUCTION 7 The spread of the studio complex...........................................................................................................................................7 The nature of the studio complex ...........................................................................................................................................8 The paradoxes of the studio complex.....................................................................................................................................9 The dynamics of international production.............................................................................................................................11 The components of this study................................................................................................................................................ 13 CHAPTER 1. THE POLICY ENVIRONMENT OF THE CONTEMPORARY FILM STUDIO 15 Old and new perspectives....................................................................................................................................................... 16 Government support for studios ............................................................................................................................. 16 Infrastructure provision............................................................................................................................................. 17 Private and public partnerships .............................................................................................................................. 18 Value-adding clusters and precincts....................................................................................................................... 18 Rethinking the relationship between local and international production ........................................................ 19 Resurgence of the ‘studio idea’ ............................................................................................................................................. 21 CHAPTER 2. MAPPING DIVERSITY AND SCOPE 23 Size and location......................................................................................................................................................................23 Patterns of ownership and management..............................................................................................................................25 Quality of infrastructure and institutional connections......................................................................................................27 The balance of work ................................................................................................................................................................29 When they were built...............................................................................................................................................................30 Functional profile and spatial concentration........................................................................................................................ 31 The production precinct............................................................................................................................................32 The cinema city..........................................................................................................................................................32 The media city............................................................................................................................................................32 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................................................33 CHAPTER 3. CASE STUDIES IN DEVELOPMENT AND RENOVATION 35 From production precinct to cinema city: The greenfields studios of Vancouver and the Gold Coast ......................36 Between cinema city and media city: The inner-urban studio complexes of Sydney, Toronto and Melbourne .......40 The international