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SPAA calls for $30m film fund
[Thu 06/05/2010 03:44:26]
By Brendan Swift
The Screen Producers Association of Australia has called on the government to launch a $30 million annual film fund to fight the economic downturn and bolster the production of mid-range feature films.
The debt facility - the first to be requested by SPAA rather than an equity fund - would be aimed at bolstering production of films in the $10 million to $30 million budget range and would match the investment of local distributors.
"It requires the distributors to put up real bucks - it will be commercially driven," SPAA executive director Geoff Brown said.
"We're not seeing the pickup in private sector [investment] and we couldn't have anticipated the situation that we were getting into with the GFC ... and pre-sales disappearing."
Brown said local distributors had expressed support for the SPAA plan and would increase their investment in local films that are aimed at the international market.
SPAA estimates that the fund would generate the production of 27 feature films over its four year term and recover up to half of its maximum $90 million total exposure.
Screen Australia has previously expressed concern about the lack of mid-range features being made in Australia with the bulk of the Producer Offset's estimated $170 million industry-wide rebate for 2008-09 delivered to a small number of high end projects. The Offset returns up to 40 per cent of qualifying expenditure for a feature film and 20 per cent for TV and other screen projects.
The SPAA call was made as part of the lobby group's submission to the government's review of the independent film and TV production sector, which closed last week.
SPAA has also made several other recommendations including raising current broadcaster requirements to screen Australian content and banning broadcasters access to the Offset.
Several other SPAA initiaitives are also aimed at fine-tuning the Offset and making it easier to access such as: changing the definition of what counts as qualifying expenditure, halving the current feature film threshold to $500,000, extending the Offset for children's live action drama beyond 65 episodes and expanding the definition of qualifying children's animation programs.
Under SPAA's recommendations, the documentary sector would receive greater support by raising the level of the Offset or increasing what counts as qualifying expenditure. SPAA also recommended bolstering offshore production in Australia, partly by strengthening the Post-Production, Digital and Visual effects (PDV) and Locations Offset schemes.
