Screen Producers Australia CEO Matthew Deaner pulled no punches in his opening address at Screen Forever on Monday, taking aim at the Federal Government for reconfiguring content quotas and providing “slow, protracted and largely ineffective proposals” to ensure global streamers commission Australian titles.
After calling on the government to strengthen the local sector amid the international production boom in his 2021 virtual introduction, Deaner used his platform at this year’s in-person event to bring attention to the industry challenges created by the regulatory environment.
During his speech, he said there had been no greater illustration of how the “shape and depth of regulated quotas” determine operating conditions for the sector than in aftermath of the government’s decision to suspend local content quotas during the pandemic, before going on to relax the drama, documentary and children’s sub-quotas.
“Empirical data is now available that reveals the true impact of these changes – investment by commercial free-to-air television in Australian drama in 2020-21 was half the amount of the last full year of the outgoing regulatory framework,” he said.
“The amount of drama made for commercial free-to-air television also sharply declined as a result of deregulation, and there was a devastating impact on children’s content, where there are now no regulatory protections and pretty much no production even though in the middle of this all one of the broadcasters launched a children and YA content-focused channel – obviously valuing that audience – that now uses our spectrum just to show US content.
“And investment from subscription television reduced to almost nothing for a whole year, with permanent cuts on the government’s agenda.
“All in all, the current government’s response to heavy pressure on television quotas fiercely exacerbated uncertain operating conditions for drama and children’s producers in particular, and SPA will take every opportunity to put this case to whoever forms the government following the coming federal election that is only weeks away now.”
Also on the agenda was the regulatory safeguards for Australian content on streaming platforms, an issue on which SPA has long been outspoken.
Progress was made last month with the government announcing the next steps of its media reform plan, in which services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+ will be asked to report annually to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) on their Australian content spend. If a service’s investment is below 5 per cent, then the government would be able to impose a formal investment requirement.
Deaner said the “slow” pace at which the government has moved to impose regulatory obligations on streaming services had served to exacerbate an already uncertain outlook.
“The moment before us represents a unique opportunity to push for a forward-looking, effective and meaningful framework for Australian content on increasingly pervasive streaming services,” he said
“The delay in achieving this over the past few years makes the task harder but our case for fairness and consistency across platforms is strong.
“Streaming services are incredibly successful platforms that are starting to replace traditional platforms as the predominant place Australians seek entertainment.
“The history of public policy intervention in media in this country centres around the principle that platforms with a high degree of influence on Australian society should bear corresponding responsibilities to contribute back.”
He said the industry’s proposal that streamers should 20 per cent of their Australian-sourced revenue in commissioning new Australian content was a “progressive and effective” measure that would “deliver rich dividends in terms of certainty of investment, jobs and creative content”.
“Not only do we address the central issue of an internationally competitive rate of obligation, but we also have a proposal before government for negotiated terms of trade, to provide some structure and predictability to negotiations between producers and commissioners – negotiations which, at this point in time, are marked by volatility and a striking imbalance in bargaining power.
“We will continue to engage with the current government through its consultation process but are making it abundantly clear to them that the uncertainty and risk that its proposal would create will damage the sector and let industry and audiences down.”
Deaner also noted the importance of directly incentivising or requiring the production of content from First Nations people in any new regulatory framework for screen content.
“A requirement or incentive for streaming platforms to work with Indigenous-led businesses on projects with a genuine Indigenous voice is critical at a time when the preservation and maintenance of First Nations language, culture, food, and way of life is extremely important to Australia’s cultural identity,” he said.
“Whilst some streaming providers have pursued some engagement with local audiences through Australian content off their own bat, it is often at a minimum level of true local story and it is certainly not true of all providers, and it is not true across some critical genres of production such as children’s content.”