The Australian Cinematographers Society’s A Wider Lens report, which examines career pathways into cinematography, and the workplace and recruitment experiences of camera professionals, paints a picture of inequality, discrimination and a lack of diversity. It recommends an "industrial scale" effort to address a toxic work culture, finding many workplace conditions, as well as commonplace bullying, harassment and discrimination, are resulting in significant mental health consequences, to the point of threatening the industry's long-term sustainability and growth.
Screen Australia’s record spend on adult TV drama in 2017-18 has not come at the expense of support for feature films.
Watching the 2015 Melbourne Cup, Rachel Griffiths didn’t initially know there was a female jockey in the race.
"Each creative team is to imagine the episode is like an open letter to their 12-year-old self that explores the hopes, the dreams, the challenges, the hardships and the belly laughs that drive today’s girls," the ABC said in a statement.
"You'll find us moving the dial away from what I call 'traditional funding', because last time I checked pretty much anyone under 30 is not watching films. They're not watching our TV. They watch the online stuff. So we're going to move more and more into that space."
Experienced producers Leonie Mansfield ('Kick-Ass 2') and Lisa Shaunessy ('Killing Ground') are aiming to produce projects with 80 per cent female writers, directors and protagonists.
Screen Australia has received 452 applications - the most applications ever received for any funding program - for Brilliant Stories and Brilliant Careers, the two programs announced last December under the Gender Matters initiative.
Screen Australia’s Gender Matters initiative is not tackling the male dominance of the film production industry, according to Professor Deb Verhoeven, who proposes a radical solution: deny funding to men who don’t employ women in their creative teams.