The government's review of the Australian independent screen production sector has painted an overly positive view of the impact of the tax offsets
Screen Australia has issued a provisional Producer Offset certificate to Omnilab Media for its sequel to the 1982 fantasy classic The Dark Crystal, which the company is currently developing.
Many feature producers fear the Federal Government's sweeping media reforms will spell the death knell of Australian features, forcing them and some writers and directors to focus on content for streamers or free-to-air broadcasters.
The Documentary Australia Foundation is urging the Federal Government to treat documentary distinctly from drama as it proceeds with reform to the Producer Offset.
The Federal Government's proposed changes to the Producer Offset’s ‘Gallipoli’ clause would effectively limit the ability for Australian productions shooting offshore to use non-resident Australian actors, directors and crew, and therefore opportunities to raise international finance, industry bodies have argued.
The Australian Directors' Guild is worried about cuts to feature film fees for some of its members and is unhappy about a lack of consultation with Screen Australia on remuneration.
“I agree about not rushing into production until your script is pitch perfect but the agencies must recognise that unless you have Enterprise support (I never have), there is almost no support for producers to do this,” Maslin tells IF.
The highly anticipated producer offset scheme has proved to be a positive incentive to producers with more than 100 certificates being issued to features, documentaries and television, since its inception in November 2007.