Speaking at the Australian International Documentary Conference in Melbourne on Tuesday, Screen Producers Australia CEO Matthew Deaner took the opportunity to highlight a number of steps that should be taken to support documentary-making and to catch up on ground lost over recent years.
Screen Producers Australia CEO Matthew Deaner said:
“At a time when the Australian Government is on the verge of making some changes to the Location Offset and Producer Offset and introducing long overdue streaming regulation, it is also timely to look at how Australian documentary-makers are faring and what could be done to ensure that Australian audiences continue to have access to a diverse range of home-grown factual screen stories.”
“Because many of the recent changes to Australia’s tax incentives for screen production have been for the benefit of scripted programming, there are opportunities to improve the ledger now for documentary productions.”
“This should be a priority for Government, Screen Agencies and Broadcasters alike.”
“For example, the 65-hour cap for access to the Producer Offset that was removed in 2021 for scripted content should also be removed for documentaries. Currently, there is an anomaly in funding support to prevent feature documentaries from being able to access the PDV rebate, which can make a significant difference to the levels of support these projects receive.”
SPA is also concerned that while Screen Australia has recently lifted the minimum licence fee for drama, after a long 12-year freeze, this freeze has not yet been lifted for documentary productions.
This has a flow-on effect on the minimum licence fee broadcasters pay for documentary projects.
“Particularly in the context of Australia’s National Cultural Policy Revive that recognises the value of all Australian stories irrespective of genre, these anomalies that favour drama over documentary really don’t make sense, and it is time for some overdue adjustments by Government, Screen Agencies and Broadcasters to best support to such critical stories of our lives and our histories,” said Mr Deaner.
