THE Victorian film and television drama industry shed more than half its value last financial year, while the state's peak funding body has yet to appoint a chief executive more than 12 months after its former chief announced she was leaving.
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| The value of Victoria's film and television drama production fell significantly last year |
The total value of film and television drama production in Victoria was just $123 million in 2010-11, according to the annual national production survey conducted by Screen Australia and released this week. That was a 55 per cent decline on the previous year's record tally of $272 million, and a 41 per cent drop on the more meaningful four-year average of $210 million.
Victoria's share of the national spend also fell, from 37 per cent in 2009-10 to 25 per cent last financial year.
The figures are the lowest in raw dollar terms since 2003-04 when just $115 million was spent on film and television drama in Victoria. Adjusted for inflation, the result is even worse - the last time the sector was worth less to the Victorian economy was 1994-95, when $76 million was spent ($112 million in 2010 values).
''Film Victoria should be very concerned about those figures,'' said Linda Klejus, the Victorian chapter head of the Screen Producers Association of Australia. ''To be back at the level of 2004, which was disastrous, is very disappointing.''
Ms Klejus said Film Victoria had pursued a misguided strategy under former chief executive Sandra Sdraulig, who announced she would leave the job last October and whose tenure came to an end with a much-criticised $45,000 farewell bash in March. Ms Sdraulig was announced last week as the new chairman of the Adelaide Film Festival.
Film Victoria had focused on attracting interstate production companies to Victoria without ensuring those companies were obliged to provide opportunities for local producers to hone their skills, Ms Klejus said. ''And now these producers are moving back to New South Wales and Queensland as the state bodies there get their act together. We need Film Victoria to support local producers or else we will just wither on the vine.''
But some other local producers see the situation as more about the inevitable ups and downs of production cycles than any entrenched problems with the state funding body.
''I think Film Victoria has maintained its processes, and I certainly haven't seen anything fall off the rails in the past year,'' said Robert Connolly (pictured), producer-director of Balibo and director of two episodes of the ABC drama The Slap. ''It's more that the figures are skewed by the lack of big foreign productions. Helpful though they are, those films often mask the underlying reality of the industry.''
Certainly, the big overseas productions stayed away in droves last year. According to Screen Australia's report, just two foreign films were shot here last financial year (Love in Space, from China, and Mr Perfect, from India), with a combined spend of less than $1 million. The previous year, five foreign feature films were made in Australia for a combined spend of $169 million.
The high Australian dollar and a comparatively low rebate for foreign productions shooting in Australia (16 per cent, against the 40 per cent or so offered in many other locations) mean that is unlikely to change any time soon.
Nonetheless, Film Victoria's acting head, Jenni Tosi, is bullish about the future. ''Things are picking up,'' she told The Age from Los Angeles, where she is representing Victoria at the Ausfilm Week showcase. ''They've got projects here that they're looking to take offshore; that they're looking to use Australian talent in. We are really optimistic that next year is going to be a good year.''
She cites projects already in the works, such as the Kath and Kim Filum, the ABC's Jack Irish telemovies and a series revolving around Kerry Greenwood's sleuth Phryne Fisher as evidence that the latest figures are but a blip. ''I've been in the industry for 30 years and let me tell you I've seen cycles,'' she said. ''You look at the figures over a number of years and there's a pattern there. You just have to go with the good years and stay optimistic in the lean years.''
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