Screen Australia Drama Report · The text in this report is released subject to . a Creative...

Screen Australia Drama Report Production of feature films, TV and online drama in Australia in 2016/17

2

© Screen Australia 2017 ISBN: 978-1-920998-31-8

The text in this report is released subject to a Creative Commons BY licence (Licence). This means, in summary, that you may reproduce, transmit and distribute the text, provided that you do not do so for commercial purposes, and provided that you attribute the text as extracted from Screen Australia’s Drama Report 2016/17. You must not alter, transform or build upon the text in this report. Your rights under the Licence are in addition to any fair dealing rights which you have under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cwlth). For further terms of the Licence, please see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/

Screen Australia is grateful to all those who contributed data to the compilation of this report. The data provided has been drawn from a number of sources. While Screen Australia has undertaken all reasonable measures to ensure its accuracy, we cannot accept responsibility for inaccuracies and omissions.

Newton’s Law

The Drama Report 2016/17 | Screen Australia 3

Contents

ABOUT THE REPORT 3

Key terms 4

OVERVIEW 5

ALL DRAMA PRODUCTION 6

AUSTRALIAN FEATURE SLATE 8

Feature budget ranges 8

Sources of finance for Australian features 9

AUSTRALIAN TV DRAMA SLATE 11

AUSTRALIAN CHILDREN’S TV DRAMA SLATE 14

AUSTRALIAN ONLINE DRAMA PROGRAMS 16

Sources of finance for Australian TV and online drama 17

Finance by Australian first release platforms 20

FOREIGN PRODUCTION 21

DRAMA PRODUCTION BY LOCATION 22

PDV SERVICES – FEATURES, TV DRAMA AND ONLINE PRODUCTION 24

All PDV 25

Focus on foreign PDV-only expenditure 26

PDV expenditure by state 25

Showcases 28

TITLES IN THE 16/17 SLATE 30

METHODOLOGY 36

ABOUT THE REPORTThe Drama Report covers the production of feature films, TV drama (mini-series, telemovies and series/serials) and online drama programs by financial year.

The report incorporates data gathered through surveys and publicly available sources to give a comprehensive view of drama production activity in Australia. Data is presented for the past five years, 2012/13 to 2016/17. Foreign titles are included if they are shot (or substantially shot) in Australia, or have post, digital or visual effects (PDV) work carried out in Australia without shooting here.

See page 4 for definitions of ‘Australian’, ‘domestic’, ‘co-production’ and ‘foreign’.

Feature films and TV dramas represent about 30 per cent of all audiovisual production in Australia (excluding online productions). Other areas of activity include documentaries, web-series, light entertainment, commercials, music videos, corporate videos and TV productions such as sport, news and current affairs. See the statistics section of the Screen Australia website for details, www.screenaustralia.gov.au/fact-finders/production-trends, and the relevant archives for pre-2012/13 data.

Newton’s Law

4

KEY TERMS

Drama includes: Features: a film made for cinema which is 60 minutes or longer TV drama: a ‘drama’ program according to the Australian Content Standard guidelines (see ACMA website). Includes series/serials, mini-series and telemovies. Online drama: encompasses single-episode or series programs with total durations of 30 minutes or more that have their first Australian release online.

Total budgets reports on how much it actually costs to make projects. It is reported for all projects that started shooting during the financial year, with the full budget allocated to the date principal photography started; budgets are not apportioned across the duration of the project.

Total spend reports on how much of the total budgets was spent in Australia. This measure is particularly relevant for co-productions and foreign productions. Again, all expenditure is allocated to the date principal photography or PDV work in Australia began rather than to the actual date of spending. Note: this is not the same as ‘qualifying Australian production expenditure’ (QAPE) for the purpose of the Producer Offset. Some expenditure in Australia is not QAPE, and QAPE can include some expenditure on Australian elements outside of Australia. QAPE is not reported here.

Australian productions include: ‘Domestic productions’: Projects other than co-productions under Australian creative control (ie where the key elements are predominantly Australian and the project was originated and developed by Australians). This includes projects under Australian creative control that are 100 per cent foreign-financed. ‘Co-productions’ are official co-productions (ie projects made pursuant to an agreement between the Australian Government and the government of another country). Because official co-productions

don’t have to pass the ‘significant Australian content’ test for eligibility for the Producer Offset, and may be classified as ‘Australian’ for the purposes of Australian content regulations applying to broadcasters, the report mainly focusses on domestic and co-production projects as a combined ‘Australian’ slate.

‘Foreign productions’ are defined as those under foreign creative control, originated and developed by non-Australians. This includes foreign projects with an Australian production company operating in a service capacity.

‘In-house productions’ are projects by Australian TV networks, where no independent production company is credited as producer or co-producer.

‘PDV’ (post, digital and visual effects) refers to those activities that create audio and visual elements for film or TV drama other than by

principal photography, pick ups or physical elements such as sets and props, and includes animation. It also refers to the manipulation of those elements and includes sound and visual editing, digital effects, creation of computer-generated images (CGI), film laboratory work and duplication services. As such, it includes a variety of activities that not only take place after the shoot but also during the earlier stages of a project’s overall production.

The following abbreviations are used throughout the report: Subscription video-on-demand (SVOD), Free video-on-demand (FVOD), Advertising or Ad-based video-on-demand (AVOD) and Transactional video-on-demand (TVOD).

See also Methodology on page 36.

Doctor Doctor S2

Three Summers


Overview

The annual slate of feature films, TV and online drama productions consists of Australian titles (including official co-productions) and foreign titles that start production or post, digital and visual effects (PDV) during a given financial year.

DRAMA EXPENDITURE IN AUSTRALIA y $1.3 billion total Australian expenditure – a record year, driven by the highest level of foreign spend in this country of $610 million and a healthy Australian slate of $667 million.

y 29 foreign projects $610 million

y Record year, driven by highest ever spend of $557 million from 6 features and 3 TV dramas that commenced shooting in Australia

y PDV-only spend totalled $53 million from 16 features and 4 TV drama titles, down 17 per cent on 2015/16.

y 41 Australian features $284 million - 45% increase on last year and above the 5-year average, due to the US studio-financed film, Peter Rabbit and strong domestic and co-production activity during the year.

y 46 Australian TV drama titles $321 million - with expenditure and the number of titles produced at record levels. The volume of hours was also up on last year, with a resurgence in series production along with a strong mini-series slate.

y 13 Australian Children’s TV drama titles $48 million - significantly below the five-year average. Hours produced were down slightly on last year, however when combined with hours for children’s programs made for online, show a slight increase. As a result of the 3-year children’s broadcast quotas required of the commercial free-to-air broadcasters, children’s TV drama production tends to be cyclical with the third year in this cycle still to come.

y Australian online drama contributed $14 million to overall expenditure and is separately measured for the first time in this report.

EXPENDITURE BY STATE y NSW 36% accounted for the greatest share of total expenditure, supported by Australian TV drama production.

y QLD 33% had the second highest share, boosted by strong foreign shoot expenditure.

y VIC 25% had the third largest share, with the majority of the spend coming from Australian TV drama titles.

Total expenditure 2016/17

$830m$860m $872m $850m

$1277m

6

All drama production

Australian1 Foreign2 Total

No. titlesSpend

$mNo. titles

Spend $m

No. titlesSpend

$m

Features

2012/13 38 325 14 110 52 435

2013/14 39 312 24 203 63 516

2014/15 39 125 14 426 53 551

2015/16 32 195 22 249 54 444

2016/17 41 284 22 567 63 851

5-yr av 38 248 19 311 57 559

TV drama

2012/13 40 305 2 21 42 326

2013/14 40 291 2 1 42 292

2014/15 35 237 2 21 37 257

2015/16 44 310 8 31 52 341

2016/17 46 321 7 43 53 364

5-yr av 41 293 4 23 45 316

Children’s TV drama

2012/13 17 69 0 0 17 69

2013/14 11 53 0 0 11 53

2014/15 13 64 0 0 13 64

2015/16 14 66 0 0 14 66

2016/17 13 48 0 0 13 48

5-yr av 14 60 0 0 14 60

Online drama

2016/17 22 14 0 0 22 14

TV + online drama

2016/17 81 383 7 43 88 426

Total annual drama slate3

2012/13 95 699 16 131 111 830

2013/14 90 656 26 204 116 860

2014/15 87 425 16 447 103 872

2015/16 90 571 30 279 120 850

2016/17 122 667 29 610 151 1277

5-yr av 97 603 23 334 120 938

Total drama expenditure in Australia in 2016/17 was $1.3 billion – hitting an all-time high. $667 million was spent by Australian projects, while $610 million came from foreign productions.

Notes: Figures may not total exactly due to rounding. n.b. Not for publication due to confidentiality reasons.1. See page 4 for definitions.2. Includes both productions that started principal photography during the year and foreign productions undertaking only PDV work in Australia.3. The annual slate is defined as productions that started principal photography during the year.

The Warriors


PRODUCTION TRENDS

Features - spend ($m)

TV Drama - spend ($m)

Notes: 1. Australian includes both domestic and co-production

titles2. Foreign productions include both productions that

started principal photography during the year and productions undertaking only PDV work in Australia.

8

All Australian features (domestic and co-production) by budget ranges

Australian feature slate

In 2016/17, total expenditure on Australian features was $284 million - a significant increase from the previous two years and the 5-year average. Peter Rabbit, financed by US studio Sony/Columbia and 3 official co-productions contributed to the increase.

41 features that entered into production in 2016/17 had total budgets of $343 million. As per usual, the majority of Australian films were made for under $10 million – 32 titles (78%). This year saw a rise in the number and proportion of films with budgets greater than $10 million.

Domestic Co-production Total

12/13 13/14 14/15 15/16 16/17 12/13 13/14 14/15 15/16 16/17 12/13 13/14 14/15 15/16 16/17

< $1m 15 9 7 n.p. 9 0 0 0 n.p. 0 15 9 7 5 9

$1–5m 14 15 24 n.p. 21 0 1 2 n.p. 0 14 16 26 16 21

$5–10m 5 9 2 n.p. 2 0 0 0 n.p. 0 5 9 2 7 2

$10m+ 4 3 4 n.p. 6 0 2 0 n.p. 3 4 5 4 4 9

Total 38 36 37 31 38 0 3 2 1 3 38 39 39 32 41

% < $1m 39% 25% 19% n.p. 24% 0 0% 0% n.p. 0% 39% 23% 18% 16% 22%

% < $5m 76% 67% 84% n.p. 79% 0 33% 100% n.p. 0% 76% 64% 85% 66% 73%

% < $10m 89% 92% 89% n.p. 84% 0 33% 100% n.p. 0% 89% 87% 90% 88% 78%

% $10m+ 11% 8% 11% n.p. 16% 0 67% 0% n.p. 100% 11% 13% 10% 13% 22%

Domestic features1 Co-production features1 Total

No.

titlesSpend

$mNo.

titlesSpend

$mNo.

titlesSpend

$m

2012/13 38 325 0 0 38 325

2013/14 36 305 3 9 39 312

2014/15 37 123 2 1 39 125

2015/16 31 n.p. 1 n.p. 32 195

2016/17 38 259 3 24 41 284

5yr av 36 237 2 11 38 248

All Australian features

Notes: 1. Features with budgets of less than $500,000 are

included in the report only if they have had a cinema release or major festival screening. Figures may therefore be revised upwards in future if releases are achieved for additional low-budget films that went into production in 2016/17. See page 36, Methodology.

Peter Rabbit


No. of titles

Amount $m

% of total finance

Australian Direct Government Sources1

2012/13 25 35.4 7%

2013/14 26 32.4 9%

2014/15 27 25.5 19%

2015/16 22 32.4 16%

2016/17 26 28.4 8%

5-yr av 25 30.8 10%

Australian Producer Offset2

2012/13 n.p. 157.9 32%

2013/14 n.p. 110.7 29%

2014/15 n.p. 40.7 31%

2015/16 n.p. 65.3 31%

2016/17 n.p. 99.7 29%

5-yr av 34 94.9 31%

Australian Private Investors

2012/13 24 7.3 1%

2013/14 24 15.7 4%

2014/15 27 16.0 12%

2015/16 23 11.4 5%

2016/17 28 23.6 7%

5-yr av 25 14.8 5%

Australian Film/TV industry3

2012/13 31 59.4 12%

2013/14 33 43.9 12%

2014/15 36 26.0 20%

2015/16 29 30.2 15%

2016/17 30 28.4 8%

5-yr av 32 37.6 12%

Foreign Investors

2012/13 17 229.7 47%

2013/14 20 177.4 47%

2014/15 13 24.9 19%

2015/16 16 68.8 33%

2016/17 23 162.9 47%

5-yr av 18 132.7 43%

Contributions to the annual Australian feature slate (domestic and co-production)

SOURCES OF FINANCE FOR AUSTRALIAN FEATURESForeign investors contributed nearly half of the finance for this year’s feature slate, providing $162.9 million to 23 titles. The presence of a foreign studio-backed film and strong foreign contributions from co-production and domestic titles led to this increase.

The Producer Offset provided $99.7 million to projects, accounting for 29% of total finance.

Funding from Australian direct government sources slightly decreased to $28.4 million for 26 titles (8% of total finance). Screen Australia accounted for the greatest contribution from a single agency – investing $13 million in 16 features that commenced principal photography in 2016/17. Together the state agencies put in $14.9 million for 21 features. The Melbourne International Film Festival and the Adelaide Film Festival financed 3 and 2 titles respectively.

The Australian film/TV industry (mainly distribution and production companies) contributed $28.4 million to 30 features.

Australian private investment was up on last year and above the 5-year average. This increase can be attributed to a small number of titles with substantial amounts of private investment.

Notes: Figures may not total exactly due to rounding. n.p. Not for publication due to confidentiality reasons.1. Includes direct funding from Australian state and federal agencies and funding bodies (see page 36). Equity investments and grants only – distribution guarantees, loans and under-

writing are not included. 2. The Producer Offset amount is taken from the finance plan of each title. For Screen Australia funded projects – the agency only requires 90% of the anticipated Offset in the finance

plan for features and television projects. A producer is entitled to retain the difference for their own purposes, but many producers still include it in the finance plan. For this reason, the Producer Offset amounts listed above may be lower than what is eventually received from the Australian Taxation Office for each project.

3. Finance provided by Australian-based producers and production companies, distribution companies, free-to-air broadcasters (commercial and public) and subscription TV channels. The Producer Offset, cashflowed in various ways, is listed separately.

Image captionSweet Country

10

Financial contributions from government agencies fluctuate year-to-year in line with the production schedules of each film as well as budget allocations of each agency.

Finance from the Australian film and television industry has been relatively static over the last four years. The presence of Mad Max: Fury Road gave 2012/13 a boost in financial contributions from local distributors.

The presence or absence of foreign studio-backed domestic films as well as co-production titles has led to year-to-year fluctuations in money coming in from foreign sources. US studios have backed a number of recent domestic features over the years including, Mad Max: Fury Road (2012/13), Gods of Egypt (2013/14), Hacksaw Ridge (2015/16) and Peter Rabbit (2016/17).

Domestic1 Co-production1 Total Australian1

No. titles Hours2

Spend $m3

No. titles Hours2

Spend $m3

No. titles Hours2

Spend $m3

2012/13 38 490 300 2 12 5 40 502 305

2013/14 39 465 283 1 7 8 40 472 291

2014/15 34 396 227 1 6 10 35 402 237

2015/16 44 446 310 0 0 0 44 446 310

2016/17 45 451 312 1 6 10 46 457 321

5-yr av 40 449 286 1 6 6 41 456 293

Government funding ($m)

Australian film/TV industry ($m)

Foreign Finance ($m)

These graphs represent contributions from various sources for films starting principal photography in each financial year.

25 9 1

22

18

18

52

10

6

11 4

7

1

1

10

11

11

6

7

33

15

24

21

222 8

147

21 3

54

154

31

15

9

21

13 15


Australian TV drama slate

Australian TV drama programs

As of 2016/17, titles produced for subscription video-on-demand and broadcaster-affiliated services will be classified as online drama. In previous years, these were captured as TV drama. Therefore, it is important to keep this in mind when comparing this year’s results with previous years.

In 2016/17, 46 titles, an all-time record, started production and generated 457 hours of content. These titles were worth $325 million, of which $321 million was spent in Australia. Total budgets and expenditure exceeded last year’s records. The volume of hours increased on last year and was above the 5-year average.

TV drama expenditure reached a new record with a resurgence in series production and a strong mini-series slate

Domestic1 Co-production1 Total Australian1

No. titles Hours2

Spend $m3

No. titles Hours2

Spend $m3

No. titles Hours2

Spend $m3

2012/13 38 490 300 2 12 5 40 502 305

2013/14 39 465 283 1 7 8 40 472 291

2014/15 34 396 227 1 6 10 35 402 237

2015/16 44 446 310 0 0 0 44 446 310

2016/17 45 451 312 1 6 10 46 457 321

5-yr av 40 449 286 1 6 6 41 456 293

Notes: Figures may not total exactly due to rounding.1. See page 4 for definitions2. Commercial broadcast hours rather than actual run-

ning time. Individual program duration has been rounded to 15, 30 or 60 minutes as appropri-ate (including commercial breaks).

3. Amount of total budgets spent in Australia4. The annual slate is defined as productions starting

principal photography during the year

Hours produced Spend ($m)

457

446

402

472

502

$321m

$310m

$237m

$291m

$305m

12

BY FORMATFormat definitions according to this report:

• Series/serials - unlimited number of episodes (more than 13 in total) as well as multi-part programs with episode durations less than one commercial broadcast hour.

• Mini-series - a limited series of drama normally 13 hours or less in length and each episode is usually a commercial hour in duration.

• Telemovies – single-episode drama made for television that is a commercial hour or more in length. Series of, or related telemovies are counted as individual titles, as set out in a broadcaster’s licence agreement.

2016/17 saw a resurgence in series production after two consecutive years of downward activity. Once again, the slate did not include any long-form programs other

than the flagship serials Home and Away (Seven) and Neighbours (Ten). Therefore, the majority of the series slate was made up of half-hour comedy formats with total durations below 5 hours. Titles included returning seasons of Rosehaven (ABC), The Family Law (SBS), Here Come the Habibs! (Nine) and Russell Coight’s All Aussie Adventures (Ten) as well as new titles Get Krack!n (ABC), True Story with Hamish and Andy (Nine) and The Slot (Foxtel).

Mini-series production remained strong but saw slight decreases from last year across all indicators. Most titles in this year’s slate had total durations below 10 hours. Season returns included, Cleverman (6 hours) and Janet King: Playing Advantage (8 hours) (both ABC), The Secret Daughter (6 hours)

(Seven), Doctor Doctor and Love Child (10 hours each) (both Nine), The Wrong Girl and Offspring (10 hours each) (both Ten), A Place to Call Home and two seasons of Wentworth (all 12 hours each) for Foxtel. New titles included Newton’s Law (8 hours) (ABC), Safe Harbour (4 hours) (SBS) and TV drama adaptations of Wake in Fright (4 hours) (Ten) and Picnic at Hanging Rock (6 hours) (Foxtel). See page 33 for full list.

The production of telemovies in 2016/17 fell below the 5-year average. Titles included Olivia Newton-John: Hopelessly Devoted to You parts 1 & 2 (Seven) and Sisters (Ten).

The Wrong Girl S2


Australian TV drama

No. Hours1 Budgets

($m)2 Spend ($m)3 Avg. cost/hr $m4

Series/serials (in-house productions in brackets)

2012/13 13 (2) 308 106 105 0.344

2013/14 20 (3) 332 117 117 0.352

2014/15 14 (2) 284 85 85 0.299

2015/16 15 (1) 274 78 78 0.286

2016/17 22 (1) 296 105 105 0.355

5-yr av 17 (2) 299 98 98 0.329

Mini-series (in-house productions in brackets)

2012/13 22 (2) 186 194 187 1.043

2013/14 15 (1) 132 169 158 1.281

2014/15 15 (2) 109 138 136 1.268

2015/16 23 162 222 220 1.368

2016/17 21 157 212 209 1.352

5-yr av 19 (1) 149 187 182 1.253

Telemovies (in-house productions in brackets)

2012/13 5 8 14 14 1.805

2013/14 5 (1) 8 16 16 2.037

2014/15 6 9 16 16 1.876

2015/16 6 10 15 11 1.534

2016/17 3 5 8 8 1.738

5-yr av 5 (<1) 8 14 13 1.792

Total (in-house productions in brackets)

2012/13 40 (4) 502 314 305 0.625

2013/14 40 (5) 472 302 291 0.640

2014/15 35 (4) 402 239 237 0.595

2015/16 44 (1) 446 315 310 0.706

2016/17 46 (1) 457 325 321 0.710

5-yr av 41 (3) 456 299 293 0.656

Notes: Figures may not total exactly due to rounding.1. Commercial broadcast hours rather than actual running time. Individual program duration has been rounded to 15,

30 or 60 minutes as appropriate (including commercial breaks).2. Total cost of productions3. Amount of total budgets spent in Australia4. Total budgets divided by total hours

Rosehaven S2

14

The 2016/17 children’s TV drama slate had 13 titles in production. These titles generated 111 hours of content, at a cost of $100 million in total, with $48 million spent in Australia. While the number of titles produced, volume of hours generated and total budgets were all slightly down on last year, expenditure in Australia sharply declined. Co-production titles by their very nature are made jointly between two or more countries and are not required to spend their entire budgets in Australia. Australian spend for animated titles also dropped and it’s not unusual for those programs to go off-shore for various production activities. Therefore, this also impacts on the amount spent in Australia.

This year saw a healthy co-production slate with all levels above the 5-year averages. Titles included, Oh Yuck! and the second season of The Deep with Canada as well as The Legend of Monkey and Nate is Late with New Zealand and France respectively.

There were also 2 children’s drama titles made for online release prior to television

broadcast - Trip for Biscuits (ABC iview) and the Australia/Ireland co-production, Drop Dead Weird (Seven Network’s Kidson7 YouTube channel). Both of these have been excluded from the figures below and were captured as part of the online drama slate. See page 16 for details.

It’s important to note that children’s TV drama production tends to fluctuate year-to-year and the broadcasting compliance regulations for the commercial free-to-air networks ensure a balance over time. Within the 260 hours of Children’s (C) programming, commercial television licensees must broadcast at least 25 hours of first-release Australian children’s drama and at least 96 hours over a three-year period.

In the last financial year, the Seven Network provided production finance to 39 hours (3 titles) – up from last year and its activity over the last 5 years. It also financed the

co-production title Drop Dead Weird, which premiered on Seven’s YouTube channel (Kidson7) in early October. As noted, for this reason, this title has been accounted for in the online drama section. Network Ten also had three titles in production, which generated 34 hours of content, also up on last year and the network’s average activity over the last 5 years. The Nine Network had only one title in production (13 hours). This was down on three titles in production last year (28 hours).

*Excludes 2 children’s TV drama titles that have had their releases online before TV broadcast – Trip for Biscuits had its premiere on ABC iview before airing on ABC Me. Drop Dead Weird premiered on Kidson7 YouTube and is set to be released on on 7TWO later in the year. Notes: Figures may not total exactly due to rounding.1. Commercial broadcast hours rather than actual

running time. Individual program duration has been rounded to 15, 30 or 60 minutes as appropriate (including commercial breaks).

2. Total cost of productions.3. Amount of total budgets spent in Australia.4. Total budgets divided by total hours.

Australian Children’s TV drama slate

Australian Children’s TV drama

No. Hours1 Budgets ($m)2 Spend ($m)3 Avg. cost/hr

$m4

Domestic1

2012/13 13 117 71 60 0.606

2013/14 9 99 63 44 0.637

2014/15 10 80 65 54 0.809

2015/16 13 102 n.p. n.p. n.p.

2016/17* 9 74 62 34 0.838

5-yr av 11 94 66 49 0.697

Co-production1

2012/13 4 43 23 9 0.543

2013/14 2 33 24 8 0.730

2014/15 3 36 30 10 0.827

2015/16 1 13 n.p. n.p. n.p.

2016/17* 4 38 38 13 1.025

5-yr av 3 32 30 11 0.915

Total

2012/13 17 159 94 69 0.589

2013/14 11 131 86 53 0.660

2014/15 13 116 95 64 0.815

2015/16 14 115 101 66 0.879

2016/17* 13 111 100 48 0.901

5-yr av 14 127 95 60 0.753


No. Hours1 Budgets ($m)2 Spend ($m)3 Avg. cost/hr

$m4

Live action

2012/13 8 64 44 39 0.698

2013/14 2 26 23 18 0.889

2014/15 4 28 27 27 0.965

2015/16 4 20 20 20 0.983

2016/17* 5 26 24 16 0.946

5-yr av 5 33 28 24 0.848

Animation

2012/13 9 96 49 30 0.517

2013/14 9 105 63 35 0.603

2014/15 9 88 68 37 0.767

2015/16 10 95 81 47 0.856

2016/175 8 86 76 32 0.887

5-yr av 9 94 68 36 0.719

Total

2012/13 17 159 94 69 0.589

2013/14 11 131 86 53 0.660

2014/15 13 116 95 64 0.815

2015/16 14 115 101 66 0.879

2016/17* 13 111 100 48 0.901

5-yr av 14 127 95 60 0.753

As can be seen in the table to the left, animated titles have made up the bulk of production slates over the last 5 years.

Animated titles produced in 2016/17 include all but one of the co-productions as well as Kitty Is Not a Cat, Motown Magic (Seven), KuuKuu Harajuku series 3 and Jar Dwellers SOS series 2 (Ten). Live action titles included, Justine Clarke’s Ta Da!, Mustangs FC (both ABC) and Random & Whacky (Ten).

*Excludes 2 children’s TV drama titles that have had their releases online before TV broadcast – Trip for Biscuits had its premiere on ABC iview before airing on ABC Me. Drop Dead Weird premiered on Kidson7 YouTube and is set to be released on on 7TWO later in the year.

Notes: Figures may not total exactly due to rounding.1. Commercial broadcast hours rather than actual running time. Individual program duration has been rounded to

15, 30 or 60 minutes as appropriate (including commercial breaks).2. Total cost of productions.3. Amount of total budgets spent in Australia.4. Total budgets divided by total hours.5. Includes one hybrid animation/live action title.

Mustangs FC

16

Australian online drama programs

No. Hours1 Budgets

($m)2

Spend ($m)3

Avg. cost/hr $m4

Single-episode drama 6 5 2 2 0.501

Series drama 16 35 14 12 0.400

Total online drama 22 40 16 14 0.412

Notes: Figures may not total exactly due to rounding.1. Actual running time 2. Total cost of productions3. Amount of total budgets spent in Australia4. Total budgets divided by total hours

With ongoing changes in audience behaviour and content commissioning strategies, this year, the Drama Report has included online drama titles known to Screen Australia as part of total screen production in Australia.

The Drama Report had previously accounted for ABC iview and subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) titles as TV drama. In addition to this, there has been a dedicated webpage listing all online titles regardless of the online release platform so long as they had been financed by Australian screen agencies and/or broadcasters – see https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/fact-finders/production-trends/tv-drama-production/online-drama/titles-produced. Screen Australia acknowledges that it’s not possible to account for all titles made for and released online.

Online drama according to this report encompasses single-episode or series programs with total durations of 30 minutes or more that have premiered in Australia online. Broadly speaking they cover titles released via: SVOD (e.g. Stan), FVOD (e.g. ABC iview), AVOD (e.g. SBS on demand and YouTube), TVOD (e.g. iTunes). For titles that have a simultaneous TV broadcast and online release, they have been accounted for as TV drama.

In 2016/17, there were 22 titles made for first release online – 6 single-episode titles and sixteen series. Together they cost $16 million to make and added $14 million to expenditure in Australia.

FVOD and AVOD titles were primarily series, including Other People’s Problems and children’s titles Trip for Biscuits (all for ABC iview) and Drop Dead Weird for the Seven Network’s Kidson7 YouTube channel.

Titles distributed via SVOD were a mix of single-episode and series, including two Home and Away titles – All or Nothing and Revenge and Let’s Talk About series 2 for Presto and Chaperones and The Other Guy (Stan). There were also six other YouTube titles in the slate which included Method, Sexy Herpes, The Superwog Show and subsequent seasons of The Horizon and These New South Whales.

The Other Guy


SOURCES OF FINANCE FOR AUSTRALIAN TV AND ONLINE DRAMA

The Australian film/TV industry provided the majority of finance to this year’s Australian TV and online drama titles – $252.9 million to 77 titles (57%). The largest proportion (and the largest from any sector) came from the commercial free-to-air networks. The largest contribution from a single broadcaster came from the ABC, which provided finance to 34 titles – nine of which were ABC iview originals. Subscription television set a new record financial contribution and financed seven titles. Presto was attached to three titles. SBS financed three titles, whilst Stan invested in two titles. Distributors and production companies provided the rest of the industry finance.

The Producer Offset was accessed by 47 titles and added $52.9 million, making up 12% of total finance.

The PDV Offset was utilised by 5 titles and provided $4.3 million finance.

Direct government sources provided $38.9 million in funding support for 63 titles and accounted for 9% of total finance. Although this was down on last year’s contributions, it was above the 5-year average. Screen Australia was the major source of government funds, providing $24.3 million to 45 titles which were made during

No. of titles

Amount $m

% of total finance

Australian Direct Government Sources1

2012/13 33 37.9 9%

2013/14 33 28.2 7%

2014/15 33 32.9 10%

2015/16 47 44.2 11%

2016/17 63 38.9 9%

5-yr av 42 36.4 9%

Australian Producer Offset2

2012/13 45 51.7 13%

2013/14 37 43.8 11%

2014/15 32 37.8 11%

2015/16 37 45.7 11%

2016/17 47 52.9 12%

5-yr av 40 46.4 12%

PDV Offset

2013/14 7 6.5 2%

2014/15 7 7.4 2%

2015/16 12 11.5 3%

2016/17 5 4.3 1%

Australian Private Investors

2012/13 3 <1 <1%

2013/14 4 <1 <1%

2014/15 2 <1 <1%

2015/16 5 2.5 1%

2016/17 5 5.6 1%

5-yr av 4 1.8 <1%

Australian Film/TV Industry3

2012/13 57 270.4 66%

2013/14 48 244.4 63%

2014/15 48 201.7 60%

2015/16 57 219.4 53%

2016/17 77 252.9 57%

5-yr av 57 237.7 60%

Foreign Investors

2012/13 29 47.2 12%

2013/14 27 65.4 17%

2014/15 21 53.6 16%

2015/16 34 92.3 22%

2016/17 38 86.9 20%

5-yr av 30 69.1 17%

Notes: Figures may not total exactly due to rounding.1. Includes direct funding from Australian state and fed-

eral agencies and funding bodies (see page 36). Equity investments and grants only – distribution guarantees, loans and underwriting are not included.

2. The Producer Offset amount is taken from the finance plan of each title. For Screen Australia funded projects – the agency only requires 90% of the anticipated Offset in the finance plan for features and television projects. A producer is entitled to retain the differ-ence for their own purposes, but many producers still include it in the finance plan. For this reason, the Producer Offset amounts listed above may be lower than what is eventually received from the Australian Taxation Office for each project.

3. Finance provided by Australian-based producers and production companies, distribution companies, free-to-air broadcasters (commercial and public) and subscription TV channels. The Producer Offset, cash-flowed in various ways, is listed separately.

Contributions to the annual Australian TV/online slate (domestic and co-production)

2016/17. It’s important to note that over half of the Screen Australia-funded titles in this year’s slate accessed Multiplatform funds (53%) rather than General TV drama. The Multiplatform program typically distributes lower funds per title, compared to the TV drama program. In addition, Screen Australia supported over half of the TV and online drama titles commencing principal photography in 2016/17 (56%).

State Agency funding totalled $14.4 million for 52 titles in production. Film Victoria and Create NSW provided the majority of the funds (86%).

Foreign investment in Australian TV and online drama remained strong at $86.9 million, a fifth of total finance. This was due to a small number of titles with substantial amounts of foreign investment.

Private investment was $5.6 million, the lowest contributor to overall finance. However, this was an increase on last year’s figure and was a result of one title with a high level of private investment.

18

The following graphs represent contributions from various sources for TV and online drama titles starting principal photography in each financial year.

Both Screen Australia and State Agency funding allocated to titles commencing shoot in 2016/17 were above the 5-year averages. Other government funding was highest in 2015/16, due to the Department of Immigration & Border Protection funding Journey.

Kiki and Kitty

Government funding ($m)

27

18

21

27

24

9

10

10

12

14

2

1

2

4


Foreign finance in Australian titles has been particularly strong in the last two years. Netflix US financed The Legend of Monkey and The Letdown which went into production in 2016/17 and animated kids titles, Beat Bugs and Kazoops, the year before. Sundance TV US financed Top of the Lake: China Girl, which commenced production in 2015/16.

Broadcasters and Distributors ($m)

Foreign Finance ($m)

Broadcaster and distributor investment decreased after 2012/13 before picking up again. The 2016/17 slate includes funding from the ABC for its iview originals as well as funding from Stan and Presto for their titles. The increase in financing coming from producers and production companies can be tied to a small number of titles.

251

226

187

204

223

19

18

15

15

30

35

57

41

81

70

12

13

12

17

9

20

Finance by Australian first release platforms

The commercial free-to-air networks provided the majority of finance to this year’s TV and online drama slate.

No. of titlesInvestment

$m*Hours Budgets $m

ABC (includes iview)

2012/13 26 72 138 134

2013/14 20 45 102 89

2014/15 20 52 109 115

2015/16 21 53 100 106

2016/17 34 55 120 130

5-yr av 24 56 114 115

SBS/NITV

2012/13 3 4 11 7

2013/14 1 n.p. n.p. n.p.

2014/15 3 4 8 7

2015/16 3 3 9 9

2016/17 3 6 11 14

5-yr av 3 4 8 8

Commercial Free-to-air TV

2012/13 24 156 490 248

2013/14 23 147 454 240

2014/15 20 93 358 166

2015/16 23 108 393 218

2016/17 22 107 398 211

5-yr av 22 122 419 216

Subscription television broadcasters

2012/13 4 11 23 18

2013/14 4 26 35 53

2014/15 3 33 38 44

2015/16 6 30 46 67

2016/17 7 50 58 75

5-yr av 5 30 40 51

Stan and Presto**

2014/15 2 n.p. n.p. n.p.

2015/16 3 6 10 12

2016/17 5 2 7 4

3-yr av 3 3 7 6

*investment includes licence fees, presales, equity investments etc.

**combined due to confidentiality

Notes: Figures may not total exactly due to rounding. n.p. Not for publication due to confidentiality reasons.

As a group, the commercial free-to-air networks provided the majority of finance for this year’s slate - $107 million for 22 titles, similar to last year’s contribution but below the 5-year average. The public broadcasters provided the second-largest amount with a combined contribution of $62 million. Their contributions have steadily grown since 2013/14. Subscription television broadcasters made a record contribution of $50 million.

For the third consecutive year, the highest contribution from a single broadcaster came from the ABC.

The lion’s share of total hours was produced by the commercial free-to-air networks, thanks to long-running soap operas, Home and Away and Neighbours for the Seven and Ten networks respectively.

The ABC had the largest share of total budgets for the fifth consecutive year.


and 34 per cent below the five-year average of $69 million. Despite the drop, the number of PDV-only features commencing work in 2016/17 was strong at 16 and included titles such as Spider-Man: Homecoming, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Logan, Black Panther, John Wick: Chapter 2, Bright and A Wrinkle in Time.

PDV work was also undertaken on foreign shoot titles such as Thor: Ragnarok and large scale domestic features such as Peter Rabbit.

TV DRAMAForeign TV drama activity accounted for $43 million in Australian expenditure in 2016/17, up 39 per cent on 2015/16 ($31 million) and 84 per cent above the five-year average. Seven titles contributed to this result including the foreign shoot titles The Leftovers series 3, The Bold and the Beautiful (US) and Speed (China); and four PDV-only titles including Game of Thrones series 7, Outcast series 2 and Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams (US).

Foreign production

Shoot PDV-only Total Foreign

No. titles

Spend $m1

No. titles

Spend $m1

No. titles

Spend $m1

Features

2012/13 6 100 8 10 14 110

2013/14 9 159 15 44 24 203

2014/15 5 234 9 193 14 426

2015/16 7 195 15 54 22 249

2016/17 6 521 16 46 22 567

5yr av 7 242 13 69 19 311

TV drama

2012/13 2 21 0 0 2 21

2013/14 2 1 0 0 2 1

2014/15 1 n.p. 1 n.p. 2 21

2015/16 2 21 6 10 8 31

2016/17 3 36 4 7 7 43

5yr av 2 20 2 4 4 23

Total

2012/13 8 121 8 10 16 131

2013/14 11 160 15 44 26 204

2014/15 6 n.p. 10 n.p. 16 447

2015/16 9 216 21 64 30 279

2016/17 9 557 20 53 29 610

5yr av 9 261 15 73 23 334

Notes: Figures may not total exactly due to rounding. n.p. Not for publication due to confidentiality reasons.1. Amount of total budgets spent in Australia

TOTAL FOREIGN SPENDTotal spend from foreign shoot and PDV-only titles reached a record $610 million in 2016/17, up 118 per cent on 2015/16 and 82 per cent above the five-year average. The record year was driven by highest-ever spend of $557 million on the nine titles that commenced shooting in Australia in 2016/17. PDV-only expenditure totalled $53 million, down 17 per cent on 2015/16.

The Australian dollar remained below US$0.80, assisting companies to remain competitive and effectively leveraging both the 16.5 per cent Location Offset, the 30 per cent PDV Offset and other government incentives to attract foreign productions.

Foreign production – foreign shoot and PDV-only

FEATURESDriving the all-time high was record expenditure of $521 million from the six foreign features that commenced shooting in Australia in 2016/17. This result was almost three times higher than in 2015/16 ($195 million) and more than double the five year average ($242 million). The 2016/17 foreign shoot slate included the US titles Thor: Ragnarok, Aquaman and Pacific Rim: Uprising, along with Bleeding Steel (China), Parindey (India) and Bad Genius (Thailand).

Foreign PDV-only feature expenditure fell for the second consecutive year to $46 million, down 15 per cent from $54 million in 2015/16 Thor: Ragnarok, Aquaman

and Pacific Rim: Uprising drove foreign expenditure to a record high in 2016/17.

22

NSW QLD VIC

Shoot PDV Total Shoot PDV Total Shoot PDV Total

$m

2012/13 395 99 494 18 5 23 193 42 235

2013/14 300 64 364 124 5 129 192 77 270

2014/15 145 207 352 232 6 238 184 51 235

2015/16 389 78 467 89 10 99 160 57 217

2016/17 326 133 460 415 12 426 238 80 318

%

2012/13 59% 62% 60% 3% 3% 3% 29% 26% 28%

2013/14 44% 36% 42% 18% 3% 15% 28% 44% 31%

2014/15 24% 77% 40% 38% 2% 27% 31% 19% 27%

2015/16 56% 48% 55% 13% 6% 12% 23% 36% 26%

2016/17 32% 54% 36% 40% 5% 33% 23% 32% 25%

SA WA Tas/NT/ACT


$m

2012/13 42 10 52 19 3 22 5 <1 5

2013/14 46 28 74 13 2 14 8 1 9

2014/15 9 5 14 12 <1 13 20 <1 20

2015/16 14 14 28 26 2 28 12 1 12

2016/17 21 19 41 7 2 9 22 1 23

%

2012/13 6% 6% 6% 3% 2% 3% 1% <1% 1%

2013/14 7% 16% 9% 2% 1% 2% 1% 1% 1%

2014/15 1% 2% 2% 2% <1% 1% 3% <1% 2%

2015/16 2% 9% 3% 4% 1% 3% 2% <1% 1%

2016/17 2% 8% 3% 1% 1% 1% 2% <1% 2%

Drama production by location

NSW accounted for the largest share of total expenditure in Australia - $460 million (36%), thanks to Australian features Peter Rabbit and Maya 2: The Honey Games, two foreign films Pacific Rim: Uprising (US) and Jackie Chan’s Bleeding Steel (China), and returning seasons of TV drama titles, A Place to Call Home, Doctor Doctor, Home and Away and Love Child.

Queensland was not far behind NSW and the state accounted for a third of total expenditure in 2016/17, at $426 million. The state continued to attract strong attention from major Hollywood blockbusters shooting in the state, including, Aquaman, Pacific Rim: Uprising and Thor: Ragnarok. Australian feature productions included Australia Day and Swinging Safari as well as domestic TV drama titles, The Family Law series 2 and Safe Harbour.

Victorian productions made up a quarter of total expenditure. There was strong TV drama activity in the state with Picnic at Hanging Rock and season returns of Neighbours, Offspring and Wentworth. In addition, the third season of HBO series The Leftovers (US) shot predominantly in Victoria. PDV-only work was undertaken on US features Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and Spider-Man: Homecoming as well as TV series Game of Thrones series 7.

South Australian expenditure rose significantly on the previous two years due to Australian feature films Cargo and Hotel Mumbai shooting there as well as the Chinese TV series, Speed. Foreign titles Logan and Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams both undertook PDV-only work in South Australia.

Expenditure in Western Australia was down on last year’s record. Australian features 1%, The Gateway and Three Summers undertook shoot there along with domestic online titles, Aussie Rangers and Small Town Hackers. There was also PDV-only work done on the Netflix original feature, 1922.

Expenditure in the remaining states was at a record high - $23 million (2%). This was primarily driven by Australian feature film The Nightingale and the second series of Rosehaven shooting in Tasmania and Sweet Country filming in the Northern Territory.


NSW QLD VIC


$m

2012/13 395 99 494 18 5 23 193 42 235

2013/14 300 64 364 124 5 129 192 77 270

2014/15 145 207 352 232 6 238 184 51 235

2015/16 389 78 467 89 10 99 160 57 217

2016/17 326 133 460 415 12 426 238 80 318

%

2012/13 59% 62% 60% 3% 3% 3% 29% 26% 28%

2013/14 44% 36% 42% 18% 3% 15% 28% 44% 31%

2014/15 24% 77% 40% 38% 2% 27% 31% 19% 27%

2015/16 56% 48% 55% 13% 6% 12% 23% 36% 26%

2016/17 32% 54% 36% 40% 5% 33% 23% 32% 25%

SA WA Tas/NT/ACT


$m

2012/13 42 10 52 19 3 22 5 <1 5

2013/14 46 28 74 13 2 14 8 1 9

2014/15 9 5 14 12 <1 13 20 <1 20

2015/16 14 14 28 26 2 28 12 1 12

2016/17 21 19 41 7 2 9 22 1 23

%

2012/13 6% 6% 6% 3% 2% 3% 1% <1% 1%

2013/14 7% 16% 9% 2% 1% 2% 1% 1% 1%

2014/15 1% 2% 2% 2% <1% 1% 3% <1% 2%

2015/16 2% 9% 3% 4% 1% 3% 2% <1% 1%

2016/17 2% 8% 3% 1% 1% 1% 2% <1% 2%

Spend by State ($m)

Thor: Ragnarok

24

PDV services for features, TV drama and online production

This section looks at Australian expenditure from post, digital and visual effects (PDV) services for domestic, foreign shoot and foreign PDV-only feature film, TV drama and online titles.

To provide a sense of the ongoing business activity of PDV companies in a given financial year, a project’s total PDV spend has been spread across each year in which it occurred rather than attributing the whole amount to the year in which work commenced. The results for each year will therefore include expenditure from projects that began work in previous financial years and only relevant spend for projects that continue work into future financial years. As a result, this data cannot be compared to that presented in previous sections of the Drama Report.

PDV EXPENDITURE IN AUSTRALIA y $252 million in total PDV expenditure Up 17% on last year’s all-time record and 24% above the five-year average.

y $123 million on 34 foreign PDV-only projects. An all-time high, up 18% on last year’s record and 49% above the five-year average, a result of work completing on The LEGO® Batman Movie and continuing on The LEGO® Ninjago Movie.

y $6 million on five foreign PDV-only TV dramas Down 36% on last year’s record high, but almost double the five-year average.

y $32 million on six foreign shoot titles An all-time high, up from just $2 million last year and almost three times the five-year average, a result of record PDV spend on features such as Thor: Ragnarok and Alien: Covenant.

y $97 million on Australian productions 10% below last year and under the five-year average

Hotel Mumbai


TOTAL PDV EXPENDITUREPDV expenditure on Australian and foreign drama titles totalled $252 million in 2016/17, up 17 per cent on last year’s record high and 24 per cent above the five-year average of $202 million. Record PDV spend of $29 million from foreign shoot features (almost three times the five year average) as well as record spend of $117 million from PDV-only features was responsible for the increase.

PDV expenditure on domestic titles fell for the second consecutive year, down 10 per cent on 2015/16 to $97 million and below the five-year average.

Services to Australian productions accounted for 54 per cent of all PDV spend over the last five years. Domestic titles generating PDV expenditure in 2016/17 include Peter Rabbit, Hotel Mumbai, Swinging Safari and Winchester.

PDV EXPENDITURE BY STATENSW accounted for the majority (59 per cent) of PDV expenditure in the five years from 2012/13 to 2016/17, representing an average of $120 million annually. Businesses in the state provided PDV services to local and international features such as Peter Rabbit, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Bright, Deepwater Horizon, The LEGO® Batman Movie, The LEGO® Ninjago Movie, The LEGO® Movie, Mad Max: Fury Road and Gods of Egypt.

Victorian businesses accounted for 29 per cent of total PDV expenditure over the last five years, representing an average of $59 million annually. PDV projects undertaken in the state in the last five years include Picnic at Hanging Rock, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Thor: Ragnarok, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Doctor Strange, Ghostbusters, Game of Thrones series 6 and 7, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water and Ted 2.

The remainder of PDV work over the period was spread across South Australia (7 per cent; $14 million), Queensland (3 per cent; $7 million) and the remaining states and territories (1 per cent; $2 million). Titles undertaking PDV in South Australia since 2012/13 include the features The Nightingale, Logan, X-Men: Apocalypse, Game of Thrones series 6, X-Men: Days of Future Past, The Water Diviner, The Legend of Tarzan and Pan. Queensland projects include Australian TV dramas such as Wanted series 1, the Australian feature Winchester, US features Underworld: Blood Wars and The Age of Adaline and US mini-series’ Powers series 1 and 2, and Underground series 2.

Australian Foreign

TotalDomestic

Co-

production

Total

Australian

Shot in

AustraliaPDV only

Features ($m)

2012/13 70 2 72 6 60 137

2013/14 59 1 60 5 40 104

2014/15 84 1 86 8 87 180

2015/16 58 2 61 1 94 156

2016/17 46 5 51 29 117 197

5-yr av 63 2 66 10 79 155

TV drama* ($m) *NB: online titles included for 2016/17 only

2012/13 37 4 41 1 0 42

2013/14 48 2 49 <1 0 50

2014/15 28 3 32 1 1 33

2015/16 38 9 48 1 10 59

2016/17 44 2 46 3 6 55

5-yr av 39 4 43 1 3 48

Total ($m)

2012/13 107 6 113 7 60 179

2013/14 107 2 109 5 40 154

2014/15 112 5 117 9 87 213

2015/16 97 12 108 2 104 215

2016/17 90 7 97 32 123 252

5-yr av 103 6 109 11 83 202

% share 51% 3% 54% 5% 41% 100%

Australian PDV expenditure on features, TV drama and online ($m)

NSW VIC QLD SA WA, ACT, NT, TAS

Total

2012/13 123 38 5 10 3 179

2013/14 86 54 4 7 3 154

2014/15 119 68 5 20 1 213

2015/16 123 61 9 19 2 215

2016/17 149 75 9 16 3 252

5-yr av 120 59 7 14 2 202

% share 59% 29% 3% 7% 1% 100%

Expenditure from Australian PDV work on features, TV drama and online by state ($m)

Notes: Figures may not total exactly due to rounding.

26

FOCUS ON FOREIGN PDV-ONLY EXPENDITUREExpenditure from foreign titles undertaking PDV without shooting here totalled a record $123 million in 2016/17, 49 per cent above the five year average. This very strong result, 18 per cent above the previous high of 2015/16, is predominantly due to work completing on The LEGO® Batman Movie and continuing on The LEGO® Ninjago Movie. The number of titles contributing to the overall total remained strong at 34 (up from 30 in 2015/16) and well above the five year average of 24. Five PDV-only TV drama titles generated $6 million in expenditure in 2016/17, down 36 per cent on 2015/16’s record $10 million from seven titles, but almost double the five year average.

Amongst the 34 titles undertaking PDV-only work in 2016/17, Australian PDV companies had the opportunity to work on big-budget features such as Spider-Man: Homecoming, Logan, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, John Wick: Chapter 2, Black Panther, Ghost in the Shell, A Wrinkle in Time, Bright, 24 Hours to Live; and mini-series such as Game of Thrones series 7, Outcast series 2 and Philip K Dick’s Electric Dreams. Work was also completed

on projects continuing from previous years such as The LEGO® Batman Movie, Doctor Strange and Ghostbusters and continued on The LEGO® Ninjago Movie and The LEGO® Movie Sequel.

The Australian dollar remained below US$0.80 in 2016/17, which assisted companies to remain competitive and effectively leveraging the 30 per cent PDV Offset to attract PDV work on large scale foreign productions. And the quality of the work undertaken by Australian companies continued to be recognised internationally with awards, new partnerships and opportunities to expand. Iloura received an Academy Award® nomination for Best Visual Effects on the film Deepwater Horizon; while Soundfirm was part of the team that won the Academy Award® for Best Sound Mixing on the Australian feature Hacksaw Ridge. Adelaide based Rising Sun Pictures opened a front end office in Sydney; while Animal Logic announced a joint venture with Imagine Entertainment to develop, produce, and finance six feature length animation and hybrid animation projects over the next five years.

Apportioned expenditure from foreign PDV-only titles1 ($m)

Continued work on The LEGO® Batman Movie and The LEGO® Ninjago Movie drove PDV-only expenditure to an all-time high.

1Expenditure has been apportioned across the year or years in which it was spent

60

40

87

104

123


FOREIGN PDV-ONLY BY REGION, 2006/07 – 2016/17US productions represent the largest proportion of international PDV work undertaken by Australian businesses on feature film and TV drama projects, accounting for more than 68 per cent of titles and 84 per cent of expenditure since 2006/07. PDV services to Asian productions represent 14 per cent of titles but only around two per cent of total spend.

No. of titles % of titles % of expenditure1

US 103 68% 84%

Asia 21 14% 2%

US/UK 8 5% 13%

US/Other 7 5% 1%

UK 6 4% <1%

Europe + US/Asia 6 4% <1%

Total 151 100% 100%

Spend by Region ($m)

Game of Thrones S7

68% 84%

13%

2%

1%

14%

5%5%

4%4%

28

Animal Logic recently completed work on The LEGO® Batman Movie, the second feature in the LEGO® franchise following 2014’s box office hit The LEGO® Movie. The Animal Logic team produced all the production design, asset creation and animation, shot production, final grade and output. Over 400 artists, production and technical crew and over 100 support staff worked on the film.

Bigger in scale and scope, the film’s Gotham City setting

required a more realistic style than its predecessor. The Batman mythology was used to inspire character and design, which still adhered to the rules and principles set out by The LEGO® Group.

For example, a jitter algorithm was applied to ensure bricks would not be perfectly aligned, allowing for the same gaps and crooked pieces found in real life bricks, and textures such as scratches, dirt and even fingerprints were added to individual bricks. Tiny decal

details were added to every frame to bring the LEGO® Minifigure characters to life, while creative solutions such as animated brick replacement allowed Batman to drive and partial motion blur was used to show him swimming with dolphins.

SHOWCASE

The LEGO Batman Movie (Animal Logic)


Reuniting with director James Mangold, RSP undertook PDV work on Logan, the final Wolverine instalment in the X-Men series. Darker in tone and style, Logan reveals a declining population of X-Men and a weary Logan with diminishing powers.

The team contributed 230 shots to the film, including the opening limo fight scene near the U.S./Mexico border, in which Logan is confronted by a gang of thugs. The complex and fast- paced sequence involved integrating visual effects such as CG claws, blood, gore,

wounds and body part replacements with live action elements.

RSP was also tasked with making the mysterious Transigen building look more ominous and secure by lighting and dressing a live action plate with CG props such as cameras, gatehouses and security fencing.

RSP’s most visually arresting and ambitious sequence involved the “psionic blast”, a vortex of violent energy emitted by a mentally declining Professor X whose telepathic seizures have devastating consequences for those around him.

SHOWCASE

Logan (Rising Sun Pictures)

This season, HBO’s Game of Thrones episode four, “The Spoils of War,” saw Daenerys and her Dothraki horde engage the Lannister army in a fiery fray. Reteaming with VFX Supervisor Joe Bauer and VFX Producer Steve Kullback, Iloura’s Glenn Melenhorst and Josh Simmonds led a team of 120 artists who worked for 10 months to craft the visuals for 200 shots. Iloura’s work was recognized with the VFX Emmy® Award for last season’s “Battle of the Bastards” episode.

Iloura drew upon their previously-honed crowd pipeline and tools to handle the enormous datasets required for huge scenes featuring mounted riders and infantry, to augment filmed elements

and create full CG shots -- some with thousands of soldiers in hand-to-hand combat. They also created extensive set extensions and CG smoke and fire, and composited sequences with assets from multiple vendors seamlessly.

To achieve the detailed crowd work, Iloura built custom animation tools for close-ups and tightly choreographed action with full cloth and hair simulations, so artists could refine assets quickly and achieve epic aerial shots, passing through clouds of FX smoke to reveal the battle below; many created from scratch using set scans and matte paintings as a base.

SHOWCASE

Game of Thrones series 7: “The Spoils of War” (Iloura)

ABOUT THE PDV DATA Companies identified as providing PDV services to feature film and TV drama projects report income earned on individual projects to Screen Australia through an online survey, with data aggregated for publication. Total PDV expenditure is determined by adding foreign PDV-only income to PDV expenditure for domestic and shoot titles. To allow for easier referencing in this report, income from PDV-only projects has been referred to as expenditure.

PDV is defined as a set of activities rather than a stage in the production process (see Key terms on page 4).

To provide a sense of the ongoing business activity of PDV companies in a given financial year (rather than according to an annual slate of productions or titles), expenditure has been assigned to the year it was spent rather than allocated to the start of the shoot or PDV work in Australia. As a result, the figures in this section may include projects that commenced shooting or PDV work in previous financial years and cannot be compared with figures in previous sections of the report, which are based on principal photography or PDV start date.

PDV expenditure figures include predicted spend on titles still undertaking work and are therefore subject to revision in subsequent years as final figures are made available.

This data relates only to feature film, TV drama and online drama titles and therefore does not cover all PDV activity in Australia. The most recent data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics indicates that Australian companies received income of $428.4 million in 2015/16 from the provision of PDV services across all audiovisual production, with 58 per cent accounted for by feature films and TV drama. Other areas of PDV activity include commercials and other TV productions.

Titles in the 16/17 slate

AUSTRALIAN FEATURES - DOMESTIC

Title Production CompanyPremiered as of Oct 2017?

SA Funded

1% Ticket To Ride Pty Ltd N Y

Australia Day Hoodlum Entertainment and Hoodlum Active Pty Ltd Y Y

The BBQ Revolution Partners Pty Ltd N Y

The Butterfly Tree Midwinter Films Pty Ltd N N

Cargo Causeway Films HQ Pty Ltd N Y

Chasing Comets Off The Ground Productions Pty Limited N Y

Choir Girl Choir Girl Film Pty Ltd, Nexus Production Group, Golden Gate Productions N N

The Empyrean 357 Film Pty Ltd N Y

Enter Sanctum Amazing People Pictures Pty Ltd N N

Event Zero Deadrock Films Pty Ltd Y Y

The Gateway Filmscope Entertainment Pty Ltd N N

The Green Door Three Feet Of Film N N

The Hard Road Trademark Films Pty Ltd N N

Harmony Film Grit N N

Hotel Mumbai Hotel Mumbai Double Guess Productions Pty Ltd N Y

In Like Flynn 308 Ent N N

Jirga Felix Media Pty Ltd N Y

Living Space Tru Dot Productions Pty Ltd N N

My Pet Dinosaur Little Monster Productions Pty Ltd Y N

The Nightingale Causeway Films HQ Pty Ltd, Nightingale Pictures Pty Ltd N Y

Occupation SparkeFilms Pty Ltd N N

Peter Rabbit Animal Logic, Olive Bridge Entertainment, Columbia Pictures, PR Productions N N

Rabbit Projector Films Pty Ltd, Longshot N N

Reaching Distance ScreenInkMedia, Deli Agency N N

Rip Tide The Steve Jaggi Company Y N

The School Bronte Pictures, Lunar Pictures Pty Ltd N N

The Second Sense and Centsability Pty Ltd, Second Films N N

Shambhala Xeitgeist Entertainment Group N N

Sibling Rivalry Bison Films Pty Ltd, Jason Byrne Productions Pty Ltd N Y

Stem Goalpost Pictures Australia Pty Ltd N N

Sweet Country Bunya Productions Pty Ltd, Sweet Country Films Pty Ltd N Y

Swinging Safari Wildheart Films Pty Ltd, See Pictures Pty Limited N Y

Three Summers Three Summers Films Productions Pty Ltd N Y

Tracy Thirsty Films, DFUA Productions Pty Ltd N N

Undertow Undertow pty Ltd N Y

West of Sunshine Exile Productions Pty Ltd N Y

The Wheel The Wheel Production Pty Ltd N N

Winchester Blacklab Entertainment Pty Ltd N Y

AUSTRALIAN FEATURES - CO-PRODUCTION

Title Production CompanyPremiered as of Oct 2017?

The Longest Shot (Australia/China)

HUAXIA Film Disitribution Co. Ltd, Saints Entertainment Corporation, Dog Fight Productions Pty Ltd, Lightstream Pictures Pty Ltd

N

Mary Magdalene (Australia/UK)

See-Saw Films (UK), Porchlight Films Pty Ltd N

Maya 2: The Honey Games (Australia/Germany)

Buzz Studios Pty Limited, Studio 100 Media GmbH N

FOREIGN FEATURES

Title Production Company

Aquaman Warner Bros Pictures, a Warner Bros Entertainment Company

Bad Genius GDH 559

Bleeding Steel Village Roadshow Pictures Asia, Heyi Pictures, Sparkle Roll Media

Pacific Rim: Uprising Legendary Entertainment, Universal Pictures, Perfect World Pictures, Double Dare You

Parindey Unknown

Thor: Ragnarok Walt Disney Productions, Marvel Enterprises

FOREIGN FEATURES: PDV-ONLY


1922 (US) Campfire

24 Hours to Live (US) Fundamental Films, Thunder Road Pictures, Film Afrika Worldwide

Black Panther (US) Marvel Studios

Bright (US) Clubhouse Pictures (II), Overbrook Entertainment, Netflix

The Commuter (France/US/UK) Ombra Films, StudioCanal, The Picture Company

Geostorm (US) Warner Bros. Pictures, Electric Entertainment, Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Skydance Media

Ghost in the Shell (US) DreamWorks Pictures, Reliance Entertainment, Arad Productions

John Wick: Chapter 2 (US) Thunder Road Pictures, 87Eleven, Lionsgate

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (US)

Columbia Pictures, Matt Tolmach Productions, Radar Pictures, Seven Bucks Productions

Logan (US) Donners' Company, Kinberg Genre, Marvel Entertainment, TSG Entertainment

Patriots Day (US) Bluegrass Films, Closest to the Hole Productions

Spider-Man: Homecoming (US) Columbia Pictures, Marvel Studios, Pascal Pictures

A Wrinkle in Time (US) Walt Disney Pictures, Whitaker Entertainment

*Three titles cannot be named for confidentiality reasons

Event Zero

AUSTRALIAN TV DRAMA - DOMESTIC - SERIES/SERIALS

Title Production Company BroadcasterPremiered as of Oct 2017?

SA Funded

Bent 101 Image Fusion Seven (7Flix) Y N

The Chinaboy Show RKPix Pty Ltd ABC N Y

The Edge of the Bush Guesswork Television Pty Ltd ABC Y Y

The Ex-PM series 2 Cordell Jigsaw Productions Pty Ltd ABC N N

The Family Law series 2 Matchbox Productions Pty Ltd SBS Y Y

Get Krack!n Get Krack!n Series One Pty Ltd ABC Y N

Here Come the Habibs! series 2

Jungle FTV Pty Ltd, Habibs TV S2 Pty Ltd Nine Y Y

High Life More Sauce Pty Ltd Nine Y Y

Home and Away series 30 Seven Network Operations Limited Seven Y N

The Letdown The Letdown Pty Ltd ABC Y Y

Neighbours series 34 FremantleMedia Australia Ten Y N

Pitch Short Blacks Initiative Various ABC N Y

Please Like Me series 4Pigeon Fancier Productions, John & Josh International, Guesswork Television Pty Ltd

ABC Y N

Ronny Chieng: International Student

Sticky Pictures Pty Ltd ABC Y Y

Rosehaven series 2 Rosehaven Series 2 Pty Ltd ABC Y N

Russell Coight's All Aussie Adventures

Big Crack Productions Pty Ltd Ten N N

The Slot The Slot Productions Pty Ltd Foxtel N N

True Story with Hamish and Andy series 1

Radio Karate ST Holdings, St Productions Pty Ltd Nine Y N

Utopia series 3 Utopia TV Pty Ltd ABC Y N

The Warriors Arenamedia Pty Limited ABC Y Y

Wham Bam Thank You Ma'am Skit Box Pty Ltd, Wham Bam Pty Ltd ABC Y Y

Whose Line is it Anyway? Australia

Roger That Pty LtdFoxtel/ Comedy Channel

Y N

Trip for Biscuits

AUSTRALIAN TV DRAMA - DOMESTIC - MINI-SERIES


SA Funded

Chosen Playmaker Media Pty Ltd N N

The Doctor Blake Mysteries series 5

December Media Pty Ltd ABC Y N

Doctor Doctor series 2 Easy Tiger Nine Y Y

Fighting Season Goalpost Pictures Australia Pty Ltd Foxtel Y Y

Friday On My Mind Playmaker Media Pty Ltd ABC Y Y

Glitch series 2 Matchbox Pictures Pty Ltd ABC N N

Janet King: Playing Advantage series 3

Screentime Pty Ltd ABC Y N

Love Child series 4 Playmaker Media LC4 SPV Pty Ltd Nine Y N

Newton's Law Every Cloud Productions Pty Ltd ABC Y Y

Offspring series 7 Endemol Shine Australia Pty Ltd Ten Y N

Picnic at Hanging Rock FremantleMedia Australia Foxtel N Y

A Place to Call Home series 5 Seven Productions Pty Limited Foxtel Y N

PulseBeyond Entertainment Pty Ltd, Pulse Productions S01 Pty Ltd

ABC Y Y

Safe Harbour Matchbox Productions Pty Ltd SBS N Y

The Secret Daughter series 2 Screentime Pty Ltd Seven N Y

Sunshine Carver Films Pty Ltd, Easy Tiger SBS Y Y

Wake in FrightLingo Pictures Pty Ltd, Ten Network Light Entertainment Sydney, Endemol Shine Australia Pty Ltd

Ten Y Y

Wentworth series 5 FremantleMedia Australia Foxtel Y N

Wentworth series 6 FremantleMedia Australia Foxtel N N

The Wrong Girl series 2 Playmaker Media Pty Ltd Ten Y Y

AUSTRALIAN TV DRAMA - DOMESTIC - TELEMOVIE


SA Funded

Olivia Newton-John: Hopelessly Devoted To You part 1

FremantleMedia Australia Seven N Y

Olivia Newton-John: Hopelessly Devoted To You part 2

FremantleMedia Australia Seven N Y

Sisters Shine Productions 3 Pty Ltd Ten Y Y

CO-PRODUCTIONS - TV DRAMA


SA Funded

Cleverman series 2 (Australia/New Zealand)

Goalpost Pictures Australia Pty Ltd, Pukeko Pictures Limited Partnership

ABC Y Y

CO-PRODUCTIONS - CHILDREN’S


SA Funded

The Deep series 2 (Australia/Canada)

A Stark Production Pty Ltd, DHX Media (Vancouver) Ltd. ABC N N

Nate is Late (Australia/France)

Watch Next Media Nine N N

Oh Yuck! (Australia/Canada)

Flying Bark Productions Seven Y N

The Legend of Monkey (Australia/New Zealand)

See-Saw Films (TV) Pty Ltd ABC N Y

FOREIGN TV DRAMA


The Bold and the Beautiful Buddy Films

The Leftovers series 3 Underdown Productions

Speed Ciwen Media Co Ltd

FOREIGN TV DRAMA: PDV ONLY


Game of Thrones series 7 Home Box Office (HBO), Television 360, Bighead Littlehead

Outcast series 2 Circle of Confusion, Skybound Entertainment, Fox International Studios

Philip K Dick’s Electric Dreams

Channel 4, Sony Pictures Television, Tall Ship Productions, Left Bank Pictures

*One title cannot be named for confidentiality reasons

AUSTRALIAN ONLINE DRAMA SERIES

Title Production Company DistributorPremiered as of Oct 2017?

SA Funded

Almost Midnight We’re Not Boys ABC iview N N

Aussie Rangers Factor 30 Films Pty Ltd ABC iview N N

Drop Dead WeirdAmbiance Entertainment Pty Ltd, Air Pig Productions Pty Ltd

KidsOn7 Y Y

F###ing Adelaide Closer Productions Pty ltd ABC iview N Y

Fresh Blood 2017 ABC Productions ABC iview N Y

The Horizon series 7 and 8 Cobbstar Productions Pty Ltd YouTube Y Y

Kiki and Kitty Porchlight Films Pty Ltd ABC iview N Y

AUSTRALIAN TV DRAMA - CHILDREN’S


SA Funded

Get Grubby TV Mememe Productions Pty Ltd ABC N Y

Guess How Much I Love You specials

SLR Productions Pty Ltd ABC N N

Jar Dwellers SOS series 2 Viskatoons Ten N N

Justine Clarke's Ta Da! Fredbird CDK Pty Limited ABC N Y

Kitty Is Not a Cat Kitty Is Not A Cat Productions Series Seven N N

KuuKuu Harajuku series 3 Moody Street Kids Pty Ltd Ten N N

Motown Magic Grace - A Storytelling Company Pty Limited Channel 7 N N

Mustangs FC Matchbox Productions Pty Ltd ABC Y Y

Random & Whacky Ambience Entertainment Pty Limited Ten Y N

Let's Talk About series 2 New Town Films Pty Ltd Presto Y Y

Lost in Pronunciation JDR Screen ABC iview Y N

Method Fire Sky Films Pty Ltd YouTube Y Y

The Other GuyEntertainment one Films Australia Pty Ltd, Aquarius Films Pty Ltd, The Other Guy Productions Pty Ltd

Stan Y Y

Other People's Problems Seymour Films ABC iview N Y

Sexy Herpes Beyondedge Pty Ltd, Mad Dan Prouctions Pty Ltd YouTube N Y

Small Town Hackers Mad Kids Pty Ltd YouTube N Y

These New South Whales series 2

Born in The Sauce Pty Ltd, Princess Pictures Pty Ltd YouTube N Y

Trip For Biscuits Robot Panther ABC iview Y Y

AUSTRALIA ONLINE SINGLE-EPISODE PROGRAM

Title Production Company DistributorPremiered as of Oct 2017?

SA Funded

Chaperones In Films Pty Ltd Stan N Y

Home and Away: All or Nothing

Seven Productions Pty Limited Presto Y N

Home and Away: Revenge Seven Productions Pty Limited Presto Y N

The Superwog Show Princess Pictures Pty Ltd YouTube Y Y

Untitled Triptych Pictures Pty Ltd YouTube N Y

Wrong Kind of Black Princess Pictures Holdings Pty Ltd ABC iview N Y

Cargo

36

Changes Titles made up to 2016/17 Titles made 2016/17 onwards

Total duration required for inclusion in the Drama Report

60 minutes in total 30 minutes in total – to accommodate a growing number of short-form drama series, particularly comedy.

Online Titles made for either a subscription VOD platform or ABC iview were counted as TV drama.

Projects that were excluded were those exclusively released on dedicated websites or on platforms such as YouTube or Vimeo, or only available via transactional services such as iTunes.

Online drama according to this report encompasses single-episode or series programs with total durations of 30 minutes or more that have premiered in Australia online. Broadly speaking they cover titles released via: SVOD (e.g. Stan), FVOD (e.g. ABC iview), AVOD (e.g. SBS on demand and YouTube), TVOD (e.g. iTunes). For titles that have a simultaneous TV broadcast and online release, they have been accounted for as TV drama.

Screen Australia acknowledges it is not possible to account for all titles made for and released online.

Methodology

With ongoing changes in audience consumption patterns and release strategies for Australian content, in 2017, Screen Australia undertook a review of the Drama Report in order to ensure that it remained relevant to stakeholders in an ever-changing media environment. The following methodology changes were made and it is advised that these be taken into consideration when undertaking any analysis of time-series data sets:

y Compiled by Screen Australia using data collected in the administration of the Producer Offset, and incorporating production data gathered by the Policy & Research Unit through contact with production companies and from publicly available sources. PDV data is gathered through surveying PDV companies.

y The following federal and state government funding agencies provided data on titles they have funded and, in the case of state agencies, titles shot and/or post-produced in their state: Screen Australia (including the former Film Finance Corporation Australia and the Australian Film Commission), Create NSW, Film Victoria, South Australian Film Corporation, Screen Queensland, ScreenWest, Screen Tasmania, Screen ACT and Screen Territory.

y In some cases, estimates have been made where data was not available.

y Foreign projects are included in the report when a substantial amount is shot in Australia or when PDV work is undertaken in Australia. Foreign shoot figures exclude those titles that spend less than 10 per cent of their total budgets in Australia.

y Features with budgets under $500,000 are only included if they have had a cinema release or screening at a festival. These

titles are often added to the relevant production year data within future Drama Reports.

y Spend in Australia may include some expenditure on foreign production elements – for example, fees for non-Australian actors or other individuals while working in Australia. Likewise, spend in a particular state may include fees for elements from outside the state such as foreign or interstate cast or crew.

y When analysing sources of finance, the ABC and SBS are categorised as film and TV industry, rather than as government sources. This reflects industry perception of the public broadcasters as part of the broadcast sector rather than government screen agencies. In addition to the federal, state and territory screen agencies, government sources may include direct finance from other government agencies and departments, including the Australian Children’s Television Foundation and the Adelaide and Melbourne Film Festival Funds.

y Funding figures from government agencies may not correlate with the figures in this report because this report includes projects according to the start date of principal photography rather than contract dates.

y Contributions to TV drama by broadcasters

in this report do not correlate with expenditure reported by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) in the Broadcasting Financial Results (BFR). This report analyses finance sources in place at the start of production while the BFR reports expenditure by the commercial free-to-air broadcasters on screened programs during the year, and includes amortisation costs for programs purchased in previous years and programs purchased after completion. For subscription television, ACMA reports annual expenditure by drama channels on ‘eligible Australian drama’, including licence fees, production expenses and limited pre-production costs. Expenditure on features may be apportioned across financial years. For both free-to-air and subscription television, the ACMA figures can include expenditure on New Zealand programs, following the ‘Australian content’ definition.

y Sketch comedy programs are included in line with ACMA’s definition of TV drama under the Australian Content Standard.

y In categorising titles as either mini-series or series, Screen Australia has followed the definitions set out in Division 10BA of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936.

y Series of, or related, telemovies are counted as individual titles, as set out in a


broadcaster’s licence agreement.

y Data is updated on an ongoing basis, with the result that some discrepancies with previously published reports may appear. The discrepancies reflect new information or adjustments to methodology.

y Total budgets, amount spent in Australia and finance sources reflect data available at the time of production and may change as titles near completion.

y Figures may not total exactly due to rounding.

y Release strategies for titles reflect information available to Screen Australia at the time of publication.

The Family Law S2

Screen Australia Drama Report · The text in this report is released subject to . a Creative...

Documents

Transcript of Screen Australia Drama Report · The text in this report is released subject to . a Creative...