Analysis of the Australian Film Industry
Australia has immense wealth and creativity in the film production industry. The country offers an ideal environment and inclusive surroundings for attractive screen production for a world-class, inspiring film, competitive film, TV production, and a fantastic Oscar-winning talent. For instance, Australia has an unmatchable film production location, an outstanding talent in every dimension of screening, favorable government incentives, and competitive cost across the globe. The country also offers a comprehensive and attractive network of effective international co-production and partnership agreements, which have benefited the country to assess a variety of selected film industries and actors. Most importantly, international film organizations such as Disney, Warner Bros, Netflix, and Universal prefer to operate in Australia and interact with the country’s vast talent and inclusive production atmosphere. Besides, behind this success in the screening and entertainment industry are thousands of dedicated workers who feed, build, cast, and cater to the massive production cost. This has highly benefitted the country by creating creative and resourceful employment opportunities, especially for innovative youths with an aspiration to earn a living through acting, advertisement, radio presenters, and photography. This provides a comprehensive analysis of the Australian film industry.
Australian Film Industry
Australia is considered a country with vast creativity and talent in the film, art, and music industry, including featuring the “world’s feature film in 1906 The Story of the Kelly Gang.” According to (ref), for decades, that country has been engaging in internal film production and distribution while at the same time being at the forefront of technology adoption and development in the screening industry. Today, the Australian government has established a thriving and successful film industry composed of approximately 2,500 creative organizations and business entities working across animation films, visual effects, sports, documentaries, children programs, and news. Further, Australia has established renowned and influential television and film learning institutions to train aspiring actors, artists, photographers effectively, and screen editors, especially for the modern generation highly dependent on technology (ref). (ref), concurs with these assertions by stipulating that in the early 1940s, the Australian film industry has been recognized for its expertise by winning various Academy Awards to recognize the steps the country has taken to improve its screening industry. For instance, in terms of actors, Australia has an unmatchable range of world-class talent with upcoming professionals very keen to follow the foot-step of renowned actors such as Nicole Kidman, Chris Hemsworth, Russell Crowe, and Naomi Watts (ref). Thus, the Australian film industry is still a growing enterprise with a global outlook.
Australian Government Subsidies on Film Industries
The burden of high taxation prevents most artists from achieving their dreams globally. Where the government has taken up the initiative of motivating filmmakers through tax incentives, the industry thrives. In Australia, the government has proactively taken a comparative and extensive tax reform supporting the country’s film industry since 1999. This decision has promoted the film industry because talents that were initially obscured by high tax rates can now be practiced and documented.
Several sectors support the film industry, and the provision of subsidies in areas that affect film recording and production is the most prudent step in promoting the industry. The Australian government’s subsidies cover significant areas that directly or indirectly affect the film industry. The incentives include a vast landscape and broad regime of various goods and services tax (GST). This tax relief is founded on a tax consolidation entity exemplified through financial instrument equity, favorable capitalization rules, friendly dividend imputation regulations, and reliable foreign exchange gains. Artists and producers have an opportunity to reap from the benefits of this law, reducing the cost of film making.
Further, the traditional provision of Australian stories have been traditionally and been initially provided through funding support and regulatory interventions. There are significant resources that are available to people seeking to learn and practice Australian culture. In the Australian print and oral literature, a significant display of people’s culture can be used to develop rich content for the film industry, including documentaries, drama, and children’s content. The government efforts are intended to promote appreciation of local talent and showing the world the wealth in the Australian culture.
A media system free of ill practices like corruption and bias ensures that every production has equal opportunity in the market. Apart from the government, artists, producers, and media houses also should ensure the legislation achieves the intended goal. The Australian film industry has adopted a comprehensive and effective expenditure obligation, broadcasting quotas, direct governmental spending, and unmatchable specific tax reimbursement. These steps ensure that accountability is enhanced on the media side, which is a significant player in disseminating film content. In nations where there is transparent expenditure obligation, artists are motivated, and government incentives support collective and personal efforts. Some states have film regulatory boards that ensure that stipulated obligations are adhered to by all industry players.
Other efforts have been put in place by the Australian government to support film content consumers and raise revenue. The government has progressively increased federal expenditure on specifically subscription video on demand (SVOD) and online services as a mechanism of assessing the nation’s narrative content. These attributes are indicators that the government is focused on promoting its film industry. A well regulated online service has the potential to promote new content and ensure that artists are well-compensated.
Another significant step was taken by the Australian government to subsidize the film industry is ensuring the screen production industry is founded on a fundamental Corporation Charter. This Charter is fundamental in promoting the interests of the local public. Although these steps may be expected in most other nations that value local talent development, the Australian government has created a flourishing cultural and artistic environment to enable the country to sustain a cohesive and distinctive filming industry and society.
Several positive achievements have been recorded since the decision to support the film industry in Australia. From the 1970s, the country has successfully incentivized the film and art production industry through a comprehensive prism to portray Australian culture to the global audience. The global film industry appreciates the rich content in Australian culture through a variety of productions that have been supported by the government. Evidence shows that from 1970 to 1980, the county has implemented an expansive and productive screening industry incubated through effective communication and cooperation between government agencies, producers, broadcasters, actors, and subordinate staff.
Australian Broadcast Corporation has taken a leading role in ensuring that citizens and media portray government support initiatives’ benefits. The creation and broadcasting of local content is a critical driving force for the Corporation’s day-to-day activities. As the national broadcaster, the ABC is charged under its Charter to broadcast programs that “contribute to a sense of national identity and inform and entertain, and reflect the Australian community” (Australian Broadcasting Corporation ABC, n.d.). ABC’s corporate strategy further sets out the Corporation’s vision as “the independent source of Australian conversations, culture, and stories.”
The current tax incentives for film and television were devised ten years ago and included the producer, location and post, digital and visual effects (PDV) offsets. There are specific legislative recommendations that support the film industry in Australia. These proposals were designed to promote local talent and ensure a clear platform for promoting the Australian culture. For example, the Convergence Review recommended that “premium television content exceeding a qualifying threshold should attract the 40 percent offset available under the Producer Offset Inquiry into the Australian film and television industry Submission. This law supports talent and ensures a fair tax limit for individual production, instead of a standard levy that cuts across all productions.
The producer offset provides a tax rebate for Australian drama and documentaries and is currently 40 percent for cinematic features but only 20 percent for television productions. This distinction is no longer valid as television and film now have comparable production costs, and television is a far larger employer. Notably, most Australian filmmakers cannot access a cinematic distribution, and many films bypass cinema for alternative content platforms. The location and PDV offsets incentivize overseas studios to film and do postproduction work in Australia and take advantage of our unique environment and world-class infrastructure and expertise.
Australian Federal Program Addressing Gender Inequality
The fifth goal of UNESCO’s 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development stipulates the need for gender equality. There is a constant evaluation of the global government’s efforts to ensure this goal and others are achieved. According to UNESCO’s 2018 Global Report “Re|Shaping Cultural Policies,” it was revealed that women are severely under-represented in the workforce. Evidence was presented to demonstrate that most women globally have less access to resources and face substantial gender pay gaps. The case is not different in Australia, where government and private entities are developing programs to ensure gender balance in the film industry.
One significant program In Australia that supports gender equality in the film industry is Screen Australia. The program is critical in creating awareness about inequality in the film industry and supporting initiatives that promote women’s participation in the sector. According to the organization’s recent review, “Women made up less than 50% of key creative roles across all sectors, with only 16% of drama directors being female, and only 21% of writers” (Henkel, 2019). This agency’s analysis and efforts provide significant insight into the nation’s performance when seeking to achieve the fifth goal of the SDG.
When evaluating different programs that have been initiated by Screen Australia, it emerged that its Gender Matters program was doing exceptionally well and, in 2019, exceeding its KPI target. There was a significant 56% of all projects supported by Screen Australia, with at least 50% of women’s creative roles.
Another program that is supported by the Australian government to promote equality in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Gender equality and women’s empowerment strategy. In the plan, the government seeks to ensure that no single gender has privilege over another when it comes to access and benefits derived from state and social programs. Significant steps have been made in attaining the goals of this program. In January 2017, the government appointed the third Ambassador for Women and Girls, Dr. Sharman Stone, to lead government initiatives in advocating for gender issues. These interventions are among others that are directed by NGOs and which has assisted in ensuring that women become visible in the film industry equal to their male counterparts.
Other nations have launched similar or superior programs that support equality in filming. In Brazil, the Secretariat of Audiovisual Activities of the Ministry of Culture and the Secretariat of Women’s Policies of the Presidency of the Republic of Brazil launched the “Carmen Santos Award – Cinema by Women” in 2013 (Bergfelder, Shaw, and Vieira, eds., 2016). This program has been critical in supporting equal opportunities among men and women in the Brazilian audiovisual sector. When working on an equal opportunity, this program offers increased visibility to women’s directors and technicians’ cinematographic work. While the Brazilian program has a broader objective of supporting the female gender, it is primarily focused on indigenous women.
While several programs promote equality in the film industry, similar to other sectors, this goal’s achievement remains a challenge. For example, there is still an outcry from many women advocates in Australia who feel that the opportunity available for men is not the same for women artists, producers, and writers. According to Gillian Armstrong, who is celebrated as the first Australian female director to earn an international reputation, “there is no room at all for mediocre women” (Henkel, 2019). There are fewer women in the industry than males, and this difference is further blamed on double standards when it comes to the assessment of women for potential promotion. An Australian journalist and writer, Amancay Tapia, believes that “men are assessed for their potential while women are assessed by what they’ve already achieved” (DFAT, n.d). This difference in assessment standards causes fewer women to get promoted to some roles in the film industry like production, director, or scriptwriting.
Opportunities and Challenges Posed by Digital Technology
Traditionally, the film was aired in the cinema halls where the audience was gathered through promotional efforts. This trend is significantly affected by the emergence of new technology that threatens old ways of developing, presenting, and evaluating film content. Several challenges are attributed to the technology, including piracy, non-submission of royalties, and copyright issues.
The process of producing a film is costly and takes time and other resources. When artists have produced a film that is believed to depict their desired theme, they expect to get compensated through charges and royalties. The digital platform now makes it easy to reproduce works of art in a manner that denies artists and producers deserved rates (Datta, and Goswami, n.d). Pirated content has flooded the market, making it difficult for the intended beneficiaries of the film to benefit as desired.
The other challenge posed by digital technology for the film industry is the non-payment of royalties by media houses. While media is an excellent opportunity for airing film content, there have been reports of failure to pay artists, leading to a loss of morale. The Australian government has made significant efforts through numerous legislation to ensure transparency and accountability when using locally produced films in the media.
The issues of copyright emerge as another critical challenge that the filmmakers are facing in the digital era. The use of an online platform to post the progress of film production and collect feedback from the potential audience is an opportunity that can be abused by some people. Dishonest producers can borrow ideas from incomplete productions and proceed to upload them as their work to retain the copyright of such titles. This causes controversy where there is no clear evidence of who should be the copyright owner’s rightful owner. It is possible to claim copyright if a producer can produce evidence of uploading the content subject to controversy.
Other than posing challenges for filmmakers, digital innovations have brought opportunities in equal measure. First, it is possible to share ideas and communicate relatively fast with different players during the production process (Mirković, 2018). Traditionally, the producers had to assemble the case physically and provide instructions in a process that took a long before completing. The advantage of the digital era is that it is now possible to communicate instructions and improve scripts through virtual communication.
The second advantage of technology is that it is now possible to request cast members to practice and record their assessment lines without calling a meeting at a commonplace. The filmmaking process requires different site shootings and corrections that have been made accessible by reducing the cost of transport and accommodation for the cast members. Unless for scenes that require the cast to come together, technology has made it easy for producers to engage the members using tools like online video to assess each cast member (Tağ Kalafatoğlu, 2016).
Another advantage of using technology is that it can add different effects to production without incurring substantively high cost (Mirković, 2018). Initially, every scene in the film had to be captured by visiting the scene with a camera. Today, technology has made it easy to incorporate additional effects that improve the quality of a film. Further, it is now possible to edit and share films through digital platforms. While initial editing methods included allowing film editors to visit the cast during rehearsal, this process has been improved through the availability of medium that can be used to cast recorded scenes. Further, there are advanced tools that can be used to edit films, post comments, and include video effects.
A film that Portrays Cultural Identity
Somersault (2004) is an Australian Romantic drama that portrays the country’s culture and topography. The film was written by Cate Shortland and was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. When viewing the film, one gets an impression of “a different, more problematic, interpretation of this nexus between the Australian landscape and the Australian character” (Film Reference, 2019). The caste in the film does not incorporate a section of the Australian population, making it less relevant in promoting their culture. For example, the bush’s original inhabitants, the Aboriginal Australians, have not fared well in the Australian cinema. The absence of this significant part of the Australian community makes the film appear biased to some sense.
Filmmakers have to incorporate cultural values in their films as a means of promoting values in those societies. When certain ills are depicted in films, communities participating in them have an opportunity to reform, and others can also learn about their negative implications (Lawson, 2018). In the film Somersault (2004), males’ dominance is demonstrated to show how Australian communities handled gender issues. Therefore, filmmakers can be communicating cultural practices and pointing society to areas that may require reform. Isolating one community in a film that addresses a significant theme evident across society is also a weakness that filmmakers may have, and which can depict them as discriminatory.
Analysis of Australian Film Value Chain
In Australia, government subsidies have a significant benefit in protecting local content and circulation of films. While this is a significant step in supporting the industry, it may face other challenges like the recent outbreak of COVID-19. The incentives were developed on the premise that the filmmaker and the industry will remain operational, and it will be possible to achieve the set quotas. However, the current COVID-19 situation has affected the film industry because it is impossible for cast members to meet, affecting the production process freely. Most productions have been suspended because of the pandemic, yet the artists and the filmmakers need to be supported for sustenance. This initiative forces the government to consider alternative financing strategies during challenging times like experienced during the COCID-19 pandemic.
Bibliography
Australian Broadcasting Corporation ABC, n.d. Retrieved from https://www.abc.net.au/
Bergfeld, T., Shaw, L., and Vieira, J.L. eds., 2016. Stars and stardom in Brazilian cinema. Berghahn Books.
Datta, A. and Goswami, R., The Film Industry Leaps into Artificial Intelligence: Scope and Challenges by the Filmmakers. In Rising Threats in Expert Applications and Solutions (pp. 665-670). Springer, Singapore.
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, DFAT (n.d). Gender Equality. Gender Initiatives. Retrieved from https://www.dfat.gov.au/aid/topics/investment-priorities/gender-equality-empowering-women-girls/gender-equality/Pages/gender-initiatives
Film Reference, 2019. Retrieved from http://www.filmreference.com/encyclopedia/Academy-Awards-Crime-Films/Australia-AUSTRALIAN-FILM-AND-AUSTRALIAN-CULTURE.html#ixzz6cAoKkBvq
Henkel, C., 2019. Screen Australia celebrates its work in gender equality, but things are far from equal. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/screen-australia-celebrates-its-work-in-gender-equality-but-things-are-far-from-equal-122266
Lawson, S., 2018. Towards Decolonization: some Problems and Issues for Film History in Australia. Australian Film Theory and Criticism: Volume 3: Documents, p.1879.
Mirković, Ž., 2018. Creative Documentary Today: Challenges and Opportunities for Directors and Producers. AM Časopis za studije umetnosti i medija, (15), pp.173-184.
Tağ Kalafatoğlu, Ş., 2016. Opportunities And Innovations Introduced by Digital Age in Documentary Films.