Trends in the core Australian feature slate

Total production budgets for Australian features fluctuate each year, due largely to the impact of a small number of fully foreign financed, usually high-budget, films. Annual variations can also be caused by the timing of principal photography start dates. To clarify trends and smooth out the sharp annual fluctuations caused by the presence or absence of such films, we have used two-year rolling averages and excluded all projects fully financed from overseas and high-budget titles majority financed by US stuidios. The rationale for excluding such films is solely to isolate and examine the ‘core’ of Australian feature production. While high-budget, foreign-financed local features such as Australia, Happy Feet and Moulin Rouge are extremely important to Australian production activity as a whole, they are exceptional and skew the results statistically when trying to build a picture of the general production slate.

An analysis of this ‘core slate’ over the past 14 years shows there was a downward trend in average annual production budgets between 2001/02–2002/03 and 2003/04–2004/05, due partly to a decline in foreign investment over this period, although average production budgets and foreign investment increased again in the following years. Average production budgets peaked in 2007/08–2008/09, with increased investment from government, private and industry sources.

Investment from government agencies underpins the core slate, averaging around $32 million annually since 2000/01–2001/02. Until 2007/08, this was mainly from the FFC, which became part of Screen Australia in July 2008 – now the primary source of direct government funding. Private investment has fluctuated, with peaks created by contributions from the Film Licensed Investment Companies (FLICs) in the two-year period to June 2003 and escalated use of 10BA in the two-year period to June 2008. Division 10BA was closed to new applicants in July 2007 with the introduction of the new Producer Offset, although the concessional status for investment in productions holding a valid 10BA certificate was available until 30 June 2009.

Production value of all Australian features and core slate1, 2-year rolling averages	Contributions of each investor type to core Australian feature slate1, 2-year rolling averages

Notes:
1. Excludes all projects fully financed from overseas and high-budget titles majority financed by US studios.
2. Includes direct funding from Australian state and federal agencies and funding bodies. Comprises equity investments only - distribution guarantees, loans and underwriting are not included.
3. Includes private non-industry sources such as FLICs, and 10B and 10BA investors.
4. Includes Australian-based film and TV producers and production companies, distribution companies, commercial free-to-air broadcasters, the ABC and SBS, and subscription TV channels. Producer Offset included from 2007/08.