A look at Official Co-productions through the eyes of documentary producers who’ve done it.
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Madman producer Nick Batzias, who worked on the New Zealand/Australian Official Co-production Spookers, and Susan MacKinnon, a producer on Canadian/Australian Official Co-production The Kingdom: How Fungi Made the World, both join journalist Caris Bizzaca to talk through their experiences making documentaries in this space.
Batzias talks about how Spookers naturally became an Official Co-production and why your budget doesn’t need to be at a certain level to justify it becoming one. Meanwhile MacKinnon, who was a Director of the Documentary Australia Foundation, reveals what it was like going from the philanthropic documentaries to Official Co-productions, how she wrapped her head around making her first one, and why producing partners you can trust are an absolute must.
Both agree that there are not many documentaries that are Official Co-productions, and why they’re open to make more.
This episode concludes the Official Co-production series. Thanks for listening and please check out the other episodes on the Screen Australia Podcast.
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