Sales and Distribution Support
Screen Australia’s Market & Audience team works with producers, distributors and sales agents to negotiate and capture both international and domestic sales information to ensure the best possible outcome for all parties
The Market & Audience team is a resource available to all producers, whether you have received Screen Australia funding or not. You can contact us for advice at any stage of your project where you require comparable information regarding a deal – from late development to post-release and market attendance.
Please email enquiries to Market & Audience.
Sales and Distribution Support
Screen Australia recognises that information on current sales, deal terms and market intelligence are a vital part of doing business on your projects.
Screen Australia’s Market & Audience team works with producers, distributors and sales agents to negotiate and capture both international and domestic sales information to ensure the best possible outcome for all parties.
This information includes what is being offered and accepted on titles that have Screen Australia investment level funding, with a focus on:
- distribution guarantees (DG)
- distribution advances (DA)
- minimum guarantees (MG)
- license fees
- pre-sales
- key deal terms
The data we collect is confidential. However, based on aggregated figures, Screen Australia can provide advice and market intelligence on:
- what prices might be expected for film and scripted TV drama, both internationally and domestically
- which territories worldwide are acquiring Australian content
Only limited data is available for documentary, as the majority are funded via non-recoupable grants.
International Sales Listing
Screen Australia recognises that an understanding of international post-financing sales across genres and territories is a vital part of doing business on your projects.
Market & Audience tracks sales of Film and TV projects that Screen Australia have invested in. The tables below provide a picture of international post-financing sales activity from 2020 to 2023, with comparisons to sales from the period 2016 to 2020, showing changes in territory trends.
Key things to note:
- All prices are in USD
- The sales included cover a variety of deal types, with varying license periods
- The rights sold also vary between deals, and this all affects the price paid.
How Pricing is Shown
Adult TV drama (including Telemovies): Price shown per hour (e.g. US$8,000/hour = US$80,000 for 10 x 1hr series).
Children’s TV: Price shown per half hour.
Feature films: Prices in table reflect what was paid for the entire project.
For all titles, where the range of prices in a particular territory was unevenly distributed, the data has been split into two parts, for clearer insight.
Taking into account the number of years covered by these listings, since the previous sales listings, Screen Australia has seen an increase of about 50% in the number of sales for both Australian Children’s and Adults TV.
The prices listed are all in USD and are for various types of deals and license periods. They include long tail sales of older contracted projects that continue to sell internationally along with more recent Screen Australia funded projects. It is very important to note here that the rights sold (Theatrical, TV, SVOD, Video/DVD, ancillary rights) vary considerably between deals and this in turn will affect the price paid.
Types of Projects
For all types of projects, some of these sales are outright (flat) deals where no overages will be paid regardless of performance; some are license fees for TV or SVOD broadcast; other prices reflect minimum guarantees (MG), distribution guarantees (DG) or distribution advances (DA). In the latter case, commissions and/or royalties are negotiated against each right licensed and, if the project performs well, then overages may be paid in addition to the original MG, DG or DA.
The sales listed here do NOT include those overages or royalties and fees derived from: best endeavours or straight distribution deals; VOD or DVD royalties; screening fees; awards income; or collection society income.
Also worth noting is that any unusually large or small sales were removed from the data set for confidentiality and to provide the most accurate reflection of the market.
For feature film, the prices listed here reflect what was paid for the entire project, whereas for Adult TV Drama (including Telemovies) the prices shown are broken down into the amount paid per hour. For example, if a territory has paid a minimum of US$8,000 for one hour of Adult TV Drama, it could be that a 10 x 1hr-episode series received US$80,000. It’s broken down this way because of the varying lengths for series (anywhere between four and 20+ episodes).
Children’s TV is presented differently again, being measured per half hour to be more in line with episode lengths.
In all listings, where there was an uneven distribution between Min / Max prices, the results are divided into Part 1 and Part 2 to better illustrate the market.
Checklist
Checklist for Sales and Distribution agreements. This is a summary of some of the points you may wish to consider in your negotiations with sales agents and distributors.