Brain drain: The point of no return
Australia’s screen professionals must be free to practice their skills anywhere in the world, but how do we stop this healthy career development from becoming a dangerous brain drain? Miguel Gonzalez reports.
If we were to make a list of all the Australian screen practitioners who have made it overseas, it would be a very long list indeed. It would probably start with the A-list creatives everybody knows, followed by the more anonymous and numerous executives, directors, producers, editors, cinematographers, VFX artists and technicians working all over the world.
While it is to be expected that many – if not all – industry practitioners would seek to expand their horizons and work internationally at some point in their careers to reach other markets, work in other systems and cultures and develop new skills, leaving Australia should not be an act of professional desperation.
The historical fluctuation in the volume of international productions shooting in Australia has become a prolonged draught, intensified by an Australian dollar that has reached historical heights against its US counterpart. Add the difficulty in getting local projects up and running, and the result is an industry suffering from a constant brain drain it may never recover from.
Excellent article. There is limited support or incentive for talented directors and screenwriters to remain in the country. They either leave for greener pastures ( director James Wan being the perfect example) or abandon their craft, disillusioned with the lack of local opportunities.
In the past, taxpayers’ money has tended to go towards projects with a high Australian content which unfortunately is usually not what Australian audiences want, especially given that this so called Australian content is completely at odds with our current culture.
Now that the party is over can we get back to the business of using Taxpayers money to fund filmmakers…call me weird but that might help stop the brain drain
We need more films like A VIEW FORM THE BRIDGE which is an Arthur Miller classic. It’s quality international stuff but pure Australians behind everything. Andrew Bovell, Rob Connolly and Anthony Lapaglia…this is how they can stay in this country and make fantastic films.