Mid-range failure must be addressed by either party: Screen Australia
Dr Ruth Harley, CEO of Screen Australia, says the industry needs help to address the lack of mid-range feature production – and it must be done regardless of who wins the election.
Plus, marketing manager Kathleen Drumm discusses the structure of her department and its relationship with distributors.
Ruth, you’ve openly said that mid-range features are in danger, and some distributors agree that this situation is also happening in the US. Now the Coalition has proposed a $60m fund to stimulate distributor investment in $7-30m films…
Ruth Harley: Screen Australia has made the exact same point. We and SPAA are one mind about this as a market failure, and we need some help to address it.
“You were present at the Coalition announcement, when Shadow Arts Minister Steven Ciobo said Minister Garrett had let down the arts sector and the screen industry. Do you agree?
RH: I think that it was a political meeting… we’re not political; our job is to support the film and TV industry, not to play party politics. We’re a federal agency. That’s people like SPAA who do business that way, we don’t.”
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If your job is to support the industry Harley then maybe you should listen to it as a good starting point. You also suggest that it’s not political.?? That’s certainly a strange point of view for the CEO of a federal tax funded group such as Screen Australia.
The interview above was a good one and had good answers that I thought were covered in typical Screen Australia spin. So I thought I would ask my own question:
1. How many film makers have you spoken to in Australia Harley?
2. How many Australian films have you seen?
3. How does screen Australia tackle distributors who don’t pay money owed to filmmakers even though they are contractually obliged too?
4. How long do you think you’ll have in Australia before the boys club chew you up and spit you out?
5. Lastly, when is a good time to change the old staff of Screen Australia with staff that actually want the film industry to thrive?
It would be very concerning to see Screen Australia with another $60Million to spend.
Screen Australia with Harley at the helm hasn’t performed well with their existing budget allocation, so what makes the government think another $60mil is going to do?
A better idea would be to give divide up the $60Mil and give it to each state film body.
Hi Dean, I agree completely!! It’s become a problem that Ruth Harley isn’t communicating with anyone outside Screen Australia, not even those with legitimate problems dealing with Screen Australia.
I say give $1Million to 60 new film makers and see how quickly our industry is revived.