MPs call for rules forcing Netflix and Amazon to support Australian screen content
Local content rules for Netflix and other streaming services, cuts to children’s TV quotas and an overhaul of the screen industry’s tax offset schemes have been recommended by a parliamentary committee looking into the sustainability of Australia’s film and television industry.
The report, commissioned by communications minister Mitch Fifield in January, suggested services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video be required to invest a proportion of their local revenues into Australian productions, while quotas on children’s TV be replaced by a new fund.
Luke Howarth MP, chair of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Communications and the Arts
How about rules compelling Australian screen content makers to make content that people actually want to see?
We’re tired of the self-entitlement of film makers who make demands, yet continue to make dreary stories that satisfy only those who live inside the inner city Lefty Bubble. The talent is here in Oz, only the film bureaucrats who decide who gets what, are complete idiots who continue to fund failures. Who are usually their mates.
It’s time for a “3 strikes and you’re out” approach to film funding. First time go creatively crazy, second time find an audience, 3rd time if you don’t, you’re barred from funding for 10 years until you’ve learned your craft: winning audiences.