SBS will be concerned with changes to TV funding: Cameron

Screen Australia’s Chief Operating Officer Fiona Cameron anticipated that SBS would be “quite concerned” by the agency’s proposal not to fund more than two series of the same television project, as well as foreign formats.

“This provision would not allow for Screen Australia to support the third series of, for example, East West 101. We’ve got some money on some of their productions which are foreign formats, including The Family and Who Do You Think You Are, and under this proposal, those would no longer attract SA funding. We don’t mean to pick on SBS at all, but it’s going to be controversial for them,” Cameron told Encore.

According to Cameron, “there’s been at times a lack of diversity” in terms of Australian drama, with many crime-based series being made in the country, and the federal agency funding multiple series of the same shows.

“That means that our money is locked into the same project when it should have gone into new things. Also, we’ve been funding foreign formats and that arguably locks out other Australian intellectual property, so broadly speaking, the diversity of the slate hasn’t been as good as it could have been,” said Cameron.

“It’s important for Screen Australia to actually focus on where this $37m should go: to the high quality TV programs on one side and the innovation end on the other. There will be greater diversity and more emphasis on programs of national significance and cultural value, as well as cutting-edge,” explained Cameron.

In terms of the number of series supported, Cameron said that the agency recognises that an expensive series represents a risk, and because “networks play a bit safe”, the agency might have to be involved in series two.

“We’re not guaranteeing to be in series two either, but we could do it. However, if a third series is being made, that means it’s been readily monetised, there’s a huge audience and a great commercial ability for that show,” she said.

The agency released Funding Australian content on ‘small screens’: a draft blueprint, proposing a number of changes for the television sector – including the creation of two funds: Convergent Television ($30-35m) and All Media ($2-5m). Screen Australia looked at similar initiatives in Canada and New Zealand – their analysis is included in part B of the draft blueprint.

The Convergent Television fund requires programs to be distributed on another platform, although Cameron said that, for the time being, that other platform can be as simple as an online catch up TV service.

“It’s a pretty easy bar at the moment, and we’re hoping to make it more sophisticated. All Media is more complex because it’s multi-platform dependent, so it has to have another component such as a phone app, YouTube, etc.,” she explained.

Another change is the elimination of the distinction between series and mini-series, which Cameron says is “artificial”.

“If anyone is to start up a show, they’d come up to Screen Australia and also try and get the Producer Offset. In theory, series have a continuing story arc and characters, but we can’t see if there’s a story arc from the first 13 episodes. For example, Sea Patrol was and is still funded as a mini-series. They only produce 13 episodes at a time, but  the characters and love interests are the same, so whether it’s a mini-series or a series, that’s artificial.

“We’ll fund up to 13 episodes of anything if it’s good enough; we won’t force producers into a situation where they have to make 13 eps, but we’re limiting our funding to the first 13 because otherwise we’d run out of funds,” explained Cameron.

The draft blueprint also aims to ensure that the agency does not discriminate between pay and free-to-air broadcasters.

“If you look at the proposed assessment criteria, the project is just one component; we also look at the market attachment. We have a holistic test; we are looking for quality product that has national significance and good quality.”