SPAA supports Taboo offset appeal

The Screen Producers Association of Australia will support Beyond Productions’ decision to appeal the Administrative Appeals Tribunal decision on the “non-Australianness” of the documentary Taboo.

“SPAA is concerned that inconsistencies have emerged in the administration of the Producer Offset that allow feature films with no discernable local screen references to qualify for the Producer Offset while documentary and factual TV programs are denied the same treatment. The industry is looking for consistency and transparency,” said SPAA executive director Geoff Brown.

Screen Australia rejected Beyond’s application for the producer offset, arguing it didn’t meet the criteria of the Significant Australian Content test and the fact that the series, in its fifth season, was not a new creative concept.
Beyond then appealed the decision, but the Administrative Appeals Tribunal supported the federal agency’s original decision.
“While series four and five were produced largely by Australian personnel, and we note that the behind the scenes work on series four and five – the research, writing, production, filming, editing etc – was undertaken principally by Australians, we did not detect anything characteristically Australian about these series and we doubt that the ordinary person viewing series 4 and 5 would have noticed anything different from series one,” said the ATT in a statement.

Beyond will appeal the ATT decision to the Federal Court.

There has been criticism about the SAC and the inconsistencies in its application. When the Producer Offset was first announced, George Miller’s Justice League superhero project didn’t meet the SAC requirements – according to the Film Finance Corporation – even though the project was being developed by Australians and it would be shot in the country, providing employment to hundreds of practitioners. The project never materialised.

Alex Proyas’ Hollywood film Knowing didn’t have any “characteristically Australian” elements either, and although it was initially rejected by the FFC, it ultimately received the 40 percent rebate when Screen Australia considered there were enough elements for it to be classified as an Australian film. Baz Luhrmann’s $120m remake of The Great Gatsby, an American story set in New York, is also expected to also receive a producer offset certificate – an essential reason for Warner to bring the production to our shores instead of shooting in the US or any other country.

In a statement, SPAA said that the ATT “virtually stated that there had to be peculiarly Australian references on screen to merit the payment of the Producer Offset”, a situation which was now being referred to as the “kangaroos and koalas requirement”.