Drama investment plunges, Screen Australia reveals
Screen Australia has released figures demonstrating the dramatic fall in film investment in Australia during the last financial year.
Overall, drama production in Australia accounted for $495m, the figures showed. Local feature production accounted for 18% of that. This was a drop of 67% on last year to $88m. Foreign activity accounted for 17% or $85m of the $495m. It was a fall by 53% on last year, due to only two foreign films shooting in Australia last year; Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader and Don’t be Afraid of the Dark.
The TV drama sector was the only bright spot, with expenditure rising by $12%. The sector took $322m, or 65% of the $495m, according to Screen Australia’s The Drama Report.
NSW accounted for 41% of expenditure, Queensland for 28%, and Victoria for 25%.
Screen Australia predicted that this financial year would be better saying: “Several high-budget films have since commenced, including Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby and Alex Proyas’ Paradise Lost, and the 2011/12 feature slate is already set to recover to the levels experienced in the last few years.”
It added: “Based on current information on upcoming feature film production, Screen Australia estimates at least $350 million in feature film production in 2011/12. This comprises around $100 million in expenditure by Screen Australia–financed features, with films such as Drift, Mental, The Sapphires and The Kath & Kim Filum already underway.”
