Piracy: Networks should open schedules to local producers
Murray
High rates of illegal downloads of foreign TV shows could have a positive impact on the Australian production industry Nick Murray, the managing director Cordell Jigsaw Zapruder, has claimed, if networks are prepared to open up their schedules more.
As networks suffer from the pirating of its international imports, they have cited first run local content as a way to protect their ratings and revenue. And Murray said this can present a real opportunity for Australian production companies if they invest in the development of new ideas.
However, he urged the local networks to look beyond just creating local dramas and big format shows, which are expensive to produce, and engage local production companies to develop new ideas and original shows, such as comedies.
Shows such as SBS’ Wilfred, for example, performed well in Australia and is still in production in the US, and the ABC/Jungleboys comedy A Moody Christmas, is also being remade in North America.
Murray said by investing in the development of new ideas networks could also secure the talent of the future, as well as audiences.
“There is some really great stuff coming out of Australia and we see Americans looking here to pick up shows, so people are looking to Australia to come up with ideas,” Murray told Mumbrella.
“If there’s a real squeeze on margins and you can’t recoup the development costs that is a disincentive for production companies to develop and pitch shows, and that will backfire on the networks.
“But our industry should be about ideas, it shouldn’t be about who can go overseas and be nice to the greedy bastards at whichever companies come up with a new idea.
“So that’s something we really have to think about as an industry because that will have a long term effect.”
Yesterday Hamish McLennan, CEO at Network Ten, said the network would be closing expensive production deals and focus on creating locally produced content at competitive prices as he announced the company’s half year results.
Ten has seen poor ratings for its major shows Secrets and Lies, up against Love Child on Monday nights, as well as So You Think You Can Dance, launched against Seven and Nine’s blockbusters My Kitchen Rules and The Block on Sunday nights, which has since been shifted to Thursdays.
Murray, whose company CJZ produces Bondi Rescue for Ten, said: “The Biggest Loser and Masterchef, and The Voice and X Factor are incredibly expensive shows and when they don’t work they really hurt the network, as we’ve seen at Ten.
“But there’s plenty of ways to do interesting, cost-effective entertainment programs that are local which viewers will come to. There are some great opportunities there.”
And Murray said networks could also find new opportunities if it opened up its schedule to seven nights a week.
He said: “Australian content is really important and audiences are watching it, but it would be great to see some of it treated just a little bit better by the networks. By putting shows in slots where the audience might come to them rather than everything being run on Sunday and Monday nights, because everyone’s just destroying each other.
“There are plenty of nights in the week that have historically been strong viewing nights and they are all ignored. There are seven nights a week and the networks are only programming on four of them.
“In the UK the networks opened up Saturday nights again, and it had been a wasteland, but the audience came back. But we haven’t seen anyone try that here, so there are some really good opportunities if they think laterally.”
Although the networks are able to prevent local programs from being pirated by giving them first run on the networks, Murray said it is in the interest of the local industry to crackdown on illegal downloads.
“The main thing in our game is getting shows commissioned, and if it hurts the network’s confidence to commission something, then it’s hurting us,” Murray said.
The illegal downloading of Australian films such as 100 Bloody Acres have also had a negative impact on the industry, and it is an issue Screen Australia CEO Graeme Mason is working to address.
“The thing that really does worry me is that even within our own sector, to not recognise that if you’re not paying for it, the people who created it aren’t going to get any money,” he told Mumbrella in a live video hangout.
“Sure they’ll get their fee, if they are lucky enough to be funded by us or the ABC or Channel Nine, but that’s all they get, and I think it’s a massive problem that somehow we’re now in this position where society doesn’t think it’s a problem to not pay for their content to the people who created it,” he said.
Sydney-based film director Matt Holcomb said the fear of lost revenue has the biggest impact on filmmakers, and could stunt production.
“The fear factor is a real worry,” he said. “Fear of lost revenue or losing money. Anything that feeds that fear, like rampant piracy, is bad news. The local industry is in a fragile state.
“The appetite for local fare is proportional to output levels, whether consumed legally or illegally. But if someone takes a punt and invests heavily in the production of Australian films, and piracy comes into play down the line and turns their investment into a bad one, then it’s back to square one.”
Megan Reynolds
We went to Channel Nine with an idea only for some local nobody in Nine to offer us a Saturday afternoon slot and want to charge us $20,000 for the privilege. Nice.
User ID not verified.