61 percent of Australians support local films
A Hungry Beast poll found that 61 percent of the ABC program’s audience supports Australian films when asked “should we cut them, or print them?”
“Both perspectives are valid simply because that is how many people view the local industry,” Hungry Beast reporter Nicholas Hayden told Encore.
The poll followed the Versus comedy segment in last week’s show, where Nicholas Hayden and Nick McDougall debated the positives and negatives of the film industry, from the creation of jobs and its cultural value, to the prevailing ‘depressing kitchen sink dramas’ criticism of its content.
“The main intention behind Versus is to attack an issue from both sides using some hard information, and some opinion, but ultimately it is a comedy segment made to make people laugh,” explained Hayden.
The presenter said that while nobody from the industry had commented on the segment, audience participation resulted in a number of video proposals (available on the Hungry Beast website) about what ‘the next big Australian film’ should be about.
“Debate over Australian films does quite often focus on the ‘depressing’ subject matter of Australian films, but the general public never takes into consideration marketing/exhibition concerns for any films, so they don’t for Australian ones,” added Hayden. “Ultimately that’s because a film’s number one job is to entertain and that’s what people care about. We didn’t include [other industry considerations] in our arguments as it would have hindered the comedic impact of the points.”
According to Hayden, most people already have a solid opinion on Australian films, based on their own feelings towards the kind of stories they tell.
“The only thing that can change opinions is the films themselves,” said Hayden.
Hey Hungary Beast,
Love your work. I’m a 2010 Film Honours student currently writing a policy paper with regard to the marketing and distribution of Australian films. My aim is to create some methodologies that actually produce profits. I want to see more producers receive greater dollar values for their productions. This can only be done with a new business model. The one we are currently working with promotes lazy filmmaking as you said. At the Producer Offset inquiry at Chauvel Cinema in Paddington on Wednesday 10th March, a gentleman stood up complaining that Screen Australia need to support the industry with more funding. More Funding??!!! Maybe they would give us more if we proved we could handle the existing money effectively. We are being rewarded for bad behaviour rather than good. The industry is learning not to treat film production as a business, so no one is watching our films and no one is making any money.
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