Co-production guidelines, now “more flexible”
Screen Australia presented the revised co-production guidelines at MIPCOM, with an expanded points test now including heads of department previously ignored such as VFX supervisor, costume and sound designer, and, in animation, key model designer.
Further changes include scope to recognise writers from outside the partner countires, a new non-binding letter of preliminary compliance to support producers trying to access finance, and a greater expenditure flexibility in terms of finance.
According to Screen Australia:
- Subject to the terms of the relevant treaty, a writer from outside the co-producing partner countries may be able to contribute to a screenplay without invalidating the film’s status as a co-production.
This is as long as the writer is not a credited screenwriter (as that term is understood by the Australian Writers’ Guild or equivalent organisation).
Previously, Screen Australia’s current guidelines made a project ineligible for co-production status if a non-party writer had worked on the script in any way. - The points test used to assess the Australian creative contribution has been revised.
The total number of points has been increased (now 15 for drama, 13 for animation and 10 for documentaries) which recognises the creative contribution of Heads of Department which were not previously allocated points (such as VFX Supervisor, Costumer Designer and Sound Designer).
Further, although some key roles must be included in the test, there are now some discretionary points which allow the Australian co-producer flexibility in identifying which other roles should be counted.
- Screen Australia has also introduced a non-binding letter of preliminary compliance.
This will allow Australian co-producers to seek guidance about whether a project may meet the requirements of the relevant co-production treaty (or MOU) and the guidelines.
They can then use the letter to help attract finance, where potential financiers are cautious about committing funds without formal advice about a project’s co-production status.
At the Working with Australia workshop, head of strategy and operations Fiona Cameron said Australia doesn’t “want to be hiding its world class screen production industry under a bushel”, which is why the guidelines aimed to be more flexible to encourage more production.
“Of course, it’s no small thing that co-productions automatically bypass the Significant Australian Content test ruling them eligible for the Producer Offset – a 40 percent rebate for feature films and 20 percent for TV and documentary,”she told the attendees, adding that the guidelines are more user-friendly and provide context to the rules they set out.
Australia currently has co-prod treaties with the United Kingdom, Canada, Italy, Ireland, Israel, Germany, Singapore and China and Memoranda of Understanding with France and New Zealand.
The guidelines can be found here.
