Focus on South Australia: looking south
The wheels have been turning in South Australia to bring the state’s film industry to the forefront of the entire nation. Micah Chua reports on the state’s progress and finds out just how this ambitious goal is being acted out.
The vision for the South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC) as stated in their Strategic Plan for 2012 is to have SA ‘recognised globally as the most dynamic screen industry in Australia’, with measurable targets such as doubling the state’s feature production by 2014 and increasing the number of credited producers and writers in the state.
This year has seen the features Swerve (dir. Craig Lahiff, prod. Helen Leake), The Place Between (dir. Beck Cole, prod. Kath Shelper) and Red Dog (dir. Kriv Stenders, prod. Nelson Woss and Julie Ryan – a South Australia/Western Australia collaboration) shot in the state, and the past year has seen a slew of new programs and strategies initiated by the State government and the SAFC including FilmLab, the producer equity scheme and the construction of the new Film and Screen Centre in Adelaide.
“The government is committed to the future of filmmaking in South Australia and every investment and initiative will have flow-on benefits and strengthen the sector as a whole,” SA Premier and Minister of the
Arts Mike Rann said recently.
After the first year of operation for these new programs and strategies, it’s safe to say that the decision makers in the state’s film industry have certainly put their money where their mouth is as South Australian production looks at a bright future.
THE NEXT LEVEL
The FilmLab initiative, which opened for submissions in March 2009, has undergone its first year in operation.
SA Premier Mike Rann and the SAFC launched the $4.2 million initiative to provide a development opportunity for new filmmakers. The scheme offers successful candidates a $350,000 budget and mentoring opportunities from a slate of professional advisors with Philip Noyce as FilmLab’s patron and Rolf de Heer, Greg McLean and more key industry players running workshops and advisory sessions.
An ideal long-term aim for the scheme would be an increase in feature film production, as well as a strengthening of the key creative base.
“It was done in response to the fact that, while SA has developed a number of filmmakers who are at a certain level of success, it has been less successful at nurturing the next generation of filmmaking talent,” Chief Executive Officer of the SAFC, Richard Harris told Encore.
“The lab was a direct intervention to move filmmakers from one particular level and graduate them to a higher level and longer form projects.
“We identified that there was talent who were just not quite able to crack the market in order to make feature films,” he explained.
“It’s a really great initiative’, added Adelaide Film Festival director Katrina Sedgwick. “It really supports the stated vision of the SAFC, which is to try and make SA a very attractive place for independent artists and
filmmakers to work.”
The program certainly sounds good on paper, but how has it done in its first year in action?
“We’ve found the FilmLab process to be a real eyeopener,” said Hugh Nguyen, participant of the scheme and head of development at the People’s Republic of Animation (PRA). “FilmLab’s best resource has been
the mentoring provided by Stephen Cleary and his experienced team, who have taught us all a lot about script development.”
The PRA may be the best indication of the program’s success. Selected as part of the scheme with their live action/animation project Bear Hug Storm Punch, the film has ‘graduated to a higher level’.
“Through the FilmLab process, our project has evolved into a film that we believe isn’t viable for production on a $350,000 budget,” explained Nguyen. “We’ve also received strong market interest in the project. Therefore, we recently made the decision to graduate it from the FilmLab funding strand to pursue market interest and raise more finance. This is an unexpected but very positive outcome for the project.”
While it may be too early to speak of any commercial success, the scheme has produced a very positive sign of strengthening the creative base and positioning independent production teams at an advantage to crack the market.
“Not enough projects developed in SA end up reaching their full potential,” explained Nguyen. “Lately there seems to be a push for increased focus on script development across all the screen agencies, which will
hopefully lead to higher quality projects and more of them. That would be a great outcome for the screen industry as a whole.”
IT’S BUSINESS TIME
Looking to the business sector of the industry, the government has been working to create an environment where production companies can not only remain sustainable, but also achieve certain levels
of success to keep the prospect of future production well and truly open.
The Producer Equity Scheme was launched in February last year with the backing of the South Australian government. The initiative introduced first dollar returns straight to the producer rather than delaying the recoupment process until after the funding body has made its money back.
“Until we start really finding ways to get producers to have the opportunities to share in those successes, then the industry will continue to be on a drip feed and I don’t think that’s a positive thing,” argued Harris.
The scheme was an industry first and has since received positive feedback from the rest of the industry both in and outside SA.
“The Producer Equity Scheme is one particularly attractive policy the SAFC has introduced that’s made a difference,” said managing director of Kojo Pictures Kent Smith. ”You really start seeing people taking notice of SA and a lot of interest in doing a project here.”
It is also an important initiative if we are to see South Australian producers broaden their business prospects interstate, or even international, a direction that Richard Harris agrees is a turn for the better.
“We’re aware that it’s unlikely that all SA producers will be able to make films here permanently as sole operators, and co-productions is going to be the way forward in many cases, both with international and
interstate partners,” said Harris. “If we give producers something that they can have as part of their negotiation, it would make it a very attractive reason to do business with a South Australian producer.”
A recent example is AMPCO’s partnership with Beijing-based ROSAT to create the $20m coproduction The Last Dragon. Kojo Pictures was also involved in a co-production, with Kent Smith as executive producer of The Tree, which closed the Cannes Film Festival and had its Australian premiere at last month’s Sydney Film Festival.
“Those productions are bringing business into SA, skilling up key creators but also providing work, economic activity and job opportunities for local crew and cast,” said Kristian Moliere, of Smoking Gun Productions and head of the South Australian chapter of SPAA.
On a similar note, changes to the Post, Digital and Visual Effects (PDV) rebate spells good news for one of Australia’s leading VFX and post production houses Rising Sun Pictures, the bells and whistles behind blockbusters such as Harry Potter, X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Terminator: Salvation, based in SA.
The rebate, which has lowered the threshold from $5m to $500,000, has seen an influx of opportunities for local VFX artists.
“The reduction of the threshold has caused a stir,” Rising Sun executive producer James Whitlam told Encore. “It’s definitely got people to take notice and we’ve started to see big packages from studios that
over the past 12-24 months have been telling us that the threshold is too high for that kind of work.”
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Announced in 2008, the Adelaide Film and Screen Centre has since been undergoing construction in the inner suburb of Glenside. The $43m project is on schedule to be completed by the middle of next year.
“We’ve been screaming out for something like this for a long time,” said Moliere. “The fact that the SAFC, local producers and a few other bodies will all be housed in the same centre is a terrific thing and will
allow for greater collaboration.”
“We’re building significant infrastructure for the industry,” explained Harris, “including a tenancy hub as well as new, custom-built facilities such as sound stages, a Dolby premier accredited mixing room, a series of
production rooms, make-up rooms and so on’.
At press time, the SAFC were screening potential tenants for the centre with demand exceeding supply.
“We’ll be looking at an independent process, which will involve a third party coming in to help us work out a transparent process to properly determine the right tenancy mix,” Harris told Encore.
The completion of the Adelaide Film and Screen Centre will look to sharply increase the level of collaboration and centralise the South Australian industry in a very important way.
“The infrastructure will underpin the ability for development and attract production to the state,” Richard Harris confidently stated.
NEXT STEP, THE SMALL SCREEN
While the state government and the SAFC are taking many and varied initiatives to improve the film industry, being a producer situated in South Australia still has its drawbacks.
“We’re a long way from Sydney and Melbourne, which means we don’t see the decision makers in film and television as much as we would like,” explained Kristian Moliere.
Being situated out of the major markets in NSW and Victoria may mean missed opportunities, a likely explanation for South Australia’s comparatively smaller television production record. After the successful
McLeod’s Daughters wrapped production in 2008, South Australia’s slate of television production is limited.
“It’s very difficult for SA key creatives to develop television concepts because we haven’t really worked on a lot of TV,” added Moliere.
The TV sector provides invaluable, ongoing production work that keeps the NSW and Victorian screen industries alive, so cracking the television market is the next step for the industry.
“We are punching above our weight in features in the lower to mid-budget range, but television since McLeod’s Daughters has dropped away and I’d really like to see more documentaries and dramas being
shot here.”
While television production is centred on the eastern seaboard, with the opening of the Adelaide Film and Screen centre in 2011, the potential of attracting television production is certainly there.
“We may have the opportunity to join forces with Melbourne and Sydney to do some work in a co-production sense,” said Kojo’s Kent Smith.
CONTINUITY GUARANTEED
While the South Australian film industry has started to thrive with a slate of new initiatives, most programs have been guided under the influential hand of the state’s Premier and Arts Minister, Mike Rann. So would
the industry be thriving in the same way had the Liberals won the state election?
“It’s hard to know,” said Harris. “There’s no doubt that Mike Rann has been a huge supporter and the fact that the government is spending $43 million on new infrastructure is clearly an indication.”
But were the opposition against it? Not particularly.
While the construction of the new Film and Screen Centre was a Labour initiative, the opposition showed support for it as well.
“This state has had a long established support for film,” said Harris. “And the SAFC is now the longest single running agency left in Australia. So they’re very aware and proud of that fact.”
In the turmoil of shifting government, key industry players show little concern for the future of production in the state, including AFF’s Sedgwick.
“Nothing is guaranteed but the film festival has carved out a niche, both with the national industry and, more importantly, with the South Australian community. I feel confident that the film festival will be
around.”
“What we have generally is a very positive bipartisan approach in the state, but augmented by the fact that we have a film champion in Mike Rann which makes it all the more positive,” said Harris.
South Australia is then open for business with initiatives that aim to strengthen the local production sector as well as attract attention from beyond the state’s borders.
So how well on their way is SA to becoming ‘the most dynamic screen industry in Australia’?
“Obviously we don’t have the stages to compete with Fox Studios,” said Rising Sun’s Whitlam. “But the new stages will really capture that part of the market which seems to be alive and kicking at the moment,
and we’ve seen a wide interest from the US and global production companies in accessing the Producer Offset by getting into business with us.”
It’s still early days, but the signs are definitely positive and a good indication that perhaps we should all start looking down south.
In two months, no comment has come from the field on this boost-up? (1 Oct 2010)
User ID not verified.