Screen Agency defends role as producer offset administrator

The national screen agency Screen Australia has defended its role in administering an Australian film tax rebate, following accusations it was not fit to do so by the Screen Producers Association of Australia.

The response comes after Wednesday’s Federal Court decision which found that production Lush House, a ten-part series by Essential Media and Entertainment was a documentary and available to access tax rebate, the producer offset.

The film agency argued the case, initially at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal and to the Federal Court, that the series was infotainment and therefore not eligible for the lucrative offset.

In a statement, Screen Australia said, since 2008 the agency “has decided 252 applications for final Producer Offset certificates in respect of programs which sought certification as documentaries (and which would not be eligible for the Producer Offset on any other basis). Of these 252 applications, Screen Australia has approved the issue of 248 final certificates, representing a total Offset amount of $44,266,140.