Screen Australia’s optimism not shared by ADG’s documentary makers says Guild GM
Australian documentary makers are struggling to make a living and are losing the grip of their rights to their own intellectual property, Kingston Anderson, GM of the Australian Directors Guild told the Australian International Documentary Conference.
The comments came after Ruth Harley, Screen Australia CEO on Tuesday told the Adelaide conference the value of documentary production was the highest on record and driven by more hours of high production value series.
In her address, Harley said: “It’s been a great year for documentaries with 430 hours of Australian documentary projects made in 2010/11 and a total of $133 million spent on documentary production. This is above the $118 million five-year average for documentary production.”
Anderson’s point was backed by an ADG survey which showed that the income levels of documentary makers have declined further in the last 12 months, from 55.5% of 2011 respondents earning less than $45,000 compared to 58.6% of respondents in 2010 earning less than $60,000 per annum. This is below the average Australian wage for August 2011 of $68,700.
Surprise surprise! Filmmakers living below the poverty line – who would have thunk it! It’s been long apparent that the coffer minders need to get their fingers out of their…gloves, and start valuing key creatives in this country! Teenage ice cream scoopers get paid more!
I’m proud to be part of a new wave of independent Aussie guerilla documentary makers… self-funded, 100% IP-owning and eagerly self-distributing across all media and territories. It’s time to adapt and overcome.