Sound post: 'freebies' hurt the industry

A ‘freebie’ culture has emerged in Australian filmmaking circles in recent years, but it is local post-production infrastructure that’s paying the price. Laine Lister writes.

The term ‘discount’ once implied a deduction fromthe usual cost of something. But for post-production houses – in particular sound specialists – reduced rates for creative work are setting new low benchmarks.
In just 12 months budgets in the sound sector have been slashed by as much as 60 percent, according to an Encore poll of sound post heads. That figure is down 40 percent on 2008 budgets.
And while it has been a tough movie-making market for all, the most damaging shift has been in filmmaker’s expectations.
“There seems to be a culture developing, one of expectation of sponsorships, freebies and greatly discounted services driven by a phrase ‘that’s all we’ve got in the budget’,” says John Dennison,
director of sound house Audioloc.
Traditionally, a filmmaker would consult a sound specialist to determine an appropriate rate to produce sound. Today, the conversation has changed and many filmmakers are quoting an affordable figure to suit their budget, then shopping the market until someone agrees to the price.
Roger Savage, chief executive at Soundfirm says sound post quotes are bottoming out at low as $50,000, while others cite $20,000 sound requests.
“A film [with such a limited sound budget] should not have been green-lit because it is relying on charity and on people doing it for below cost,” Savage says.
Consequently, tighter budgets are pushing sound specialists into tighter timeframes. In some cases the amount of time allocated to sound post has been reduced by 75 percent in recent years.
Rival sound house Trackdown’s director Elaine Beckett says: “We’re doing twice as much work to cover the ground that we used to”.
An average 100-page script would traditionally require four weeks allocated sound mixing time. Today, that time has shrunk to just one week, she explains.
By comparison, sound mixers in Los Angeles are dedicating 20 weeks to similar projects, Beckett says.
“We’re not making shorter films in Australia, they are still 100 minutes. But there is just this perception of how quick you’ve got to work to get the job done here,” she says.
THE AGE OF FREELANCERS
As budgets and schedules grow increasingly lean, core sound crews are being scaled back to economise. Multi-skilled staffers are growing in demand too, as are talented freelance sound specialists.
It’s an industry-wide struggle, Savage explains:
“We’ve dropped staff and are using more freelancers where we’ve got the work”.
Even Deluxe – owners of SoundStage One, which was built to house major projects such as Australia – has not been immune to the difficult climate. In the first quarter of the year, the group were forced to economise by letting go almost 30 percent of its sound staff.
“I want to remain optimistic but the reality is we are in danger of losing serious infrastructure and talent and I can’t see it coming back,” says Anthos Simon, general manager of creative services at Deluxe.
“I’ve been in the industry for 24 years and in that time I’ve never seen the industry this bad,” says Simon.
The odds are stacked against the Australian sound post industry, dampening any hopes that the market will recoup this year. Evidently, the Australian dollar has remained strong against US currency, and as a result local studios are less attractive to US producers.
Investors have lost confidence due to the bare market, and new business is largely dependent on the country’s ability to attract projects.
MARKET SATURATION
Not only is there less money and less work, but there are now more sound post houses operating in Australia than ever before.
“The whole industry is in danger of oversupply and that’s when rates drop and people pack up and move on. We need content,” insists Simon.
Increased competition has sparked bidding wars among operators, which is rapidly devaluing the market.
Some firms are offering package deals on both sound and picture post-production services and winning business over sound-specific rivals.
The move has sparked debate between the rival houses, with one studio head claiming its competitors are not playing fairly or sensibly for the sustainable future of the industry.
“Deluxe is pricing those rooms at an unsustainably low level by doing package deals, which is a hard thing to compete against because we are primarily a sound house,” says Savage.
Simon refuted the claims, adding that Deluxe quotes had been refused in the past by producers claiming that the studios were too expensive to mix some Australian features.

“We are one of the few that are protecting the higher end [of the market],” he says

Kate Butler, head of post-production at Adelaide-based Oasis Post – which offers both audio and visual post production services – admits that by offering discounted package deals competitors are suffering.
“We’ve all had to think a little smarter to deal with the budgets that are shrinking. But I do understand that the guys who are just sound houses could suffer from that,” she says.
Business aside, sound post is a highly creative vocation and many fear that by streamlining operations to stay afloat, quality of sound is being compromised.
“The concept of efficiency in creative areas is a bit of a furphy, because creativity comes out of time: time to think, discuss, experiment,” says Dennison.
Beckett agrees: “When you’re paying less money and therefore people have to work faster, there is always an element where you turn it into a machine and take away the creative side”.
To overcome the time issue, many sound technicians are devoting personal time to work on projects. According to some sound house heads much of the additional work is unpaid, which further perpetuates the ‘freebies’ culture.
“There are freelancers out there not getting paid overtime and working longer than they should just so they get some satisfaction,” says Savage.
Others are leaving Australia for the wealthier markets of Europe and LA, while some are walking away from sound post altogether.