Statistics: Safety in numbers

Screen Australia’s research manager, Rosemary Curtis, provides some insights into the latest data on the screen production industries from the ABS, as the future of the survey is under review.

In his article ‘playing the numbers game’ (encore, august 2008), Geoff Brown, the Executive Director of the Screen Producers Association of Australia (SPAA), commented on the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) report on television, film and video production and post-production services for 2006/07. He questioned the validity of some figures and suggested that Screen Australia take up the challenge of pursuing clear and precise data.

Discussion of the ABS data is timely, as the bureau has been reviewing its Industry Statistics Program, including whether or not to continue this survey. Let’s start with the figures cited in the article, which began by stating: “The ABS report claims the income from all production in the film and video production industry, including broadcasters’ own productions and the postproduction sector, in the financial year 2006/07 was $2,028 billion.”