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ABSTRACT
This study examines the relationship between the experience and reputation of film producers and directors and the performance of films produced in Australia. Drawing on a dataset of 484 Australian films released in Australian cinemas between January 1997 and February 2018, we use regression discontinuity to test the causal relationships between changes to Australia’s film industry policy and the effect of experience and reputation on film outcomes. The results show a positive relationship between budgets and the experience of the filmmaker, no relationship with improved cultural outcomes such as festival success, but surprising evidence that a screen policy that preferences funding of experienced producers may worsen box office outcomes. There is also evidence to suggest that studios are more effective in identifying highly profitable novice filmmakers. We conclude that government support of a film industry based on a filmmaker’s experience and reputation, while increasing levels of investment, creates barriers to entry and may stifle innovation and commercial viability.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Ruth Harley (Chair of NZ on Air, and Former CEO of Screen Australia), Christina Alvarez (former CEO of Metro Screen) and Professor Craig Batty and Associate Professor Liz Ellison from Central Queensland University. Screen Australia were provided the opportunity to review a draft of the article but declined the offer.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Data availability statement
Data is not available due to legal and commercial restrictions. Due to the nature of the research, commercial supporting data is not available.
Notes
1. Film Australia was the third arm of the Australian government’s support of the industry. It produced documentaries and falls outside the scope of this paper.
2. The FFC Film Fund, where the FFC fully funded a limited number of feature films to provide opportunities for creative principals with insufficient track records to attract significant marketplace attachments, was an early exception to this (FFC Annual Report Citation1995, 25).
3. Screen Australia’s broad definition of experience include a ‘producing credit’, ‘writing credit’ or ‘directing credit’ is a ‘produced by’, ‘written by’ or ‘directed by’ drama credit on at least: one feature film that has been selected for Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Sundance, Toronto or SXSW, or has received an Academy Award® nomination, OR; one feature film released on a minimum of five commercial screens, excluding festival screens, in one major territory, OR; one primetime or children’s broadcast mini-series or telemovie shown on a major network, OR; three broadcast hours of primetime series or children’s series, OR; one mainstage theatre production which has received outstanding critical and/or box office success with a professional mainstage theatre company.
4. Strike rate is the number of projects funded for script development that eventually went into production.
5. SA’s investment cap was reduced to $2 million in 2015 (Screen Australia Citation2015) and was limited to no more than 65% of the total budget inclusive of the Producer Offset amount, or 75% at CEO/Board discretion.
6. For example, at time of writing Screen NSW limits its general production funding to producers with prior experience in the genre of the project seeking funding (Screen NSW 2023).
7. Additionally, if any novice applicant applied twice for Screen Australia development funding through the Generate Fund and was declined, that applicant would otherwise become ineligible for future rounds.
8. In 2015–16, six ‘wild card’ applicants were invited to apply; one project received development funding (Screen Australia, Annual Report Citation2016, 17). There was no further reporting on this scheme.
9. MPDAA members include Paramount, Sony Pictures Universal, Disney, and Warner Bros. In Australia, Roadshow Film Distributors distributes Warner Bros content. MPDAA data has been augmented with data from a variety of other industry sources including, FFC, AFC and SA annual reports, Rentrak, IMDb, Box Office Mojo, The Numbers, Variety, and Encore, among others.
10. Note: only 36% of films in the sample screened in at least one of the selected festivals.
11. Studios released 32% of SA funded titles, and 33% of AFC/FFC funded titles. Roadshow has been classified as a studio because of its affiliation throughout the period with Disney, Warner Bros, and New Line.
12. We combined the AFC and FFC to fully reflect changes in broader government policy and the impact on industry performance rather than a direct comparison between the performance of each agency.
13. Executive producers, line producers, and associate producers have been excluded. Executive producers assist financing or legitimise a project in some way. Line producers and associate producers are usually involved physically in production working to the supervision of the producer, as opposed to working creatively on a project, nor do they tend to own IP.
14. www.aacta.org
15. Draft program guidelines outlining the proposed funding changes were released on 27 October 2008. Final guidelines were made public on 9 December 2008 (Screen Australia Citation2008a, Citation2008b). This announcement marked the point of ‘discontinuity’ in screen policy between the former policy settings under the AFC/FFC and SA’s new policy.
16. Prior to the 2009 reforms, 34 % of studio films screened at major festivals. After 2009, 58 % screened at major festivals.
17. We note that despite its policy, SA funded novice production teams at almost the same rate as the AFC/FFC (20.2% versus 22.6%). In the data set, SA funded 13 films with novice producing teams, 11 had experienced executive producers or experienced directors and include: I love you too (2010), Snowtown (2010), Beneath Hill 60 (2010), Griff the Invisible (2011), Wasted on the Young (2011), Kath & Kimderella (2012), Hail (2012), Satellite Boy (2013), The Rocket (2013), These Final Hours (2014), My Mistress (2014), Galore (2014), Downriver (2016), Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead (2015), Now add Honey (2015), Spear (2016), Berlin Syndrome (2017), Ali’s Wedding (2017), Dance Academy (2017), Elmo the Musical (2017). The remaining 2 films, The Horseman (2008) and Wish You Were here (2012) were made by complete novice teams and were part of the AFC’s Indivision program. This laboratory developed stories from new talent and had a dedicated production fund. SA honoured the AFC commitment to fund production if these films were able to raise appropriate marketplace investment.
18. $0.04 = 0.065 (model 3, SE. 0.014) × 0.616 (model 9, SE. 0.73).
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Craig C. Rossiter
Craig C. Rossiter holds a Bachelor of Arts from the Australian National University, and a Master of Business (Research) in customer orientation and innovation from Queensland University of Technology. He is a published author on Australian film and television funding policy and screen careers and has undertaken numerous research commissions for the industry. He has worked in government across the arts, infrastructure, and education.
Ilias Mastoris
Ilias Mastoris is an independent researcher who holds a Master of Economics of Development from the Australian National University. He worked as an economist with various government agencies and has researched and published across a range of economic subject areas including productivity and efficiency, industry policy, and environmental and natural resource economics.