Netflix needs Government to impose Australian-content quota to recover industry 'under siege'
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Judy Davis and Richard Roxburgh have taken the case against Netflix and other streaming giants to Parliament House in Canberra calling on the Government to introduce quotas.
The Australian stars were part of 30-strong group, including high profile writers and directors, who told politicians from both sides, including Minister of Communications and the Arts Mitch Fifield, the local screen industry could be wiped out by the new delivery platforms.
Jack Irish writer Andrew Knight said he had never witnessed the industry under greater threat than it is now.
"We're really at a precipice," Rake star Richard Roxburgh said.
The screen industry wants the popular on-demand platforms to spend at least 10 per cent of their programming on Australian content.
Currently, they have no requirement to spend on local shows, unlike the free-to-air networks which must meet local programming quotas, and pay TV, which must spend 10 per cent of its programming on local drama.
"It's a moment in time when the streaming giants, Netflix, Amazon, soon to be Disney, and Telstra and Stan have no local content requirements," Roxburgh said.
"What they're doing in the rest of the world is sorting out some small impost so some of the huge earnings they're making are fed back into the local industry. That's why I'm here — to prosecute that idea," he said.
The Australian Directors Guild has proposed that Netflix be required to spend 10 per cent of its Australian revenue on Australian programming.
With a million subscribers, that would amount to a significant fillip for local productions.
Roxburgh said, "it's not bad yet but it's soon to be. The networks [say] 'it's not a level playing field', they have to provide local content and the streaming services don't have to provide local content and that's a big impost on them."
"They have a point, however their solution is to get rid of the Australian quota system altogether," Roxburgh said.
A new report by Deloitte Access Economics reveals a steep take-up of video on demand while the average time people spent watching broadcast TV fell by 8 per cent in 2017 — among Australians aged 25 to 34, that figure fell by 17 per cent.
Australia's independent Screen Production Industry stats
- $1.2 billion in production revenue
- 90 per cent of productions original Australian ideas
- 20,000 jobs created
- 43 per cent of businesses exported
- $163 million export revenue in 2017
- 200 countries screen Australian shows
- 21 per cent of producers anticipate a downturn in their activity in the next five years
- Average time people spend watching broadcast TV fell by 8 per cent in 2017
- Average time 25-34-years-olds spend watching broadcast TV fell by 17 per cent in 2017
- Australians spend on average three hours on smart phones a day
To manage the decreased advertising revenue brought about by this disruption the free-to-air networks successfully lobbied for relief from the millions they pay the Government in licence fees.
"I know audience(s) want to hear Australian stories," Andrew Knight said.
"I know they want to hear the Australian patois and the way we think and the way we talk and it's never been under greater siege than it is at the moment," he said.
Mystery Road star Judy Davis said, "I'm not saying every TV show Australia produces is brilliant, but my view is they will only get better".
"It is literally a moment in time where the Government of Australia can intercede with companies like Netflix and ensure there is a degree of local content."
Screen Producers Australia commissioned Deloitte to review the sector and the report published today found small to medium screen producers accounted for $1.2 billion in revenue last year.
Topics: arts-and-entertainment, television, television-broadcasting, broadcasting, film-movies, film, australia
