Drama Report 2017 / 18: Drama & Children’s TV down, Online up.

Screen Australia has released its Annual Drama Report, which takes the temperature on 12 months in film, television and online production in Australia.

This year spending on Australian TV Drama was $295m, down 8% on last year’s $321m. The big concern however remains Children’s TV, below a 5 year average, now eclipsed by Online TV, and with its hours down due to less Animation.

Expenditure

$814 million total Australian expenditure (includes Film & Overseas Productions) – a 37% decline on last year’s record, due to reduced foreign production spend.

Record expenditure by Australian titles – $718 million (includes Film).

36 Australian TV drama titles – $295 million 8% down on last year’s record, but still above the five-year average. Almost a third of the mini-series slate had a total duration of fewer than five hours, driving a decline in the volume of hours.

10 Australian children’s TV drama titles – $49 million 3% above last year, but below the five-year average. The volume of hours produced dropped 36%, caused by fewer official Co-productions, less animated content production, and the cyclical influence of the children’s content quotas on commercial free-to-air broadcasters.

18 Australian online drama titles – $53 million significant increase in expenditure on last year’s debut measurement of $15 million, driven by content with longer episodes and higher cost per hour.

Hours

In 2017/18, 36 TV drama titles commenced production and generated 423 hours of content. These titles had total budgets of $301 million, of which $295 million was spent in Australia. The production of shorter running series and mini-series led to a decline in the volume of hours.

Children’s Television

10 children’s dramas entered production in 2017/18. Together these titles generated 71 hours of content, at a total cost of $54 million, of which $49 million was spent in Australia.

The volume of animated children’s hours made was the lowest since 2011/12, at 48 hours. Animated productions tend to generate a greater volume of content than live action titles, due to the lower
production cost of most animation. Animated titles have made up the bulk of production slates over the last 5 years.

Online (SVOD, BVOD etc)

In 2017/18, 18 titles were made for first release online – one single-episode and 17 series titles with total budgets and expenditure of $53 million. There were fewer online drama titles made this year, however the higher volume of hours and significant increase in budgets stemmed from the production of content with longer episodes and higher cost per hour.

Foreign TV

Foreign TV drama activity accounted for $4 million in Australian expenditure in 2017/18, down 92% on 2016/17 ($47 million) and 82% below the five-year average. Two foreign shoot titles contributed to this result, Old Boy and Love in Aranya, both from China, however for the first time since 2013/14, no work commenced on any PDV-only TV drama titles.

Sources of Finance

The Australian screen industry provided more than half of the finance to this year’s Australian TV and online drama titles – $208.2 million to 60 titles (51%). The largest proportion (and the largest from any sector) came from the commercial free-to-air networks. The largest contribution from a single broadcaster came from the ABC, which, as a first release broadcaster provided finance to 23 titles including three ABC iview originals. Subscription television financed five titles for first release broadcast. SBS/NITV financed six titles – two for SBS on Demand. Stan financed two titles. Distributors and production companies provided the rest of the industry finance. Both Screen Australia and State Agency funding allocated to titles commencing shoot in 2017/18 were above the five-year averages. After a record year of TV drama production in 2016/17, broadcaster finance pulled back this year. The increased finance that came from producers and production companies in 2016/17 was due to a small number of titles.

Drama production by location

New South Wales $301m 37%
Victoria $246m 30%
Queensland $137m 17%
South Australia $82m 10%
Western Australia $37m 5%
Tas/NT/ACT $11m 1%

Drama Series

Back in Very Small Business Gristmill Pty Ltd ABC
Black Comedy series 3 Scarlett Pictures Pty Limited ABC
The Family Law series 3 Matchbox Productions Pty Ltd, Family Law 3 Productions Pty Ltd SBS
The Heights For Pete’s Sake Productions Pty Ltd, Matchbox Productions Pty Ltd, Matchbox WA Pty Ltd ABC
Home and Away series 31 Seven Network Operations Limited Seven
Mr Inbetween Jungle FTV Pty Ltd, Blue Tongue Films Foxtel
Neighbours series 35 FremantleMedia Australia Ten
Orange is the New Brown Screentime Productions No. 1 Pty Ltd Seven
Rosehaven series 3 Guesswork Television Pty Ltd ABC
Sando Jungle FTV Pty Ltd ABC
Squinters Jungle FTV Pty Ltd ABC
Street Smart Cordell Jigsaw Productions Pty Ltd Ten
Ten Pilot Week Various Ten
True Story with Hamish and Andy series 2 Radio Karate ST Holdings Nine

Miniseries

Australian Gangster Roadshow Productions Pty Ltd Seven
Bite Club Playmaker Media Pty Ltd Nine Y
The Cry Synchronicity Films ABC, BBC
Dead Lucky Subtext Pictures Pty Ltd SBS Y Y
Doctor Doctor series 3 Easy Tiger Productions Pty Ltd Nine
Harrow Hoodlum Active Pty Ltd ABC
Jack Irish series 2 Easy Tiger Productions Pty Ltd ABC
Lambs of God Lingo Pictures Pty Ltd Foxtel
Mystery Road TV Series Bunya Productions Pty Ltd ABC
On the Ropes Lingo Pictures Pty Ltd SBS
Pine Gap Screentime Pty Ltd ABC
A Place to Call Home series 6 Seven Studios Pty Limited Foxtel
Playing for Keeps Screentime Pty Ltd Ten
Rake series 5 Easy Tiger Productions Pty Ltd ABC
Secret City: Under the Eagle series 2 Matchbox Productions Pty Ltd, Secret City 2 Productions Pty Ltd Foxtel
Sisters Shine Productions 3 Pty Ltd Ten
Underbelly Files: Chopper Screentime Pty Ltd Nine
Wanted series 3 Matchbox Productions Pty Ltd, Wanted 3 Productions Pty Ltd Seven
Wentworth series 7 FremantleMedia Australia Foxtel

Telemovie

The Blake Mysteries: Ghost Stories December Media Pty Ltd Seven
The Doctor Blake Mysteries: Family Portrait December Media Pty Ltd ABC
Riot Werner Film Productions ABC

Childrens

Bluey Ludo Studio Pty Ltd ABC
The Bureau of Magical Things Jonathan M Shiff Productions Pty Ltd Ten
Girls Season Various ABC
Grace Beside Me series 1 Magpie Pictures Pty Ltd NITV
Larry the Wonderpup Chocolate Liberation Front, WTFN Entertainment Pty Ltd Seven
Nowhere Boys series 4 Matchbox Productions Pty Ltd, Nowhere Boys 4 Productions Pty Ltd ABC
Space Chickens in Space Studio Moshi Productions Pty Ltd Nine
Spongo, Fuzz & Jalapena Cheeky Little Media Pty Limited ABC
The Strange Chores Media World Pictures Pty Ltd, Ludo Studio Pty Ltd ABC

Co-Productions

The Deep series 3 (Australia/Canada) A Stark Production Pty Ltd, DHX Media (Vancouver) Ltd. ABC

Online Drama

Deadlock Every Cloud Productions Pty Ltd, Deadlock Series 1 Pty Ltd ABC iview
Fresh Blood 2017 Pilot Season Various ABC
Homecoming Queens Generator Pictures Pty Ltd SBS on Demand
The Housemate Chips and Gravy Films Pty Ltd ABC iview
Life of Jess Life Of Jess Productions Pty Ltd YouTube
Lift Mad Kids Pty Ltd TBD
News Junkies Weave Films Pty Ltd TBD
Patricia Moore Patricia Moore Pty Ltd Blackpills
Queer for Short: Home Grown Various SBS on Demand
Romp – the web series Opening Act Films Pty Ltd YouTube
Romper Stomper Roadshow Rough Diamond Stan
Sheilas Giant Dwarf Sheilas Pty Ltd YouTube
Single Ladies Story Republic Pty Ltd TBD
Superwog Princess Pictures Holdings Pty Ltd, Bobcat Entertainment Pty Ltd YouTube, ABC iView
Tidelands Hoodlum Entertainment and Hoodlum Active Pty Ltd Netflix
Untitled Chris Lilley project Amelia Entertainment Netflix
Wolf Creek series 2 Screentime Pty Ltd, Emu Creek Pictures Pty Ltd Stan

Statements

Free TV Australia:

Free TV CEO, Bridget Fair said “We are extremely proud of our ongoing commitment to Australian drama.

“The latest Screen Australia Drama Report once again highlights that our members are the major source of funding for Australian drama and have produced the lion’s share of total hours. We contributed more than any other sector with $84 million across 17 titles.

“15 of the top 20 most watched Australian dramas in 2017/18 were on Free TV.

“Commercial free-to-air television is by far the largest contributor to domestic content production in Australia, responsible for $6 out of every $10 spent on domestic content and supporting 15,000 jobs in broadcasting and the independent production sector.

“We invest over $1.6 billion annually in Australian content. Over 80 per cent of total program expenditure by commercial broadcasters is spent on Australian content.

Screen Producers Australia:

CEO Matt Deaner said, “The Drama Report’s headline figure of $718 million total Australian expenditure is welcome. It is encouraging to see spend on local production is 7% up from last year. Strong co-production activity also highlights the trade and export potential of our sector.

“However, expenditure on Children’s TV drama remains at record lows by comparison with the five year average. Regulatory models need to be adapted to ensure our children continue to have access to Australian stories across a variety of platforms and formats. This is in stark contrast to the regulatory approach in the UK, which recently launched a £60m fund for children’s programming.

“Expenditure on Online Drama also now exceeds Children’s TV Drama, which has tripled since last year (now $53M). This is an early sign of the shift in audiences towards online, highlighting the importance of local content obligations for new market entrants such as SVODs.

“We note that overall expenditure is down by 37% from last year’s figure, largely due to the decline in spend on foreign film productions. While the Federal Government’s $140M Location Incentive Program has been focused on foreign film productions, more work needs to be done to support the sustainability of the local industry.”

Australian Children’s Television Foundation:

“The ACTF notes that there has also been a decline in Screen Australia’s investment in children’s content, with the agency steadily reducing the levels it will invest in children’s drama, especially in second and subsequent series. This is making it harder for both high concept, high volume series to get made, as well as distinctly Australian ones with no international support. The ACTF tracked this decline in its submission to the 2017 Australian and Children’s Content Review, asking whether it would actually be possible for series such as Dance Academy (65 episodes, across 3 series) or My Place (2 x 13 episode children’s history of Australia), to be financed today. ACTF CEO Jenny Buckland says ‘This downward pressure is happening right at the time when high quality, high concept children’s drama is in demand. It’s no coincidence that The Bureau of Magical Things is 20 episodes, not 26. Screen Australia effectively no longer invests in 26 x half hour live action children’s series.'”