The elephant in the conference room…
ABC, SBS, Foxtel, Stan & Netflix were at Screen Forever -but why did the "big 3" fail to send commissioning editors?
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under News, Top Stories
It was the talk of the Screen Forever conference this week in Melbourne.
Where were the commissioning editors from Seven, Nine and 10?
None of the “big 3” networks sent their execs to the annual producers’ confab to hear pitches from independent producers, in what was seen as a major snub this year.
By contrast, ABC, SBS, Foxtel and Stan all had a significant and ongoing presence. Even Netflix -long criticised for not contributing enough to the local industry- was in the room, and Amazon Prime sponsored the awards After-Party.
10 CEO Paul Anderson
To be fair, 10 CEO Paul Anderson delivered a keynote speech in which he reiterated the importance of Australian storytelling and 10’s desire to continue working the independent sector. Nine-owned Stan saw both CEO Mike Sneesby and Stan’s Chief Content Officer Nick Forward speaking. But Stan commissions very different content to Nine, while none of 10’s exec team who hear pitches were there. Seven drew a complete zero….
All of this in contrast to previous conferences, and to the execs present who took pitches across the three days in drama, comedy, factual, entertainment, children’s and more. Most funding bodies were also present.
The conference also attracted an all time-high of over 900 delegates. So just what’s going on?
L to R: Nick Forward (Stan), Sally Riley (ABC), Marshall Heald (SBS), Brian Walsh (Foxtel), Chris Oliver-Taylor (Fremantle).
There were many wild theories circulating about the big 3 snub.
Some noted a tug of war between the independent sector and broadcasters over policy, especially with Make it Australian campaigning to uphold local content and children’s quotas. Others suggested networks were not happy Netflix was in the room when Free to Air spends billions on local content and employs thousands of staff.
Another theory was commercial FTA networks were only interested in stripped reality shows from a handful of big production houses, and had no interest in post 9pm content. Some felt Seven was absent because the network is in a state of flux, while Nine has few available slots due to chockful schedule.
But there was also some concession that perhaps open sessions with execs lent themselves to hostile questions from delegates and media. But as one delegate said, “Surely if it’s hostile shouldn’t they be here to learn why?”
Screen Producers CEO Matt Deaner told TV Tonight, “It was really great to have had such a powerful and well thought key note from Paul Anderson this year and we would have loved to have had the commercial free to air commissioners on the ground at Screen Forever with him and join their colleagues from the national broadcasters, subscription television, domestic and international streaming services. And next year we will of course again invite these important platforms to come and engage with the creative screen industry professionals – at this – the premium event for our industry which will be in November in the Gold Coast. As content becomes more global and the deal structures and financing behind them more complex with increased partners, collaboration is going to be the difference between success and failure for everyone in our industry.
“There has been a great buzz here and with record attendance of over 900 content creators, commissioners, streamers, broadcasters, distributors and government and private sector financiers. This is a changing landscape in which every year the deals and the ideas evolve and change and so being able to navigate the global industry from Australia is such a valuable opportunity that delegates’ experience. Over 100 million dollars in deals are done each year at Screen Forever so it’s important to be on the ground and be a part of this incredible opportunity to connect, learn and evolve with all the different parts of our sector.”
TV Tonight also approached all 3 commercial broadcasters as to why their commissioning teams were not present this year.
A Nine source said they were very busy doing Upfronts interstate and tied up in production on various shows.
10 acknowledged Paul Anderson’s keynote speech and indicated they were part of a sector spend of $1.6bn on local content each year.
Seven said Free TV Australia was attending, representing commercial television interests.
Everyone is hopeful of more open dialogue in 2020 when Screen Forever shifts to the Gold Coast.
7 Responses
I suspect the big three’s commercial goal is just maintaining their audience share, they want to keep FTA financially viable for decades to come and keep share holders happy. Streaming has been a nasty wake up call for terrestrial TV but most TV companies have adapted with their own streaming services and ITV and the BBC have recently started Britbox. Diversification is a necessary well used strategy in business and global streaming offers potential opportunities for an established entertainment industry both in Australia and NZ to be involved in co-productions with numbers of streaming businesses including Sky in Europe.
When it’s said they will be invited next year, it actually means that they will be invited to pay to attend. SPA is a money making organization, and it’s strictly pay to play. Why do you think there were no Shine, ITV or Warner Bros shows nominated in the relevant categories? Because they didn’t pay the shake down money.
Sorry, you have your wires crossed. Speakers (ie. Nine, Seven, 10, ABC, SBS, Stan, Foxtel, Netflix etc.) are invited to speak by SPA, not charged. Yes SPA members pay a fee to attend the conference, and there are other fees for non-members, students etc. Fremantle, Matchbox, Screentime, ITV, Playmaker, CJZ have all been nominees over the years. Same scenario for AWG awards which is members only.
probably didnt have any reality tv shows on offer , cause thats all the big 3 really care about
Logies on the Gold Coast….now Screen Forever…is this turning into the new TV land?
Or they may be cash strapped with falling ad revenue.
Yes, I wondered why too. That was a big gap in the sessions programme for me. It was good to see the others, of course – Mike Sneesby was a highlight- but I missed having Nine and Seven’s input.