“It shows progress and forward-thinking from the government when this regulation has been needed for a long time,” he said.<\/p>\n
“We know that it won’t solve every problem \u2026 [but] landing this is a very important milestone.”<\/p>\n
Listen to Matthew Deaner on ABC Radio National Breakfast<\/a><\/p>\n The Australian content obligation for streaming services will require platforms with at least 1 million local subscribers to produce new Australian drama, children’s, documentary, arts or educational programming.<\/p>\n The proposed regulation of streaming services follows a reduction in expenditure across the sector, including from public broadcasters, pay TV and commercial networks, on film and TV in 2023-4, down 18 per cent, according to Screen Australia’s Drama Report<\/a>.<\/p>\n Deaner said he expected the data to be released this year to show “a collapse in the amount of commissioning”.<\/p>\n “The industry’s been in a bit of a crisis over the last 12 to 18 months.”<\/p>\n Calls for more ambition<\/p>\n While the proposal has been praised by industry, some would like to see more ambition in the quotas, with SPA long advocating for a 20 per cent investment of local streaming revenue into Australian content.<\/p>\n Advocacy group Save Our Arts has called for an even higher figure of 25 per cent \u2014 with any shortfall paid as a levy to Screen Australia or Creative Australia to distribute to the sector.<\/p>\n Netflix, the streamer behind Belle Gibson biopic Apple Cider Vinegar, reported local revenue of $1.3 billion in Australia in 2024. (Supplied: Netflix)<\/p>\n In a statement, the group advocated for a clear definition of Australian film and TV, and that the content be new and scripted \u2014 not back catalogues of local movies and shows.<\/p>\n It added it would like the legislation to require Australian content be discoverable, not buried by algorithms.<\/p>\n Peter Mattessi, president of the Australian Writers’ Guild (AWG), supporter of Save Our Arts and co-creator of ABC TV\u2019s Return to Paradise, said discoverability required “algorithmic prominence”.<\/p>\n “We need to make sure that [streamers are] compelled to give everyone the opportunity to see those Australian shows,” he said.<\/p>\n “Because we know that Australian audiences want to watch Australian shows. We know they love them. We know they’re really proud of them.”<\/p>\n He added he would like to see the definition of Australian content be “as strict as possible”.<\/p>\n “What we don’t want is a streamer being able to spend all their [obligation] on one huge, six-part TV show that maybe they film in the Gold Coast and has Chris Hemsworth in it, but that is a completely American production, with American writers and American directors and American cast,” he said.<\/p>\n “That would not, in our opinion, be achieving what the legislation sets out to achieve.”<\/p>\n As the sector awaits more detail \u2014 expected when the legislation is introduced to parliament on Thursday morning \u2014 Muldoon stressed the opportunities that would come from increased investment.<\/p>\n “Most Australian stories are yet to be told,” he said. “Most Australian stories are secret stories and secret history \u2014 as in how Australia actually works and the things that people have really done in Australia \u2014 [and] most of it still remains unexplored.”<\/p>\n Muldoon reckons Rake, Colin from Accounts and Mr Inbetween are some of the best Aussie TV \u2014 and more shows like them are possible with this legislation: “That’s the dream.” (Supplied: ABC TV)<\/p>\n He hopes the injection of more funding into the industry via content quotas will lead to more risk-taking on screen.<\/p>\n “It’s time to take risks,” he said. “We’ve got to actually make shows people want to see \u2014 that’s the other challenge.”<\/p>\n Streaming services respond<\/p>\n Streaming services have long opposed<\/a> calls for local content quotas, citing increases in already-high production costs and arguing the industry may not be able to cope with the demand.<\/p>\n Speaking to ABC Arts on Wednesday, a spokesperson for Paramount Australia \u2014 which owns the streamer Paramount+ and free-to-air broadcaster Network 10 \u2014 pointed to the company’s “ongoing and demonstrable commitment to our investment in local productions”.<\/p>\n “We look forward to reviewing the detail of the proposed local content requirement \u2026 to ensure the rules that will apply to streaming services are fair, equitable and guarantee a sustainable and viable screen industry for all players,” they said.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Foxtel Group \u2014 which owns streaming platform Binge and operates subscription TV service Foxtel \u2014 said it had been “committed to producing Australian dramas and sharing Australian stories with the world” for 30 years.<\/p>\n High Country (pictured), Wentworth and Love My Way were all made by Foxtel Group and found international audiences. (Supplied: Binge\/Sarah Enticknap)<\/p>\n “The existing New Eligible Drama Expenditure (NEDE) scheme already requires Foxtel to invest 10 per cent of our total expenditure across drama channels on new Australian drama, and in the last year, we exceeded our NEDE obligation,” they said.<\/p>\n Streaming services laws return<\/a><\/p>\n The federal government puts laws requiring streaming services to produce Australian content back on the table after a hiatus following the US election.<\/p>\n The Albanese government first committed to implementing content quotas in 2023, with the release of the national cultural policy, Revive<\/a>.<\/p>\n It followed the proposal of a voluntary 5 per cent quota for streamers by the Coalition government in 2021. Meanwhile, the Greens have consistently advocated for a 20 per cent levy.<\/p>\n Expected to be introduced in July 2024, the Albanese government’s quotas were delayed<\/a> by concerns about how they would interact with free-trade agreements, Arts Minister Tony Burke told ABC Radio National’s Arts in 30 in April<\/a>.<\/p>\n Announcing the introduction of the quotas on Tuesday, Burke said: “We should never underestimate how important it is for Australians to see themselves on screen.”\u00a0<\/p>\n “It helps us to better understand ourselves, our neighbours better and allows the world to see us.<\/p>\n “Since their introduction in Australia, streaming services have created some extraordinary shows. This obligation will ensure that those stories \u2014 our stories \u2014 continue to be made.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The screen industry has welcomed the federal government’s content quotas for streaming services, which will require platforms like…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":264176,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[154731,64,63,154735,154733,134,154729,154732,154730,154734,154019,55522,15387],"class_list":["post-264175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-arts-policy","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-content-obligation","tag-australian-writers-guild","tag-entertainment","tag-local-content-quotas","tag-local-content-requirements","tag-rhys-muldoon","tag-save-our-arts","tag-screen-producers-australia","tag-streaming-services","tag-tony-burke"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264175\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/264176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n
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