Oz TV drama sees record spend

Mystery drama Top of the Lake returned for a second run

Australian TV drama production hit new peaks in dollar terms and volume of hours during the year to June 30, according to Screen Australia’s annual drama report.

The report also revealed a big jump in foreign-originated drama, post-production and visual effects.

The trend towards shorter, high-cost dramas continued, reflected in miniseries such as ABC’s Barracuda and The Secret River and fellow pubcaster SBS’s Deep Water. Excluding the serials Home & Away and Neighbours, there are no series of 13 episodes or more.

Screen Australia CEO Graeme Mason said: “I’m delighted to see every single network had multiple dramas in production – an unprecedented 58 in total – responding to the Australian audience’s appetite to watch their own stories on screen.”

Matt Deaner, Screen Producers Australia’s CEO, welcomed the record spending on drama but said: “Some serious headwinds remain. Cuts to the ABC and Screen Australia are being felt keenly and these reductions are yet to be balanced by long-fought-for increases to the offset for television production.

“While shorter-run series contribute to an overall diversity of programming and opportunities for production companies, it increases cost per hour. This puts pressure on broadcasters where we see some commercial broadcasters barely meet their quotas (particularly for children’s drama) and import second-run drama programmes from New Zealand to fill quota. Further, SVoD services are not yet subject to these quotas.”

The number of hours of local TV drama jumped from 518 in 2014/15 to 561 while the total spend rose from A$300m (US$223m) to A$376m. Screen Australia co-funded 53% of the titles, compared to an average of 40% over the previous four years.

The Australian film and TV industry provided just over half the total finance for the TV drama slate, while direct government support and the 20% producer offset each contributed 11%. The highest financial contribution from a single broadcaster came from ABC, followed by the Seven and Ten networks.

Foreign investors stumped up A$92m for 34 titles, the highest level since 2001/02.

The adult drama slate comprised 44 titles and 446 hours, with budgets totalling A$315m. Subscription television had its strongest-ever production year with Secret City and animated title Pacific Heat, as well as the return of Top of the Lake, Wentworth and A Place to Call Home.

The children’s drama slate comprised 115 hours with total budgets of A$101m and an Australian spend of A$66m. However, the number of hours produced fell and was below the five-year average of 120 hours due to a decline in coproductions.

Foreign TV drama spending soared from A$21m to A$31m, driven by location shooting for dramas including the US network Syfy’s Hunters and China’s The Tale of a Bosom Male Friend and post and visual effects on Game of Thrones season six and Powers S2.

Overall, A$843m was spent on 118 feature film and TV productions, down 1% from last year’s record A$853m across 101 titles.