Screen Australia launches new strategic vision, urges industry to ditch outdated business models

Screen Australia chair Michael Ebeid has issued a call to arms to the Australian screen sector to be “brave enough to let go of the old models that we know are broken or challenged.”

Michael Ebeid

Addressing the sector at the Screen Forever conference this week, Ebeid said: “If we’re not all thinking about how to work differently – how we produce, create, distribute our content and develop new financing models – many of us won’t be here in five years’ time if we continue to cling onto old or broken models of doing things that are no longer fit for today’s world.”

Screen Australia unveiled a new vision for the national funding agency with new ‘strategic pillars’ based on addressing the industry’s emerging needs and building a more resilient future-proofed screen sector.

Ebeid told the industry that after a year under new management, the agency was committed to implementing “new thinking and new approaches, and dedicated to meeting the changing demands of modern audiences as we change with you to be a more relevant and value-adding partner.”

The new strategic pillars dubbed the “five E’s” are focused on: empowering and enriching the industry, driving deeper engagement, and enabling and elevating our sector.

Under the new strategic approach Ebeid said the agency believed it could co-create an evolving screen sector that is not just an adaptation to adverse forces but one that “thrives amid rising production costs, funding challenges, evolving audience trends and new distribution platforms.”

Ebeid said that after detailed consultations with the sector, the agency has emerged “relentlessly future-focused about how best to support the industry to deliver on our purpose during these changing and disruptive times.”

The results of a national screen industry survey revealed that “the industry is feeling strain, needs support with rising production costs, requires better understanding of audience trends and digital platforms, has a greater focus on global distribution and new ways to reach wider audiences, and sees room for increased collaboration.”

Addressing the global and local pressure points in the sector he said on top of global industry contraction and consolidation, Australia is “experiencing more growing pains, with the changes in audience behaviour continuing to impact how content is created and consumed – affecting commissioning trends, business strategies and production costs. These changes, set against a backdrop of declining ad revenue for traditional broadcasters and an overall volatile financing market, make for some genuine challenges for all of us.”

In terms of funding demand, the local industry shows growth with consistent year-on-year increases in the number and value of applications received, yet the agency concedes that its current funding allocation cannot keep pace with demand.

“Five years ago we could support half of the applications we received, but in 2023/24 we were only able to fund 30% of applications, and for this year it is tracking at 27%,” Ebeid said.

The chair said that Screen Australia would be working with the new government “to help us invest more in the industry”.

Government rebates however reflect more promising outcomes with data reflecting Producer Offset funding almost doubling since 2019, while the value of the PDV and Location Offsets funding has increased by 68% over the same period, converting to rebates near the A$1billion mark this year.

Ebeid said that “savvy producers” have already evolved to meet the challenges with output diversification, co-production and developing “more creative business models”.

“These successful producers are the ones that remain positive and understand that doing things the way they always have is a fool’s strategy,” he warned.

Ebeid added, “none of us can do this alone. Our industry is known for its tenacity and innovation. But to thrive in the local and international screen ecosystem, it is vital we work together – with SPA, its members, the guilds, with State and other screen agencies, and with our Federal Government.”