Co-production (media)
Though this scheme was developed for the aid of American humanitarian workers redeveloping nations destroyed in World War II, agents discovered that Hollywood actors, directors, and screenwriters would qualify for the tax break by working outside the US for the same period.
Due to the worldwide popularity of Hollywood stars they would be used to guarantee a respectable audience around the world as well as the United States.
The relatively low production costs and high box office return of these films often led to direct Hollywood investment to the non-US studios and producers such as Dino DeLaurentis.
[7] International co-productions open new markets for films and television programs and can increase the output of high quality productions through the sharing of equity investment.
Dialogue director Mickey Knox recalled that in order to bring in American dollars and British pounds many countries behind the former Iron Curtain offered producers lucrative deals.
In exchange for a share of the profits or an outright payment the host country would pick up most of the local charges; with the film often credited as a co-production.
In Australia, for example, O'Regan and Ward have argued that an influx of international productions to Queensland's Gold Coast in the 1990s presented a distinct challenge to local producers.
Julia Hammett-Jamart reflects on the different approaches taken by France and Australia to this issue and argues that a literal-minded definition of Australian culture has been 'antagonistic to the collaborative nature of film production, and in particular international co-production'.
[18] In their later study of co-production in Australia, the authors identified financial pooling as the most important benefit and increased co-ordination costs as the greatest drawback.
[19] This suggests that co-production is more suited to larger budget productions, primarily film, which have greater capital needs but do not carry the same dollar-for-dollar coordination costs as smaller projects.
