It looks at trends in production, the potential impact of recent changes to film funding, and what lies ahead for Australia's involvement in co-production.
Benefits may include government subsidies, tax concessions and inclusion in domestic television broadcast quotas.
The Australian government has signed official film co-production agreements with the United Kingdom, Canada, Italy, Ireland, Israel, Germany, China and, most recently, Singapore (as treaties); and France and New Zealand (as memoranda of understanding or MOUs.
Co-productions are restricted to particular genres: feature films, drama series, miniseries, documentaries and telemovies.
A points system is used to ensure a balance between the Australian budget contribution and the participation of key personnel (creative and crew).
Different points systems apply to the production of live action drama, documentary and animation, reflecting the importance of particular roles specific to each genre.
A number of economic, industry and cultural factors influence decisions to undertake an official co-production.
These factors include the value of the Australian dollar, the availability of skilled crews, access to tax offsets and other financial incentives, the generation of creative content and the signing of further bilateral agreements.
Higher production budgets, falling television licence fees and lower distribution guarantees are all factors that will continue to drive the international demand for co-productions.
As discussed by Hoskins, McFadyen, & Finn, Australian producers find financial pooling the most important benefit of co-production and it is likely that this will be pursued more vigorously in the future.
Australian production companies making official co-productions will be automatically entitled to a tax offset of 40% of qualifying Australian production expenditure (QAPE) for feature films and 20% of QAPE for documentary, television series, telemovies and short animation.
[5] As the Australian film financing landscape shifts over the coming period, there is every chance that these policy issues will provide the grist for further discussions.
At the same time, we can expect that Australian producers and their international partners will seek out innovative ways to harness the benefits of co-production, particularly in light of the new tax regime.