Losses, shutdowns and local content quotas waived

• Screen Producers Australia (SPA) has announced updated survey results on the impact of COVID-19, saying the pandemic has forced suspension or postponement of 119 screen productions, resulting in a loss to the production sector of $471 million. The survey found losses of $20 million in export revenue, bringing the total to nearly $100 million and estimating total damage to the sector of more than $2 million, affecting more than 30,000 employees, freelancers and contractors.
• Small bits of good news were there in amongst the bad, with SPA noting that some work continues to be made in genres like children’s animation, light entertainment, documentaries and potentially drama, and that, ‘there are many hours of content already produced and awaiting release on broadcasters and distributor’s shelves.’
• SPA has also called on the Federal Government to create a $1 billion Screen Content Fund for recovery, and launched a partnership with the Australian Made Campaign with its very recognisable green logo now able to be used on homegrown screen content.
• The Federal Government has given tax breaks to free-to-air commercial broadcasters. In addition, they will not be required to honour their obligations on local drama, documentary, children’s and preschool programming for the rest of the year. Subscription TV will also not have to obey its expenditure conditions on new eligible drama until the end of 2020. This loss of expenditure will make recovery very difficult and potentially alter the Australian television landscape forever. This is huge.
• Regional media get COVID-19 lifeline from a Federal Government package, but ABC and SBS remain in peril. 
• On Wednesday April 15, the Commonwealth of Australia released ‘Supporting Australian Stories on our Screens –  Options Paper’ outlining four broad options for the future. Read our analysis on what these options are, who wants what, and why it matters so much. Responses can be made during the official consultation period until 12 June.
• The Federal Government has ordered decisive regulation of the big Internet companies. There’s a lot at stake around Google, Facebook and the other social media companies. Is the battle real? Is democracy at stake? Is this just Murdoch rampant?

Agency Update

• Screen Australia has announced $8.5 million of production funding for ten projects. Three feature films, four television series, a children’s series and two online projects will share the funding. These include: family drama The Midwife from the producers of Bloom; The Unknown Man, a crime thriller from See-Saw Films and Anonymous Content (see Agency Update from SA); a comedy from Kitty Flanagan called Entitled; season two of YouTube sensation Meta Runner; the debut feature film from artist Del Kathryn Barton who is teaming up with Causeway Films on Puff; and The Newsreader, a six-part drama for the ABC from Werner Film Productions.
• Advice from Isolation: Learn from Industry Experts is a neat compilation of Screen Australia’s recent interviews, articles, podcasts and videos. Highlights include advice from eight of Australia’s leading TV writers like Belinda Chayko, Matthew Cormack and Sarah Lambert; directing lessons from Garth Davis (Lion); mental health advice from Ben Steel (The Show Must Go On); and tips from producer Veronica Fury on building a business. 
• Film Victoria and SBS have announced the four female-led Pitch to Pilot projects that will each receive $20,000 to further develop a TV drama series. 
• The South Australian Film Corporation has announced new feature film The Unknown Man is confirmed to be made in South Australia, with dates TBC of course. Written and directed by Thomas M Wright (Acute Misfortune) and starring Joel Edgerton, the SAFC says various roles will be available on the production for South Australian crew and extras, who are now invited to submit expressions of interest and their CV for consideration.
• Two of the Australian games industry’s peak advocacy bodies have merged this week. After 21 years operating independently, members of the Games Developers of Australia Association (GDAA) and the Interactive Games & Entertainment Association (IGEA) merge to create a unified voice.

Opportunities

• SPA and AFTRS are running a two-day intensive online Screen Business Essentials course on May 26-27. You can download the course outline (PDF) to see the nitty-gritty of what’s covered and the experts involved.
• Screen Queensland is offering fully subsidised online consultations with local experts for Queensland writers with film, television and online projects in development. A new Creative Consultations round will open for submissions every month in 2020, with the first round closing tomorrow, Friday 24 April 2020.
• The Screen Culture V-Fest Initiative, aimed at supporting screen culture events (new and existing) that are seeking to pivot, create, develop and deliver a virtual screen festival in the next 6 to 12 months, primarily for Queensland-based audiences. The V-Fest Initiative will offer five (5) grants of up to $10,000 and applications close at 5pm on Friday 22 May 2020. 
• Screenwest is calling for applications for the reimagined West Coast Visions program, a long-running industry talent development and production program for low budget features to be produced in WA. Applications close Monday 11 May 2020. 
• In a canny audience engagement strategy the Classic, Lido and Cameo Cinemas in Melbourne and Sydney’s Ritz Cinemas are encouraging patrons to ‘create while they hibernate’ and submit short films to be part of the inaugural Isolation Film Festival 2020. Films of up to three minutes must be made specifically for the festival and abide by government self-isolation rules. Prizes up for grabs include cash ($1000 for the winner of the 18 and over category, $500 for the winner of the U18 category) and a golden ticket valid for a year of free cinema tickets valid from when the cinemas do re-open. Every single valid entrant receives a double pass. Filmmakers can head to the Facebook event or the cinema websites for full details. Submissions accepted up until 11.59pm on Monday 4 May, 2020. Short-listed films will be posted on the cinemas’ social media channels and the winners of each category will be announced online on Saturday 9 May, 2020.

Interviews

• Producer Tyson Mowarin talks about the extreme labour of love involved in making Thalu, a 10-part Indigenous kids’ show in the Pilbara for NITV and the ABC.
• Veteran creative business consultant Monica Davidson talks about the practical management of ideas in a plague year, and the free Screen Survival webinar she’s hosting for Screen NSW.
• Building a screen partnership: the bond at the heart of Lingo Pictures.
• Quarantine Cinema is making do. Keeping community connected is the goal for the Melbourne Cinémathèque, but there’s no pretense it’s ideal, says co-curator Adrian Danks.

Reviews & Views

• New Australian films to watch now. There’s never been a better time to catch up with recent, locally made features, from Miss Fisher to The Invisible Man, In My Blood it Runs and Judy & Punch. Here’s how to find them.
• Bloom Season Two on Stan is a supernatural drama that’s aged well, says Mel Campbell. More diffuse in focus, this season expands the world of its haunted characters, but maintains a tender truth at its heart.
• Amazon Originals Australian Standup Comedy Special Series is top notch, says Anthony Morris in this five-star review.
• The Hunt plays a violent game, says Adrian Martin, of this social thriller that was billed as America’s most controversial film.
• Mystery Road Season Two is genre done just right. Confident nods to international crime drama make the ABC’s Indigenous cop franchise a winner on multiple levels, says Anthony Morris.
• Bluey Season Two is a warm hug. The animated tale of a blue heeler pup and her family is pure fun, says Anthony Morris. No wonder it’s ABC iview’s most watched show of all time.