2023 Lateral Economics Report – According to a report released today, Australian creative businesses and workers are in a tough fight against powerful streaming platforms to retain Australian screen stories under Australian ownership and control.
This is one of the key conclusions in an updated report from Lateral Economics, commissioned by Screen Producers Australia, which also shows that the retention of intellectual property is vitally important to Australia’s creative economy and that Australian businesses are losing out.
“It is of critical importance that the value of Australian cultural intellectual property is recognised and retained in Australian hands,” said SPA CEO Matt Deaner.
“We are currently engaged in important negotiations with government and streaming platforms around an investment obligation in Australian screen stories, across the Australian screen industry.
“There is a strong view that if we don’t also include a mechanism to support Australian ownership and control of Australian content, then by failing to act at this pivotal moment, we are selling out our culture,” said Mr Deaner.
The report, Taking Australian stories and skills to the world in the age of global streaming, highlights how local Australian screen producers will not fully benefit from a reinvestment obligation if they sell away Australian stories, voices, creativity and culture – our precious Australian cultural IP.
IP retention allows a production company to use the same ideas in new projects – whether that involves reusing footage of characters to create spin-offs or licensing the format for use in other markets.
The Lateral report describes how while Brisbane’s Ludo Studio has licensed global distribution rights to Bluey to BBC Studios, it has retained rights, including all future production rights, ensuring that they and the creator are included in all future development of Bluey.
“Australians are rightly proud of the success of the Australian children’s show, Bluey. Imagine the difference if a streaming giant had taken the IP rights to it. Would Bluey still refer to the great Australian concept of a “tactical wee” if it wasn’t Australian? I really doubt that,” said Mr Deaner.
Recognising the ongoing evolution of this as a regulatory issue in Australian politics, the April 2023 report has built on earlier research in 2021. While much has been said about the level of reinvestment (SPA is advocating for 20 per cent), much less has been said about intellectual property rights.
“SPA believes this problem could be easily solved through an amended definition of Australian content so that a program would not be considered ‘Australian content’ for the purposes of the streaming investment obligation unless the intellectual property rights are owned by an independent Australian production business,” said Mr Deaner.
“Other countries are dealing with this issue by ensuring rights cannot be assigned for extended periods. For example, in France, this term is three years. We urgently need a similar mechanism in Australia as SPA has evidence of many streamers seeking rights in perpetuity, mainly as a way of stopping competition from other platforms. That is a practice putting a major brake on Australian creativity.
“If we support Australian IP, we are supporting the sustainability of creative businesses through the viability of Australian production companies, and this, in turn, supports employment and workforce training,” said Mr Deaner.
The updated Lateral Economics Report now includes a supplementary report on “The Value of Intellectual Property to film production companies” [from page 51] along with three salient case studies of best practice IP precedents for well-known Australian productions such as The Dressmaker, The Drover’s Wife and Bondi Rescue.
The case studies demonstrate that there is not a one-size-fits-all IP arrangement, but that Australia needs policy flexibility to ensure that our Australian producers are able to achieve the best arrangements for their work.
Lateral Economics concludes that:
- IP assets “provide a steady source of additional revenue which can help maintain the financial viability of companies. As one production company managing director said, “If you don’t have IP, you don’t have a business.” (p 61)
- The trend by which streaming companies are acquiring all IP rights is concerning, particularly where “streamers adopt maximalist rights strategies” to “maximise procedural uniformity and administrative convenience in large global companies”; and
- “Australian taxpayers invest millions of dollars each year in the local screen industry via various tax offsets and grants. If IP is acquired at less than a reasonable price, the return on public investment in the sector is reduced substantially.” (p 54)
Case Studies:
The Drover’s Wife – Started as a play, first performed in 2016 and was later adapted into a 2021 drama. “Oombarra has successfully retained valuable IP in “The Drover’s Wife”. It has signed all-media distribution deals with various distributors internationally (e.g. Roadshow in Australia, Cinemien in European markets, Modern Films in the UK and Ireland, and Samuel Goldwyn Films in the US). Still, these rights should eventually revert to Oombarra Productions after an agreed period. Furthermore, it has retained the valuable rights to produce further IP based on the film, including fiction and non-fiction books, a musical or opera, and TV shows.” (p 69)
The Dressmaker – Film Art Media retained rights to educational use, the ‘making of’ documentary, and to exhibit costumes from the production. The book has been added to the curriculum, and the costumes have been exhibited across Australia, with each providing revenue streams.
Bondi Rescue – demonstrates that, with the right IP arrangements in place, IP can be “repurposed and generate new revenue for production companies”. The Bondi Rescue YouTube channel has 2.16 million subscribers. (pp 70-71)
Link to Lateral Economics Report HERE.
Link to SPA factsheet on safeguarding Australian IP HERE.
Media Release – Screen Producers Australia
TV Central Screen Producers Australia content HERE
