This morning, Screen Australia released its 2023/24 Drama Report showing a worrying decline, with 29% less investment in scripted film, TV and online content in Australia this year compared to last year.

Of particular concern are the declines in expenditure on Australian children’s television and VOD (down 28%) and Australian theatrical feature films (down 42%).

The Screen Australia Drama Report documents the expenditure of local and international features, TV/VOD, narrative online content, children’s drama titles in Australia across the past financial year. International titles are included if they are shot (or substantially shot) in Australia, or have post, digital or visual effects work carried out in Australia without shooting here.

The report shows a total of $1.7 billion was spent on drama production in Australia, with $929 million of that dedicated to Australian stories. The 29% total decline compared to last year is primarily due to a reduction in high-budget production activity across international TV and Australian feature films.

The table below shows where the big declines have happened in Australian Drama across the past five years.

The significant drop this year is attributed to many factors, including global economic conditions, shifting business models and audience viewing behaviour, and also the US industrial action by writers and actors that saw Hollywood shut down for an extended period last year.

In addition, there has been uncertainty around changes to Australia’s Location Offset incentive and the Government’s delayed action on local content quotas for International streamers – promised for July 2024 but still on hold.

ScreenHub: Australian Government misses deadline for local content streaming quotas

Spending on all Australian titles has fallen $199m from $1,128m in 2022/23 to $929m or 18% in 2023/24. The number of titles has gone from 120 to 99. The most significant drop has been in free-to-air drama, with that spending down by 32%.

An increase in subscription TV/SVOD titles and spending is mainly due to increased commissioning by local streamer Stan, which contributed financing to 12 titles, Netflix and Binge to four titles each, Paramount+, and Prime Video to two titles. 

Screen Australia: a ‘solid’ result for Australian drama but …

Announcing the report, Screen Australia CEO Deirdre Brennan put an optimistic lens on the result, saying: ‘Expenditure of $1.7 billion on 169 Australian and international drama productions represents a solid result after a three-year peak driven by Australia’s status as a COVID-safe filming destination, streaming growth and a number of high-budget theatrical features.’

Brennan said the report was one of the many resources providing insights into the opportunities and challenges facing the sector, acknowledging that, ‘This year’s results confirm key trends in domestic activity, a contraction of free-to-air commercial TV drama and the increasing role of SVOD commissioning’.

Brennan said: ‘Children’s content continues to face significant pressure and remains reliant on government support, so we’re working to broaden the opportunities for development of Australian kids IP. We will also explore the needs of feature filmmakers working in the $1-5 million budget range, dominant again in this year’s data.’

Looking ahead, Brennan said Screen Australia would ‘continue to collaborate with industry to identify growth opportunities and ensure Australian screen stories thrive’.

‘In an environment where international financing is also increasingly harder to source, we need to pull together as an industry to ensure the sustainability of the sector,’ she said.

‘Despite these challenges, we’re optimistic about the future and confident that there will be an uplift in production in the year ahead.’

SPA: an alarming ‘collapse’ requiring urgent action

On a much less positive note, Screen Producers Australia (SPA) is describing the decline as a ‘collapse’ of year on year investment in the Australian screen industry that is even greater than the expected downturn.

SPA is calling for the government to respond by using the ‘known and successful policy levers’ at its disposal, including creating a more stable regulatory framework that supports Australian content on streamers and Australian stories in general, including more funding for the ABC and SBS as well as for Screen Australia.

SPA CEO Matthew Deaner said: ‘No government can look at these figures and conclude that all is well in the Australian screen industry. Australian audiences deserve to see and hear their own stories on all platforms. However, this won’t happen until we come to grips with the changes needed to address the disruption being felt and by helping to adapt our industry for the digital age.’

Of particular concern is the children’s TV sector, with Deaner noting that ‘if it weren’t for the ABC, there would be very little for our children on their screens, with just eight children’s drama titles in 2023/24, and five of these from the ABC’.

Deaner said: ‘The good news is that the government continues to have at its fingertips a range of known and successful policy levers it could deploy to redress these trends. Some of these require the government to stand up for Australians against large global interests, as has happened before, but this must be done again and quickly to bring about what otherwise looks set to be a continuing slide that will affect Australian jobs and Australian stories on our screens.’

The full Screen Australia Drama Report 2023/24.

Screen Australia’s annual report on expenditure on scripted content shows a decline of nearly 30 per cent year on year.

The data shows a total of $1.7 billion spent on drama production in Australia, with $929 million dedicated to Australian stories. This marks a 29% total decline compared to last year, primarily due to a reduction in high-budget production activity across international TV and Australian theatrical features.

Global economic conditions continue to impact screen production, with disruption across distribution platforms, business models and audience shifts influencing the market. The past year also saw US industrial action and uncertainty around changes to the Location Offset incentive, which may have led to international projects being impacted during 2023/24.

Screen Australia CEO Deirdre Brennan says “Expenditure of $1.7 billion on 169 Australian and international drama productions represents a solid result after a three-year peak driven by Australia’s status as a COVID-safe filming destination, streaming growth and a number of high-budget theatrical features.”

“The Drama Report is one of many resources providing insights into the opportunities and challenges facing the Australian screen sector. This year’s results confirm key trends in domestic activity, a contraction of free-to-air commercial TV drama and the increasing role of SVOD commissioning. Children’s content continues to face significant pressure and remains reliant on government support, so we’re working to broaden the opportunities for development of Australian kids IP. We will also explore the needs of feature filmmakers working in the $1-5 million budget range, dominant again in this year’s data.”

“We understand how competitive funding is, with Screen Australia supporting 27% of the direct funding applications received for scripted content in 2023/24. In an environment where international financing is also increasingly harder to source, we need to pull together as an industry to ensure the sustainability of the sector. Despite these challenges, we’re optimistic about the future and confident that there will be an uplift in production in the year ahead. Screen Australia will continue to collaborate with industry to identify growth opportunities and ensure Australian screen stories thrive.”

This year, the Drama Report is presented via an interactive Power BI dashboard, with a user guide available here.

2023/24 Drama Report Key Findings

• $1.7 billion spent on 169 productions, 55% coming from Australian titles, primarily general TV/VOD drama.
• $929 million was spent on Australian titles, down 18% on last year, due to fewer high-budget Australian theatrical features, such as Mortal Kombat in 2022/23, Furiosa in 2021/22 and Elvis in 2020/21.
• 36 Australian theatrical features commenced production, with a total spend of $214 million. While the number of titles increased by two, there was a 42% decrease in spend from the previous year. Features in the $1-5 million budget range dominated.
• $657 million was spent on 55 Australian general TV/VOD drama titles, consistent with the previous year. This includes:

• Subscription TV/ SVOD – $467 million spent on 27 titles, marking a 17% increase in spend and a 29% increase in the number of titles.
• FTA TV/BVOD titles – spend was down 32% at $188 million, across 15 titles.

• Children’s content continues to be under significant pressure, with eight titles entering production, down from 12 last year. Expenditure in this category dropped 29%, with the number of hours of children’s content decreasing by 42%.
• Producer Offset financing contributed $245 million of investment across all drama production in 2023/24.
• The Producer Offset accounted for 34% ($75 million) of financing for Australian theatrical features, while international investment in Australian features was at its lowest point since 2014/15.
• Investment from Australian broadcasters, VOD platforms and distributors increased by 36% on last year. This accounts for a third of TV/VOD finance in 2023/24 — showing a stronger local contribution to production costs.
• Australian independent and global streaming platforms contributed the largest share of investment (65%) in TV/VOD drama across 26 titles. Its investment value and number of titles both increased this year.
• The proportion of spend for states and territories was 47% in New South Wales, 19% in Victoria, 18% in Queensland, 5% in South Australia, 5% in Western Australia and 6% in the combined states and territories – Australian Capital Territory, Northern Territory and Tasmania.
• Expenditure by location is cyclical in nature. We saw notable growth, particularly in:

• Western Australia, where spend surged to $77 million — more than three times last year’s figure.
• A record combined spend of $105 million in Northern Territory, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory, mostly driven by production activity in the Northern Territory and Tasmania. 

• $768 million of total expenditure in Australia came from 70 international productions, a 39% decrease from last year. This was driven by less international TV/VOD production.
• PDV expenditure on both Australian and international titles totalled $589 million, down 17% from last year’s record high but still 15% above the five-year average.

ABOUT THE DATA

The Drama Report uses industry data to provide an overview of the production of local and international feature, TV/VOD and children’s drama titles, as well as PDV activity. All production expenditure is allocated to the year in which principal photography began. PDV employs a secondary method of analysis, which is outlined in the PDV section in the report. ‘Drama’ refers to scripted narratives of any genre. Titles in the report are categorised according to the platform they were first released on. A full list of titles included is available in the report.