What Did She Just Say?
Screen Hub had this little entry from which I’m going to grab this bit:
In an interview with AFR arts editor Katrina Strickland, Harley said that with more limited funds, Screen Australia would focus more on films with mainstream appeal, with a view to raising the success of Australian film at the box office.
She told the AFR that “I suspect that little credit card films will carry on as before, big films like Guardians and Happy Feet 2 will carry on as before, but there will be a squeeze on those in the $4 million to $15 million bracket.”
“It’s more of a shade of movement, rather than a great big earthquake. More than 80% of funded films have been released on less than 100 screens. It’s not a criterion, it’s not for everything, it’s a shading of ambition,” she told Screen Hub.
Geoff Brown, however, told Screen Hub that this was the first time the Screen Producers Association had heard of it, and that he considered it a major reversal of Screen Australia’s position.
The rhetoric around the establishment of Screen Australia, he said, was that the Producers Offset would be allowed to deal with commercial success, while Screen Australia funded films to address “its cultural remit and areas of market failure.”
“If the Producers Offset is working properly, then Screen Australia should only invest in films with less than 100 prints.” The decision to provide any kind of focus on general release films was a major reversal.
Need we say more?
