Australian Financial Review quotes ICCAA founder Ron Brown
The Australian Financial Review reports today, November 5th 2009, on the state of film finance in Australia in an article entitled "Film Producers Fear A Troubled Future" by staff journalist Katrina Strickland (pp24).
The article questions the health of the film industry in light of recent metrics issued in today's Screen Australia 2008-2009 National Film and Television Industry Survey. In the article, Geoff Brown on behalf of SPAA, Ruth Harley on behalf of Screen Australia, and Ron Brown on behalf of ICCAA are interviewed and quoted.
The article rightly points out that both SPAA and ICCAA are not convinced that public policy in film and television funding provisions are on target to deliver a healthy film and tv sector in the future.
The article also indirectly questions the long-term health of Screen Australia by saying 'Screen Australia's production funds have been cut by government to counter the increase in indirect funding through the offset, the result being it will fund nine films this year, down from more than 20 a few years ago. Harley says with it's limited funds , the organistion will focus more on films with mainstream appeal and that can be released on more than 100 screens, all with a view to raising the success of Australian films at the box office. She agrees there will be a downside to this. "I suspect 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", she says'.
There are clearly some troubling implications in that statement, as Harley has seemingly dismissed films under $4 million as "little credit card films" (who do you know has a credit limit of $4million on their card - James Packer?) and clearly has flagged her intention to seek films in the over $15 million range for support.
Ron Brown is correctly quoted as saying "Australia has a small population but a very creative one, we should be making more films for less than $1 million, not less". The article also quotes Brown and ICCAA policy in about 15% of the story.
It is rewarding that the national, mainstream media already regards ICCAA and it's ideas as worth citing, and that an organisation as young as we are is now on the media's horizon as a source of commentary and news. ___________________________________________________________________
Facebook exchange with Ben Grant, ADG Treasurer and Board Member:
Ben F Grant October 3 at 12:03pm Thanks Ron. Some of what you say makes sense and, to be honest, some does not. I applaud your effort though and would be interested in anything you wish to alert me too. You may know that I am a film producer and executive producer, the managing director of our production company and sit, as treasurer, on the board of the Australian directors guild. I am also co-directing an art film, The Guy Who Killed Paris Hilton. Stay in touch. Regards, ben. Sent via Facebook Mobile
Ron Brown October 2 at 8:06pm Thanks Ben, appreciate your coming through with that info. Good to make contact.
Although I have been in the industry for 35 years, I have always steered away from industry bodies, not joining SPAA or ADG or others for whom I qualify, and I have never taken a penny of government money, so I don't move in those circles (although I did train Ray Argall straight from school, so I'm six degrees from the ADG!). But the time has come, I'm afraid, to move into the public gaze as I cannot stomach the direction that things have taken.
I don't want to sound like a crank or get on a soapbox, it's not my style, but I will speak up for what I believe, and having worked in every sector of the industry in 35 years including documentary, television, advertising, corporate and feature film, and having made over 1000 films and videos, I can see a large number of wrong-headed policy decisions, whether made by people with a pure heart or just for personal gain. I will go on, with or without the support of existing institutions, as I strongly believe in my manifesto. To date the MEAA see the merit in my arguments, so that's a start, especially with Canberra.
I want to build an inclusive organisation, not an exclusive one, and broaden the base of support as far as the principles will allow. I am happy to report at this stage that 1000 people seem to agree with me! If I can find 10,000 I think we have a shot.
Media Release 29 July, 2009 For Immediate Release
A GLITCH IN THE
MATRIX OF THE AUSTRALIAN FILM INDUSTRY?
Veteran Producer/Director, Ron V. Brown, with more than 1000
film and video productions under his belt, is convinced that there is now a
“glitch in the matrix” of the Australian film and television industry since the
dismantling of the 10BA film finance scheme and it’s replacement with the
Producer Offset, as independent producers with projects under $1 million are
now left out in the cold. As many are not members of SPAA, have no collective
bargaining power and few resources, Brown believes they also lack a voice. He
intends to remedy that with a three-part plan, which he has launched this week.
The first part of his plan is a series of Workshops to help
Indy Producers raise the necessary finance to get their films and documentaries
into production without relying on government handouts. Having produced three
internationally successful television series and two movies, “without a penny
of government money”, in his words, Brown wants to share his inside knowledge
with fellow Lo-To-No Budget producers, and to this end is holding Workshops in
Sydney and Melbourne over the next few months. He promises to teach others the
means to finance successful film and television projects. Producers will reap
the benefits of Brown’s nearly 35 years of experience and will be empowered to
work without relying on state funding bodies and Screen Australia. Brown feels
filmmakers in Australia have become wholly dependent on such funding in spite
of it suiting only certain types of projects, many being uncommercial films
that have created the “art-house syndrome” he says has held us back from wider
commercial success.
The second leg of his platform is the establishment of an
Independent Content Creators Association, (www.iccaa.org) which will represent the “literally
thousands of independent film makers and small scale producers out there” who
currently have no voice. Brown is willing to establish and fund the start-up
organization to help implement his third strategy, a new media funding policy
he has created.
Brown calls this idea the 50/50 program, based on his
evaluation of the current spending by government agencies of “at least $50
million a year of your and my taxes being largely wasted on film projects that
rarely see the light of day or endure tiny audiences” as Brown says. Brown believes that the $50 million
should be used to create 50 films a year with budgets not exceeding $1 million.
Brown bases this idea on the theory that Australia cannot compete with
Hollywood’s enormous budgets, especially using Australian taxpayer’s funds, and
that we should instead be making far more, lower-budgeted films that are
guaranteed a release at home by obliging the ABC or SBS to screen one new
Australian feature film each week. Brown’s own film and tv projects typically
cost between $250,000 and $500,000, his previous movie Let Me Not licensed to the Nine Network and his current tv
series Chefs of the Great Hotels of the World is screening in more than 40 countries around the
world, proof, he claims, that success is not a factor of high budgets, but of
imagination and initiative.
