Australia basks in Labor gains

Booming industry, Labor gov't cause for cheer

By MICHAELA BOLAND, PAUL CHAI

Williams

SYDNEY -- It's a great time for Australian showbiz.

The live theater industry is experiencing its biggest-ever boom and homegrown television drama production is surging, with local programs enjoying both critical acclaim and sizable auds.

The domestic film biz has been in a funk but new production incentives, among the most generous in the world, are being introduced in a bid to stimulate production and generate sustainability.

Adding to the exuberant mood in the industry is the fact that its beloved Labor government was returned to power after 11 years.

Some high-profile arts practitioners have jettisoned plans to work abroad, while others are preparing to come home, as the industry shifts into renaissance mode.

"The setting is certainly very encouraging for people to get on with the job," says Kim Williams, CEO of paybox Foxtel. "Success or failure is in the hands of the industry."

But an interesting truth is that while Labor may be bathing in the glory, the previous Conservative government deserves credit for overhauling federal screen incentives and creating the strong economic climate underpinning the current creative surge.

Australia is not in recession, though the stock market is a bit bearish, partly due to the sub-prime crisis, but not to the degrees experienced in the U.S.

In fact, Australia's Reserve Bank is continuing to crank up interest rates to stem consumer spending, a good portion of which is finding its way into showbiz coffers.

In the next two years, 24 major musical theater productions will preem in Oz; "Wicked" has racked up $7 million in advance sales ahead of its July 12 preem, a 25-year record, while the "Phantom of the Opera" national tour is proving equally bounteous.

Even a not-for-profit, Neil Armfield's Company B, experienced a record-breaking box office in 2007 from a string of hit productions and numerous return seasons of politico tuner "Keating!"

In 2007, production of HBO's Steven Spielberg/Tom Hanks skein "The Pacific,' " Baz Luhrmann's epic feature "Australia" (see page A6) and a hefty production slate in Queensland kept crews busy, but activity has slumped in 2008, notwithstanding the Hugh Jackman-produced "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" currently under way in Sydney.

The U.S. writers strike plus an Aussie dollar at a 24-year high of 94¢ to the U.S. dollar has made the task of attracting runaway productions Down Under difficult, in spite of a new post-production and offshore incentive of 15%.

"That's a problem," says Martin Cayzer, chairman of international production lobby org Ausfilm and managing director of Panavision.

Oz biz has for the last decade consisted of a mix of big Hollywood-backed productions and small government-backed indigenous industry.

New incentives announced last May have increased the foreign production offset slightly, from 12.5% to 15%. Post-production and f/x work unrelated to the Oz biz is now eligible as well.

The really interesting new rebate is 40% for local producers and 20% for TV, designed to attract foreign producers to co-produce with Aussies or foreigners to back locals with cash.

Two key phrases underpin the future of the industry, says showbiz lawyer Ian Robertson: "co-productions and creative partnerships."

But the incoming government has also inherited one of the most swiftly evolving media landscapes in the past 20 years. Under the Conservatives, strict media laws covering foreign ownership and merging of local media orgs were rolled back.

In television, this has led to several new digital free-to-air channels, international venture capital buying in to Aussie TV stations and an increased focus on the Internet and mobile delivery. In short, a lazy, government-protected industry has begun to look to the future.

But Foxtel's Williams would have the new government go even further.

"There is a big junkyard of old regulation to clear away first," Williams says. "The core regulations that apply to television broadcasting are protectionist, anticompetitive and anticonsumer."

Chief among Williams' concerns is the antisiphoning laws -- a list of more than 1,300 sporting events and matches earmarked for free-to-air.

In a positive sign, Oz's new minister in charge of media, Stephen Conroy, has said he will prioritize an overhaul of the laws. To this end, some minor reform occurred last year, with a "use it or lose it" clause being inserted into the list.

But this clause works slowly; take for example the French Open, which has not been shown on any free-to-air net for five years but remains on this list.

Conroy says that while he supports the current scheme, he would like to see "an effective review that maximizes the amount of sports available to Australians on TV."

Conroy adds that while the review is due in 2009, he aims to have it before then, citing the new digital world as a reason to open the debate on a wide range of topics.

And new ideas are a big part of the new ruling mentality. Just last month the Labor government held the "Australia 2020" summit in Canberra, a two-day talk fest aimed at discussing where the country wanted to be in 2020. Some of Oz's 1,002 greatest minds attended, including Hugh Jackman and Cate Blanchett, who you can be sure had the industry's continued growth on their minds.