The New All Media Fund and what it means for future jobs

On the 3rd of May (yes I realize that this was a while ago), Screen Australia announced it would be soon launching a new initiative within its organization known as the All Media Fund. According to the new guidelines

"The objective is to support narrative content in both linear and non-linear forms that pushes the envelope of creative storytelling, and to provide practitioners with opportunities to take risks, extend their skills and explore new storytelling tools and platforms."

Sounds great doesn't it? So why do I have a problem with this new set up?

Whilst Screen Australia and the Federal government have taken many steps towards the safeguarding of our industry (such as introducing the producer's offset then reducing it from $1m to $500,000; increasing the location offset and PDV offsets; and abolishing the thieving Division 10B/10A incentives), there are still many hurdles across which filmmakers and television producers must clamber over before receiving a cent for their productions. Over the past 3 weeks, I have been attending many seminars and talks with various filmmakers and even Heather MacFarlane herself (Project Manager for Screen Australia), all of which have outlined to me the frustration Australian filmmakers are experiencing when it comes to getting well-needed funds for their films. The reason why the industry is struggling is due mainly to the fact that it is so difficult to achieve the requirements Screen Aus outlines its funding guidelines before they even settle an agreement with the funding body.

Here are a few of the guidelines and why they are a problem for Aussie films:

1. "Screen Australia generally requires the commitment of an experienced producer as part of the team, and that the application should come from the producer."
Sounds simple enough but here's the problem. First of all, Screen Australia's definition of an "experienced" producer reads as follows: "An ‘experienced producer’ is defined as having at least one credit as producer on:

* a feature film or theatrical feature documentary that has been released on a minimum of five commercial screens in one territory, OR
* a primetime broadcast drama miniseries or telemovie.
Why is this an issue? First of all, in 2009, only 12% of movies screened across Australia's 1,989 theater screens were Australian. This accounts for just 238 screens and with theater numbers dropping each year (Numbers dropped from 525 to 492 between 2004-2009), this number is expected to decrease over the years.

So 238 screens, for the WHOLE year, to screen 37 Australian made films. At best, these films could manage to get on to 6 screens if they we