http://blogoforum.com/tag/australia+production Talk about australia and production http://blogoforum.com/tag/australia+business+entertainment+film+industry+production+video/the-fall-of-the-afi-19000.html Like Petrol To A Car Good Scripts are fundamental to the development of a viable and profitable Australian Film Industry, because without them, the edifice will collapse. Scripts are not just a minor aspect of the business they ARE its most important part (as petrol is to a car). The Writer - Director? Part of the problem, as I see it, is how scripts are assessed. For example, something like 85% of the Australian movies that have flopped over the last five years, have all been young ‘writer-director’ driven i.e. the director has also written them. This is ok, if the director has a ‘gift’ for good screenwriting or has been trained. But in the majority of cases, they don’t and haven’t. In fact, most have little or no experience writing scripts at all, and yet this is where a lot of the past funding has gone. Has quality been the determining factor here? http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2008/08/27/2358430.htm (Hear Jan Sardi, one of Australia’s most successful screenwriters telling it like it is) New Screenwriters and Old At the other end of the scale, are the New Screenwriter’s Programs, where a novice who shows talent /potential can get between $5000 - $10000 for writing a screenplay under the mentorship of a qualified script editor. Sounds good, but for the great majority of these potentially good writers, this marks the beginning and the end of their careers. Because very few - if any - of these projects ever reach the next stage of development. Why? A scroll back through the old AFC files will show literally 100s of abandoned writers and scripts. Is quality the determining factor here? Old or seasoned screenwriters should not be allowed to slip through without delivering the goods. There have been several recently released movies, written by ‘seasoned’ screenwriters that have been complete flops. Scripts should be assessed on their merits along and not because they were written by well known scriptwriters. The Viability Factor Quality and potential are two out of three factors that should guide script assessors and the industry in general. The third factor is: viability. Assessors should ask themselves how viable is this script in terms of it being successful in the marketplace? This is a complex question. For example, a script may be good, and at the same time, have the capacity to attract both popular and art-house audiences; or it may have a strong appeal to one or the other. It might even be groundbreaking and innovative, but with little popular appeal, except for perhaps movie critics, special interest groups and intellectuals. Before a script is assessed, its category should be determined along with its marketplace potential. But how? Feasibility studies would be one way. In the past few months, a collection, of what their makers and others have called ‘promising’ films have all nose-dived at the box office e.g. Not Quite Hollywood. Lets face it, it’s a nice little documentary, but really, where’s its audience base? Apart from a few nostalgic baby-boomers and one or two special interest groups – there’s none! In the marketplace, business projects based on feasibility studies are usually the ones that prosper and last. The Upsidedown Pyramid A good place to start is for the assessors to ask themselves: what elements made the top 20 most successful films in Australia popular? Well written scripts that contain many of these most popular elements should be given priority and placed at the top of the pyramid. Presently, the pyramid has been made to stand on its head, with the art-house and the esoteric on top at the heavy end. But these films, no matter how ‘important,’ ‘groundbreaking’ or ‘smart’, do not have the audience drawing capacity to sustain a viable and prosperous film industry. Accountability Assessors have a very important job - it is they who are responsible for moving the business forward. They should not only be ‘experienced’ in the craft of script analysis, but have a ‘head’ for business as it affects their industry. They should also follow a set of ESTABLISHED guidelines, that would make the possibility of nepotism and personal preference less likely in the decision making process. Another important aspect of all this is accountability. That assessors have not been made accountable is a pretty DUMB business move - when you consider that every successful business is based on accountability i.e. on the logic behind why particular decisions were made. Assessors in the Australian Film Industry need to be made accountable, to the writers and the industry, for the decisions they make. Alex Bell Sun, 12 Oct 2008 22:05:02 GMT http://blogoforum.com/tag/australia+business+entertainment+film+industry+production+video/the-fall-of-the-afi-19000.html http://blogoforum.com/tag/australia+business+entertainment+film+industry+production+video/film-and-video-production-in-australia-14789.html Industry Market Research Synopsis This Industry Market Research report from this provides a detailed analysis of the Film and Video Production in Australia industry, including key growth trends, statistics, forecasts, the competitive environment including market shares and the key issues facing the industry. Industry Definition This report relates to establishments mainly engaged in the production of motion picture on film or video tape for theatre or television projection. This class also includes such services as casting, film editing and titling but excludes film and video productions undertaken by businesses directly associated with TV stations. Report Contents The Key Statistics chapter provides the key indicators for the industry for at least the last three years. The statistics included are industry revenue, industry gross product, employment, establishments, exports, imports, domestic demand and total wages. The Market Characteristics chapter covers the following: Market Size, Linkages, Demand Determinants, Domestic and International Markets, Basis of Competition and Life Cycle. The Market Size section gives the size of the domestic market as well as the size of the export market. The Linkages section lists the industry's major supplier and major customer industries. The Demand Determinants section lists the key factors which are likely to cause demand to rise or fall. The Domestic and International Markets section defines the market for the products and services of the industry. This section provides the size of the domestic market and the proportion accounted for by imports and exports and trends in the levels of imports and exports. The Basis of Competition section outlines the key types of competition between firms within the industry as well as highlighting competition from substitute products in alternative industries. The Life Cycle section provides an analysis of which stage of development the industry is at. The Segmentation chapter covers the following: Products and Service Segmentation, Major Market Segments, Industry Concentration and Geographic Spread. The Products and Service Segmentation section details the key products and/or services provided by this industry, highlighting the most important where possible to demonstrate which have a more significant influence over industry results as a whole. The Major Market Segments section details the key client industries and/or groups as well as giving an indication as to which of these are the most important to the industry. The Industry Concentration section provides an indicator of how much industry revenue is accounted for by the top four players. The Geographic Spread section provides a guide to the regional share of industry revenue/gross product. The Industry Conditions chapter covers the following: Barriers to Entry, Taxation, Industry Assistance, Regulation and Deregulation, Cost Structure, Capital and Labor Intensity, Technology and Systems, Industry Volatility and Globalization. The Barriers to Entry section outlines factors that can prevent a new company from entering this industry and also gives an indication of the extent to which this occurs. The Taxation section details all kinds of taxation that are specific or are particularly important to this industry, including taxation concessions. The Industry Assistance section refers to any government and/or other measures designed to improve the performance of this industry. The Regulation and Deregulation section details any applicable regulation and/or deregulation to this industry. The Cost Structure section details the average costs for a company operating in this industry as a percentage of total revenue. The Capital and Labor Intensity section provides a guide to the amount of capital used in production/providing a service compared to the amount of labor in the total mix of inputs. The Technology and Systems section acknowledges the latest technology and/or systems available to this industry within the country. Technology refers to machinery and equipment and systems refers to methods of production that enable better and more efficient production. The Industry Volatility section refers to the year on year fluctuations which occur in industry output. The Globalization section gives an indication of the extent to which the industry is global based on factors such as the level of foreign ownership, the proportion of demand accounted for by foreign operators and the volume of production conducted in other countries. For more information kindly visit: http://www.bharatbook.com/detail.asp?id=64219 Sat, 01 Dec 2007 05:22:15 GMT http://blogoforum.com/tag/australia+business+entertainment+film+industry+production+video/film-and-video-production-in-australia-14789.html