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Screen Australia head questions TV funding

The new boss of our funding body, a New Zealander, appears to be more empathetic to film than television.

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Screen Australia’s new boss, Ruth Harley, starts her position today. The former head of the NZ Film Commission was the unanimous choice of the selection panel advising Arts Minister, Peter Garrett.

The super-agency Screen Australia was borne by the emerging of the AFC, Film Australia and the Film Financing Corporation in July.

But rather ominously, Dr Harley has questioned why Australian television needed Screen Australia support when it was paid for by broadcasters and performing so well.

A number of attendees at the Screen Producers conference on the Gold Coast have told The Australian they thought it betrayed an alarming bias of film over television.

The television industry’s recent ratings success with local drama, documentaries, factual, children’s and comedy may further hurt its lobbying power against a film industry that concedes it is in the doldrums.

Harley has also been criticised by NZ’s John Barnett, the head of South Pacific Pictures, which has produced the film Whale Rider and TV series Shortland Street and Outrageous Fortune, among many others.

He says under Harley, the NZ Film Commission treated the local industry “like mushrooms, keeping them in the dark and feeding them on bullshit”.

Source: The Australian

One Response

  1. in my opinion the whole funding bodies are bias and not in touch with audiences, i have seen so many of the same people get funding and either not produce anthing or produce something that is totally rubbish yet these same people make a living from funding. Not all cases are like that though many quality productions get the investment they need and deserve but the whole process needs to be looked at by independant overseers.

    Combining those three is like creating one huge monster. The whole funding issue is biased to whoever is in charge look whats going to happen to tv now with this new person.

    Give the funding on merit not names give the funding where it is deserved and to tv or film.

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