The Drama Report 09/10 covers the production of feature films and TV drama programs (mini-series, telemovies and series/serials) by financial year.

It reports on the operation of the Producer Offset tax rebate for domestic Australian projects and official co-productions, incorporating data gathered through surveys and publicly available sources to give a comprehensive view of drama production activity in Australia and the Offset’s contribution to the annual slate. Data is presented for the past three years, 2007/08 to 2009/10, the period since the introduction of the Offset.

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Foreign titles are included if they are shot (or substantially shot) in Australia, or carry out post, digital or visual effects (PDV) work in Australia without shooting here.

OVERVIEW Drama expenditure in Australia • Total expenditure in Australia by the 2009/10 drama slate was $731 million, a 2 per cent increase since 2008/09, and well above the average for the five years to June 2007. Australian feature production accounted for 36 per cent of 2009/10 expenditure, Australian TV drama for 39 per cent and foreign activity (primarily feature production) for 24 per cent.

• Expenditure by the Australian slate – domestic productions and official co- productions – totalled $552 million, comprising 37 features spending $265 million and 564 hours of TV drama (36 titles) spending $286 million.

• Australian feature production was down this year, with last year's slate elevated by two high-budget titles.

• Expenditure by australian TV drama for adults increased but production of children's programs was down after two strong years. As a result, overall expenditure by the Australian TV drama slate fell.

• Five foreign features and two foreign TV dramas started shooting in Australia in 2009/10, accounting for expenditure in Australia of $170 million. This marked a significant rise in expenditure after last year, when there was very little foreign activity. Five PDV-only projects (all features) contributed an additional $9 million. Both the number and the value of PDV-only projects were down on previous years.

Operation of the Producer Offset • The Producer Offset came into effect for production expenditure incurred from 1 July 2007.

• In 2007/08, 49 per cent of Australian features and 59 per cent of TV drama titles were Offset projects, ie they have accessed, or are likely to access, the Producer Offset on completion. By 2009/10, 78 per cent of the Australian feature slate and 75 per cent of the TV drama slate were Offset projects.

• Offset features have accounted for 90 per cent of total spend for Australian features over the past three years, while offset TV dramas accounted for 71 per cent of Australian TV drama spend and 46 per cent of hours.

• Children’s programs were more likely than adult TV to be Offset projects, in this case accounting for 80 per cent of expenditure and 68 per cent of hours.

Expenditure by location • Victoria accounted for 37 per cent of expenditure by this year’s slate, Queensland for 31 per cent and NSW for 26 per cent.

Feature films and TV dramas represent about 20 per cent of all audiovisual production in Australia. Other areas of activity include documentaries, light entertainment, commercials, music videos, corporate video and TV production such as sport, news and current affairs.

Read the Report