Arts Minister Peter Garrett speaks on the Aust film industry
Aust. Broadcasting Corporation 19.3.08
Reporter: Leigh Sales
Arts Minister Peter Garrett discusses the state of the Australian film
industry and moves by the Federal Government to revive it.
Transcript LEIGH SALES: So how do we attract and keep movie money and
talent in this country? Just as importantly, why aren't Australian films
attracting audiences?

The Federal Arts Minister, Peter Garrett, joins me now from our Canberra
studio.
Minister, let's start with George Miller's specific problem - what do
you think about the prospect of Justice League going elsewhere?

PETER GARRETT, MINISTER FOR ARTS: Leigh I won't make a comment about
that because I'm an arm's length from the decision-making of the Film
Finance Corporation that has given George Miller's film the indication
it has up to this point in time.

Obviously we prefer to see in general terms film makers of George's
calibre work here in Australia. I think that he's one of our film
greats, no question about that. He's brought a tremendous amount to the
screen and to the industry. We would much prefer to see him stay.

But at the same time the intention of the producer offset is to ensure
that we get great films made here in Australia which have got a
significant Australian content component to them. I think that's the
intention of the Government. It has been the intention in the past when
we've assisted our film industry to make films and that's what we want
to do in the future.

But we do want to make bigger film, films which reach a wider audience
and if a film qualifies, fantastic, if it's a big film and a successful
film, even better.

LEIGH SALES: From the first part of your answer you're sending a clear
signal aren't you, to the FFC that you would like to see this George
Miller project stay in Australia.

PETER GARRETT: Well no, you might read it that way. I made it really
clear in my second reading speech, Leigh, what the Government's view was
both about the new authority, Screen Australia, and also the issues
which we thought in public policy terms were critical with the producer
offset.

The producer offset should work to do a number of things. It should
build the weight and capacity of our film industry because it has been a
cottage industry for too long and yet we have an abundance of talent,
great storytellers, good writers, terrific directors, and obviously
world class actors who are doing very well, right around the country and
overseas.

But we also want to make sure that there are national interest issues
that are considered. We want to see films that have got a cultural
residence, films that apply them themselves to some of the deficiencies
which we don't see coming through the commercial system, so
documentaries and children's films will be an important component to be
considered as well.

So there's a number of...

LEIGH SALES: Minister, can I ask...

PETER GARRETT: I guess the point is there's a number of factors that the
authority must take into account when it makes these kinds of decision.
But we do want to see commercial and successful films, but we also want
to see films that have got cultural applicability as well.

LEIGH SALES: Minister can I ask, what do you think makes an Australian
film?

PETER GARRETT: Well, actually it's not a question of what I think.

It's a question of what the test is. It's laid out. There are guidelines
and the authority has got to make that decision on the basis of the
nationality of where the film is made, the locations, the people who are
making the film, where they come from and any other matters that it
considers relevant.

So it's always going to be one of those questions which even when you
have guidelines is subject to interpretation and some fairly vigorous
discussion about it.

What I think I can say is that people who want to make films which have
got a strong international component to them have got the opportunity to
come to Australia and take advantage of what's called a location offset.
That is a very competitive offset, similar to what operates in New
Zealand and other countries.

But if they're actually seeking to take advantage of the producer
offset, the 40 per cent that you referred to at the start of the program
tonight, then I think that there's a strong public policy component in
making that decision. Which says, yes, we do want to make bigger films,
films that get to a wider audience but we also want to make films which
have got a component in their making across the production which is
Australian.

LEIGH SALES: There's two issues here - one is getting the films made in
Australia and then the second is getting audiences to actually go to
those films.

Let's stick to the first part of it for now. With this merged body that
you're creating, Screen Australia, what are your benchmarks for
measuring the effectiveness? Is it going to be if it approves films that
are commercially successful or critically successful?

What are the actual benchmarks?

PETER GARRETT: I think the last thing that people want to have is a
government minister sitting here giving his or her view on benchmarks
about the success of Australian films. I want to see Australian films
succeed. I am not ducking the question. But that is up to the body
itself.

LEIGH SALES: But we're putting taxpayer money towards it. So there has
to be some way of gauging that investment and whether it's worth it or
not?

PETER GARRETT: I absolutely agree and that's why there has to be a good,
robust process which is undertaken when a board sets a policy framework
for a chief executive to drive an organisation. And set the organisation
up to do that. That is my intention. And that is what will happen.

LEIGH SALES: So somebody will be sitting down and coming up with a plan
for the Australian film industry, a model for the Australian film
industry?

PETER GARRETT: Well we've already said that we want to see a revitalised
Australian film industry and we think that the combination of the new
Screen Australia authority and the producer offset will give us a lot
more capital output and grunt, in terms of the material that's been
produced.

The slate will be healthier, as they say in the business, and it will
have greater capacity.

We will also, once the authority is established, very closely assess the
progress that's being made.

Remember, Leigh, this offset has been in place since September of last
year - six or seven months and there are already scores of films that
are in the pipeline for it, including in the future potentially Baz
Luhrmann's new film Australia.

So it's very early days.

What I am absolutely committed to doing is making sure that we select a
board which has got good, in tune, expert persons representing a
diversity of skills that you need on board, a chief executive office
that can drive Screen Australia. And with the producer offset the
opportunity to make great Australian films and hopefully films that
succeed overseas as well.

LEIGH SALES: You have said that you will assess what progress is being
made but you have not articulated how you will measure progress. What is
progress in the film industry?

PETER GARRETT: I think progress, we can say in general terms, is doing
better than we've done in the past. The fact of the matter is that over
the last decade, despite the abundance of talent that we have in the
country, we haven't made that many films. We don't make a lot of films
on the slate, 20 or 30 so, and they haven't been very successful.

There's a lot of debate in the industry about why that might be. So one
of the reasons we think is because there hasn't been the capacity to
build a significantly sized production and that's what the producer
rebate will address.

But as well there are questions about script and storyline, proper
development of projects before they get off the ground and then there
are issues around marketing as well.

But you know, Muriel's Wedding was a fantastic, successful film. You
opened up with Crocodile Dundee. It's a little bit like the music
industry that I was once in. You can't always pick hit records. So long
as you make the best product that you can, you have to hope sooner or
later one of them is going to hit home.

LEIGH SALES: All right. Well let's have a look at this second issue of
audience. As the story earlier explained very few people are going to
see the Australian films that are being made, which really begs the
question why are we having this discussion about government funding for
film-makers?

Why artificially prop up an industry when there doesn't seem to be
particularly a market for it?

PETER GARRETT: I am not sure that there isn't a market for films. I
think it's one of the most vibrant...

LEIGH SALES: Well there is certainly a market for films but just not
Australian films, apparently.

PETER GARRETT: I am not sure I agree with that either. At the moment
it's true - we haven't had a bunch of films that have done particularly
well at box office. And that's an issue that we are addressing. And I
think that is specifically one of the things which will be considered by
the new authority, particularly as it applies the rebate. That's
absolutely critical that we actually do give ourselves the opportunity
to make films which have the potential to succeed.

Look, there's magic in the art of film-making as well. There's no
question about it. We've had some very successful films in the past that
have done well overseas. We've had films which have been critically very
well received and they haven't been well watched.

There's a bit of alchemy in the game as well.

LEIGH SALES: It's bit of a dark art, isn't it? The famous screenwriter,
William Goldman once said when it comes to films nobody knows anything
in terms of prediction. How do people try to figure out where is the
next "Kenny" coming from? "Kenny" didn't get funding from the FFC. How
do you actually figure this stuff out?

PETER GARRETT: You get the best people with the most intimate and deep
knowledge of the industry and experience, and people who have had
success themselves who are willing to serve and you give them the
responsibility for setting guidance and guidelines. And then you get a
chief executive officer and an organisation that is committed to doing
it. And you go out there and have a go at it.

And you do it in a way which is prudent, which also has the national
interest at stake. One of the things about Screen Australia is it
doesn't only have a remit to try and see bigger films with wider
audience potential being made. It has a remit which is cultural as well.

We want to see films made where there is a national interest component,
where if it doesn't actually reach fantastic box office heights, it
doesn't mean it shouldn't have been made.

We will see a documentary, I think in the next two, three, four weeks
possibly, and I hope it's in that time, which is being made about the
Sydney. That wouldn't have been made at a profit. It probably won't sell
at a profit.

Australian taxpayers have supported making that film. It's a tremendous
and important national benefit. I don't think anyone would argue against
that, nor making documentaries or kids films as well.

There are a range of films that you make and that you support with
Government, and in terms of trying to get films that do well at box
office, you just have to try to get the bits and pieces in place as well
as you can, and then hope that someone gets one away.

LEIGH SALES: Minister, why do you think more Australians aren't going to
see Australian films?

PETER GARRETT: Leigh, I don't really know. I am a great fan of
Australian films. I think there are terrific films that are still being
made. I don't get out to see as many of them as I'd like, and I don't
like to sort of call names on them.

But I think that we have got fantastic film-makers in the country. It's
true that some of the films have been what you might describe as
interior films, and perhaps there's an argument there for us making some
bigger scoped, more exterior films.

LEIGH SALES: What do you mean by an interior film?

PETER GARRET: Well you know, we do see films that are about the
condition, sometimes they're about the condition of experiencing the
culture of this country, they may be films of a nature which is, got a
lot of interpersonal relationships which maybe people don't find as
compelling as they have in the past.

I don't really know why people are not going to see good Australian
films which I think are still being made in the numbers that we would
like.

What I do know though, is that there are tonnes of gifted Aussies out
there delivering scripts who want to make films that they want people to
go and see. And that we have the opportunity with Screen Australia, with
the merger to create a new body which has really got a sense of having a
producers offset that can give it greater capacity, to go out and make
some of those films.

LEIGH SALES: Brian Rosen, who we heard from in that story, he's one of
the most powerful people in Australian film, was quoted recently as
saying that people want to stop funding going to a George Miller block
buster because quote "so we can make small films that appeal to about
100,000 people and nobody else, about lesbians, drugs and whatever
else".

Do you think that Australian film-makers are out of touch with the
mainstream?

PETER GARRETT: No I don't. And I think that you've only got to cast your
eye across the broader slate, Leigh, of films that are being made
including even TV series by people or even see our film-makers - look at
our film-making heritage.

We have had directors of the order of skills of the Bruce Beresfords,
the George Millers, the Phil Noyces, the Jane Campions and others, who
have made films that have succeeded here and also succeeded
internationally.

I mean Tim Winton who is one of our great novelists, his book Dirt Music
is being made into a film. I am really looking forward to seeing that
film. I think it will be a terrific film. I am really excited about the
fact that at some point I'm going to be able to watch a Tim Winton
script come to life on the screen.

We have great storytellers in the country and I think one of the things
though, is that we haven't had the economies of scale that are
necessary. When you asked me about the past, I referred to the some 20
or 30 or so films that we might make in an average on a year. It's
probably not enough. With those 20 or 30 films you may get some interior
sorts films.

You may get the small, personal films, but you also need to get the
bigger films. The ones that are aiming for a larger audience, perhaps
ones that have got a more commercial bent to them. There's absolutely
nothing wrong with that. But we just haven't had enough capacity in the
past to deliver that kind of diversity and also create those
opportunities for maximising the investment that we would make.

LEIGH SALES: You spoke earlier about the Australian film industry being
a cottage industry, if you like. But given that we have quite a small
population, is it maybe time to accept that that's all Australia is ever
going to have in a film industry?

PETER GARRETT: I don't think so. I think when you interviewed George
earlier he talked about New Zealand. In fact, the situation with New
Zealand and Australia is a little bit similar because we both have got
relatively similar location offsets.

But New Zealand has created a dynamic film industry, in part because of
The Lord of the Rings and the work that that director did. And other
countries as well, regardless of their population size, do provide
investment possibilities and capacity for film-making, because they see
it as being one of the most important contemporary, culture, art and
entertainment forms.

It is a way of expressing yourself not only as an artist, but also
sometimes expressing your identity in other parts of the world as well.
I think Australians are proud of their film heritage, given that we had
one of the - I think it's the earliest of all times, ever feature films
made.

We've certainly got a fantastic track record of film making and we have
abundant talent. There are many fine directors of photography and script
writers and technicians working in Hollywood and working in the Middle
East and working in Europe.

I would like to see a lot of those people come back to Australia and
participate in a big renaissance for the film industry. Because I think
we have the stories to tell, I think we have the sets to make it on. All
we've got to do is get about and get those films off the ground now.

LEIGH SALES: Well we'll wait to see how it develops. Minister, thank you
very much for your time.

PETER GARRETT: Thanks, Leigh.    


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