Screen Australia's 2013/14 Drama Report is in and reveals that production expenditure has been strong for the year.
Despite persistent and not necessarily unwarranted criticism that Australia needs to do more to lure big-budget productions to our shores, drama screen production in this country has had a strong past year. The expenditure has clocked in at $837 million, an 11 per cent increase on the previous year and the highest on record.
Of the expenditure, Australian TV drama accounted for 41 per cent, while Australian feature films stood at 35 per cent and foreign activity (primarily feature film production) was 24 per cent.
Graeme Mason, CEO of Screen Australia, said: "While local content is still the main game and the bedrock of our industry, we've seen a boost in total production with top-profile talent such as Angelina Jolie choosing our shores and crews to make their films."
All up, production of feature films increased 18 per cent on last year, with expenditure of $297 million, no doubt influenced by the aforementioned Angelina Jolie's Unbroken, Alex Proyas' Gods of Egypt Russell Crowe's directorial debut The Water Diviner (pictured), San Andreas with Dwayne Johnson, and international co-productions including Anton Corbijn's Life and the animated feature, Maya the Bee Movie.
Of the television output, Mason highlighted "ambitious new programs like The Code andBanished" and "returning seasons of favourites Mako Mermaids and Love Child". This year also saw a trio of World War 1-inspired productions in the ABC's ANZAC Girls, Nine's Gallipoli and Foxtel's Deadline Gallipoli.
Of the drama expenditure, 42 per cent occurred in NSW, 31 per cent in Victoria and 15 per cent in Queensland, while South Australian activity increased to record its highest share ever at 9 per cent.
The 2013/14 Drama Report can be downloaded here.