Film Funding in Australia: Recent History and Empirical Analysis

Abstract

This chapter details and analyses public film funding in Australia. It begins with a detailed historic overview of funding arrangements and the eventual role of public money in this industry. Particular attention is given to the tax incentives offered under the 10BA scheme (where tax deductions as large as 150% were offered, alongside a 50% haven on royalties), the ‘two-door approach’ funding provisions under the Film Finance Corporation (FFC) , and the more recent ‘Producer Offset’ scheme operated under Screen Australia . The second primary contribution of this chapter is an empirical investigation building on the analysis of McKenzie and Walls (Journal of Cultural Economics, 37(2), 247–269). A ‘hedonic box office revenue model’ is developed assessing the impact of FFC and Screen Australia funding on the box office revenue performance of Australian films in Australian cinemas over the years 1997–2015.