The Documentary Report 09/10

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The Documentary Report 09/10 covers the production of Australian documentaries based on the start date of principal photography by financial year. Key release information is also included.

It reports on the operation of the Producer Offset tax rebate for Australian projects, incorporating data gathered through contact with production companies and publicly available sources to give a comprehensive view of documentary production activity in Australia and the Offset's contribution to the annual slate. Because of the difficulties involved in monitoring documentary production, particularly inhouse production by the television broadcasters, Screen Australia includes some estimates in the number of titles, hours and budgets.

Data is presented for the past three years, 2007/08 to 2009/10, the period since the introduction of the Offset.

See under Research for pre-2007/08 data.

Key findings

Hours produced and production budgets

In 2009/10, 382 hours of documentaries were produced (173 titles) with total budgets of $102 million. This was very close to the previous year, and above the five-year average before the introduction of the Offset, both in terms of hours (14 per cent) and total budgets (33 per cent).

Production activity

Overall documentary production activity has in fact been above the pre-Offset five-year average for the last three years, due to an increase in activity by production companies. Activity by broadcasters has remained relatively steady.

Budget ranges

Documentary production increased across all cost ranges in 2007/08, for both series and single titles. In the following two years, the increased levels of production continued for documentaries with budgets over $250,000 per hour, while production in the lower budget ranges (under $250,000 per hour) fell back to pre-Offset levels.

Production of Offset documentaries

Offset projects accounted for 33 per cent of titles, 31 per cent of hours and 56 per cent of budgets over the past three years. There were no inhouse Offset projects.

Sources of finance for the independent slate

Since July 2007, 11 per cent of finance for the documentary production slate (excluding inhouse documentaries) has come from the Producer Offset, cashflowed in various ways, 18 per cent from direct Screen Australia finance, 5 per cent from state agencies and 66 per cent from other sources (mainly broadcasters). The majority of Offset documentaries, across all eligible budget ranges, have also had Screen Australia finance. In 2009/10, the Producer Offset contributed $12 million to the independent documentary slate, or 13 per cent of total finance.

Activity by state

Most documentaries (excluding inhouse titles) have been made by production companies based in NSW – 63 per cent of total hours in 2009/10.