The Australian television industry is alert, but not alarmed. Production numbers are down from historic highs, executive-level personnel changes are slowing the content pipeline, and the turmoil overseas is finally reaching home. But Australian stories still resonate with audiences around the world, and many of the recent blockbusters have mysteries at their core or offer a few laughs.
When industry group Screen Australia asked industry representatives what they thought about local business, there were a variety of concerns. Words such as “anxiety,” “frustration,” and “disappointment” were thrown around, but the one that stood out was “full of hope.”
Of the 1,000 TV professionals surveyed, 70% believe the future of diverse storytelling on screen will remain the same or improve. The numbers were similarly high when we asked producers about collaboration and staying on top of industry trends. However, this positive thinking was tested with questions such as job security, with only 27% believing things would get better.
This reflects local business, which has seen some turmoil recently. Screen Australia reports that from 2023 to 2024, just 15 TV and broadcast video-on-demand dramas were aired free to general audiences in Australia, generating 275 hours of content on a budget of $126 million. This number is down from an average of 38 titles in the 2010s and 29 titles in the 2000s. In Australia, the number of hours of local content has been slowly declining for about 30 years.
“It’s definitely been a quiet year, with the global economic slowdown and international sales challenges hitting our shores,” said Carly Heaton, head of scripts at Fremantle Australia. “At the same time, we have seen major changes to local broadcaster commissioning teams, which has understandably created a period of uncertainty. That said, there is a real sense that things are starting to calm down. We are seeing commissioning strategies taking shape, buyers re-engaging and conversations starting to focus on the next wave of content rather than the constraints of the past 12 months. This reset is ultimately creating opportunities for bold and distinctive projects, and we are poised for a stronger year ahead.”
Ausfilm CEO Kate Marks acknowledges that the number of inbound TV productions is down slightly compared to its peak a few years ago, but over the past year Australia has welcomed a healthy pipeline, which she believes is a testament to Australia’s strength not only as a producer of quality local content but also as an international production partner.
“It’s especially gratifying to see Australian talent playing key creative roles in projects like[Peacock series]All Her Fault and[Apple TV+’s]The Dispatcher,” Marks said. “At the same time, the breadth of our work across post, digital, animation and visual effects is impressive, with titles such as ‘Alien: Earth,’ ‘The Last of Us,’ ‘Ted,’ and the upcoming ‘Stranger Things: A Tale of ’85,” demonstrating the capabilities of our screen business. ” Mr Marks highlighted co-productions with Ireland such as Mixtape and the upcoming animated series Flower and Flower with Canada as examples of how Australia collaborates internationally in television storytelling.
Louise Gough, Director of Narrative Content at Screen Australia, agrees that the industry is on the rebound, pointing to well over 100 Australians walking through the halls of Mipcom this year.
But not only is she confident in the future of Australian television content, she’s also proud of its meteoric success in recent years.
“In the past five years, we’ve had some great shows that sold really well around the world,” Goff says. “’The Narrow Road to the Deep North’ is a great Australian IP by an Australian author. ‘Newsreader’, ‘The Twelve’, ‘Black Snow’, ‘100% Wolf: Legend of ‘Moonstone’ are just a few of the titles that are getting a lot of business around the world.” Mr Goff added that Australian talent remains in demand with series such as ‘Heartbreak High’, ‘Fisk’ and ‘The Colin From Account’ and, of course, ‘Bluey’ is at the top of the conversation when it comes to Australian television success.
“What works well is content that is distinctly Australian but has a global theme,” she says. “Globally, audiences are leaning towards work with great dialogue and diaspora resonance, and we have a lot of work coming through the pipeline, whether it’s beautiful works like “Top End Bab,” which just opened and is performing wonderfully, or “The Chaplain” and “High Country.”
The High Country, a thriller set in a picturesque Victorian alpine region, became the BBC’s breakout star. It’s a resilient genre.
“It always makes me laugh because people say, ‘Oh, there are so many detective shows,’ but people want detective shows,” said Rosemary Bright of Goalpost Pictures, which produced the mystery novel “Black Snow,” starring Travis Fimmel. “I think audiences still respond very well to premium crime dramas, especially ones that take them into worlds that they don’t know. A show like ‘Black Snow’ works incredibly well by centering a talented person like Travis Fimmel, who has a huge global impact,” Bright said of the conversation taking place around the third installment of the series.
Industry groups continue to recognize that “crime is evergreen,” Goff said. “The great thing about crime and crime work that happens in Australia is that Australia has something called the 80/20 rule,” Gough says. “The genre is well known, so 80% is familiar, but 20% is told in a unique story world, a unique tone, or a unique perspective, whether it’s a comedic crime or a deep, dark crime.”
The comedy detective story “Deadlock” is more of a parody of the genre, skewering the tropes of police and forensic procedures. The series is written by comedians Kate McCartney and Kate MacLennan, who are also in charge of season two. “Deadlock” producer Kevin White of Guesswerk says the show will sell better if it has a clear creative point of view.
“We always get better results in entertainment when we focus on helping creators tell the best stories, and that calculus will never change,” he says. “While business can sometimes obscure it, the same truth continues to underlie the conversation around trends, formats, and platforms: If you get great creators, give them the space to tell amazing stories, and give them the resources to do it right, you’ll get an audience.”
Guesswork is also producing a new comedy, Bad Company, starring comedians Ann Edmonds and Kitty Flanagan (Fisk). The “workplace” genre has also been a performer for Australian companies, with shows such as “The Newsreader”, “Fisk” and Fox Showcase’s courtroom drama “The Twelve” starring Sam Neill doing well.
Another recent international click from Australia, Easy Tiger Prods.’s ‘Colin From Accounts’, has breathed life back into the Oz comedy sector.
Rob Gibson, CEO of Easy Tiger, says comedy has always been a difficult sell because people worry about getting a laugh. “The conventional wisdom was that comedy doesn’t travel, and we’ve broken that with ‘Colin.’ There’s a lot of conversation in the UK and the US about comedy that can be produced here in Australia.”
Fremantle’s Carly Heaton said the refreshments were a big focus going forward. “There’s a strong appetite right now for heartfelt programming – lighter, funnier, more escapist stories that give viewers a break from the real world,” says Heaton. “Many of our commissioned projects and projects in the process of being commissioned share that DNA. We can’t name them yet, but you’ll see a sense of hope and humor running through our slate. We feel that’s very powerful and exciting.”
Mr Bright said Goalpost was also proud of its lighter fare, driven by the recent success of Amazon Prime Original ‘Top End Babs’, a TV spin-off from the Australian feature film ‘Top End Wedding’. Launched at Mipcom, Laffer received a huge response from audiences Down Under. “’Top End Babu’ is a story about a big busy family, responsibility and unconditional love.
Located at the top of Australia. “It’s a world of green and blue and full of crocodiles. It’s a world that many Australians have never seen, and certainly the world has never seen before. Overseas audiences think of Australia as a red-earth outback, but they don’t know that there’s a beautiful tropical world out there,” says Bright. We’re shooting in the Tiwi Islands, but working with Amazon in Australia and New Zealand has helped us bring things to scale. we feel really good about it. ”
In fact, Blight says one of the most important things in the current environment is the strength of local partners. In addition to a great partnership with Amazon and “Top End Bub,” streamer Stan is the force behind “Black Snow.”
“When domestic partners really support a program, its success spreads domestically and around the world,” she says.
Screen Producers Australia CEO Matt Diener sees significant encouragement from the national broadcaster, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. “There was a strong signal from the ABC and new managing director Hugh Marks,” Diener said. “He said national broadcasters are doubling down on regional intellectual property because they have the ability to take risks, and that’s great. They’re being proactive in a way we haven’t seen in a while, which is great news for our industry.”
Mipcom’s representative ‘Fisk’ ABC stand is also on display, as well as the comedy reboot ‘Mother and Son’ and the thriller ‘Pine Gap’.
Guesswork’s Whyte adds that while on-air success is one thing, what he’s hearing on the ground is that that’s just the tip of the iceberg, with more development conversations taking place.
“After a couple of years where it felt like we were walking through wet cement, I certainly feel, and I think others feel, that the wheels are starting to turn again. Maybe the wheels are turning at a lower rate, but it certainly feels like decisions are being made and development is moving forward,” he says.
Bright added, “We’re punching above our weight. We have to look at that success and be really proud. We’re in a time now where the world doesn’t really care what language you speak. They’re getting educated, they’re watching content from all over the world, and we’re adapting well to that situation.”
