QUESTIONS FOR SCREEN AUSTRALIA RE 'PRODUCER OFFSET'

 Chair, Screen Australia Board, Michael Ebeid

Board Members

CEO, Dierdre Brennan

GPO Box 3984

Sydney, NSW 2001                                                                 5^th November 2026

 

Dear Screen Australia,

 

I am writing a series of short articles in the hope of stimulating discussion amongst Australian filmmakers and funding bodies about the objectives, assessment processes and accountability of government support for Australian films.

 

One such piece, posted on Facebook today, entitled PRODUCER OFFSET FOR DUMMIES (attached) will be followed by a slightly deeper dive into the pros and cons of this initiative.

 

One question to be explored is the extent to which Australian taxpayers can discover how much public money has supported individual films and what benefits have resulted.

 

The Producer Offset is wonderful, but questions arise as to whether the system provides sufficient transparency to allow an informed public debate about its effectiveness.

 

I am using Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby (2013) as a case study:

 

‘Gatsby’ is particularly interesting because it was made substantially in Australia by an Australian director, employed a large Australian workforce, achieved considerable international commercial success, and was based on an American novel set in America.

 

In May 2013, the ABC reported that The Great Gatsby benefited from approximately $80 million in tax-offset assistance. I have been unable to establish whether this was the final amount received.

 

I would appreciate answers to the following questions.

 

1. How much did Australian taxpayers contribute?

 

Did The Great Gatsby receive the Producer Offset, and if so, what was the final amount paid?

 

Was the approximately $80 million reported by the ABC in 2013 accurate? If not, can Screen Australia provide a corrected figure?

 

Did the production receive any additional Commonwealth or state government assistance, whether through grants, equity investment, loans or other incentives?

 

Is there a public record showing the total government assistance received by the film? If so, where can I find it?

 

2. What did Australian taxpayers receive in return?

 

Am I correct in understanding that the Producer Offset is a tax rebate, not a recoupable investment, and that taxpayers therefore receive no direct share of a film's box-office revenue or profits through the Offset itself?

 

If the Australian government also makes a direct equity investment in a film, how are financial returns calculated and reported?

 

What evidence is available of the economic benefits generated by The Great Gatsby, including Australian employment, expenditure and tax revenue?

 

Does Screen Australia undertake retrospective assessments of whether individual films have delivered the economic or cultural benefits anticipated when government assistance was provided?

 

3. Why is the information confidential?

 

Screen Australia's website states that it cannot disclose which productions have benefited from the Producer Offset because of tax secrecy laws. Does this prohibition extend to the final dollar amount received by a production completed more than a decade ago?

 

If so, which specific provisions of legislation prevent disclosure, and do they impose confidentiality indefinitely?

 

Does Screen Australia distinguish between commercially sensitive information, such as individual salaries and contractual arrangements, and the total amount of public money received by a production?

 

Would it be legally possible to publish the total Producer Offset received by a film without disclosing confidential commercial details?

 

If current legislation prevents such disclosure, would Screen Australia support legislative changes allowing project-level figures to be published after an appropriate period?

 

4. What is the Producer Offset intended to achieve?

 

Is its primary objective to stimulate economic activity and employment, to support Australian creative talent, to encourage the production of culturally Australian stories, or some combination of these?

 

How does Screen Australia measure success against these different objectives?

 

Should a film's Australian audience, or lack of one, be relevant when evaluating the effectiveness of government assistance?

 

How does Screen Australia distinguish between the economic success of Australia's film production industry and the cultural success of Australian filmmaking?

 

Does Screen Australia believe that sufficient information is currently available for taxpayers, filmmakers and researchers to evaluate the Producer Offset's effectiveness at the level of individual productions?

 

5. A broader question of public accountability

 

I understand that the Producer Offset is administered under taxation legislation, and that Screen Australia may be legally prevented from answering some of these questions.

If that is the case, I would appreciate an explanation of the legal restrictions, rather than simply being advised that the information is confidential.

 

I would also welcome Screen Australia's views on whether the existing disclosure arrangements strike an appropriate balance between commercial confidentiality and public accountability.

 

Finally, could you direct me to any published studies evaluating the economic and cultural benefits of the Producer Offset, including any studies examining individual films?

 

I would like to publish a fair account of the scheme's benefits, limitations and public accountability arrangements, to include Screen Australia's responses and to make clear where the organisation is legally prevented from providing information.

 

If taxpayers are not permitted to know how much public money an individual film received, how can they meaningfully assess whether the scheme is delivering value for money?

 

cheers

 

James Ricketson

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