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In a significant moment for the local screen industry, Screen Australia has exceeded its long-term Gender Matters KPI, with 56% of projects receiving production funding having at least half of the key creative roles occupied by women, based on a three year average. The KPI was set in December 2015, originally aiming for 50%.

“Over three years ago we set out with the objective of better utilising the talents of Australia’s female screen creatives. Today’s results are an incredible milestone for both Screen Australia and the industry,” said Joanna Werner, Screen Australia Board member, chair of the Gender Matters Taskforce and . “This is by no means the finish line to achieving gender parity, particularly in writer and director roles, but today we celebrate that systemic change in our sector is well underway.”

The KPI considered the key creative roles of writer, director, producer, and in the case of narrative content (drama), the protagonist. The results for 2018/19 show an increase in female participation across features, documentary and online, whilst television remained high.

“I’m particularly pleased to see year-on-year growth in the amount of feature films that met the Gender Matters KPI. There is a substantial slate of female-directed Australian films due for release including , , , , , , and , so it’s essential we vote with our wallets and go to see these films in the cinema to support this wave of talent,” noted Werner.

Screen Australia Head of Development, Nerida Moore said, “Gender Matters fundamentally changed the way we make funding decisions at Screen Australia. It put consideration of what stories are being told and who is telling them at the centre of our decision making. The initiative has had a profound impact on our staff, and has primed us to be able to champion inclusivity more broadly.”

From an industry perspective, screenwriter Elise McCredie noted, “Visibility and support for female filmmakers, through initiatives like Gender Matters, has been absolutely fantastic. which I’m currently showrunning, has predominantly female Heads of Departments. In the past couple of years I believe there’s been much greater awareness of gender equity in both crewing and the composition of writers’ rooms.”

Director of feature film, , Mirrah Foulkes added, “I really feel a great change in terms of the amount of emerging female directors out there. I feel like there’s a whole swathe of people alongside me, ahead of me, behind me and that feels exciting.”

ANALYSIS BY HEADCOUNT

The Gender Matters KPI is a measure of collaboration, indicating how many projects that received Screen Australia production funding had at least half of the key creative roles occupied by women as an average across 2016/17 – 2018/19. For the same three-year period, a headcount of the producers, writers and directors attached to the funded productions reveals 49% were women. The prevalence of female producers drove up the average.

However, there have been notable improvements in specific roles, including 27% of directors attached to feature films being women in 2018/19 compared to only 10% in 2016/17. The number of female writers on features have also improved, but is still below parity at 27%. The number of female directors attached to documentaries has increased every year since 2016/17, and exceeded parity (51%) in 2018/19.

NEW KPI 2022

With the conclusion of the original three-year KPI period, Screen Australia has set a new Gender Matters target based on a headcount system. The new KPI is to have 50% of the key creatives across all projects that receive Screen Australia development and production funding to be women, across a three-year-average. For the new KPI, the key creatives are directors, writers and producers and the tracking period is 2019/20 to 2021/22.

From August 2020, the agency will also publish the headcount breakdown of key creative roles by format (feature drama, television drama, online drama and documentary), across both development and production, as a means of identifying areas which require targeted assistance.

“Our original Gender Matters KPI encouraged collaboration and was successful in increasing the amount of women in individual creative teams,” said Joanna Werner. “With the new KPI we are focussing on the volume of female key creatives working overall. By rolling development funding into the new KPI, we are seeking to ensure gender representation is being considered right from the early stages of a project.”

Nerida Moore added, “The $5 million in targeted funding provided through Gender Matters in 2015/16 was an important and significant investment that has helped the industry take a huge step forward in addressing gender imbalance. Now our challenge is making sure that women are sharing equitably in the $65 million of funding Screen Australia’s Content Unit disperse each year.”

Unlike the original Gender Matters KPI, the new iteration will not include the role of protagonist, but Screen Australia will continue to collect this data and report on it annually. “Whoever is in control of the story will influence what we see on screen,” Nerida Moore continued. “As such over the last three years, the growth in female creatives has had a clear impact on the stories told, with 58% of funded drama productions in 2018/19 having a female protagonist.”

The has been an important advisory body for Screen Australia. Later this year, Screen Australia will issue an Expressions of Interest for people wishing to join.

NEW INDUSTRY DATA

Screen Australia has also released updated industry-wide data charting female participation in Australian feature film, television drama and documentary over six year periods. Aside from television and documentary producing, the data reveals women still make up less than half of the writers, directors and producers in work.

There have been some small improvements, such as the proportion of female directors and producers working on feature films, however there have also been declines in female writers in both feature dramas and documentary.

Titles that received Screen Australia production funding across the last three year average period (2016/17-2018/19) have higher female participation compared to the wider industry trends.

RESOURCES

ABRIDGED BACKGROUNDER

For the full Gender Matters backgrounder

Gender Matters Funding

In July 2016, $3.7m was distributed to fund the development of 45 female-driven stories (Brilliant Stories) and 13 female-driven businesses (Brilliant Careers).

Four of the Brilliant Stories projects have already proceeded to production including online series from Hannah and Eliza Reilly released in 2018, feature film , directed by Rachel Griffiths to be released in September 2019, plus forthcoming features from writer/director Natalie Erika James, and Run Rabbit Run to be directed by Daina Reid.

The suite of Brilliant Careers recipients (also funded in July 2016) focussed on either slate development or providing career opportunities for individuals, with the aim of creating self-sustaining enterprises. Three years later the program is still delivering, with Bunya Productions recently using the funds to host the which provided an opportunity for 12 female creatives to workshop active projects with internationally renowned writer/producer (True Blood) and director (Game of Thrones).

The utilised their Brilliant Careers funding to place female directors into TV drama work experience. The approach has been highly successful, with Darlene Johnson capitalising on her shadow directing opportunity on , and moving on to direct on ABC series . Lisa Matthews and Lucy Gaffy both completed shadow directing opportunities on and were both offered directing opportunities on follow up seasons as a result.

A total of 22 women completed Gender Matters Attachments for Women on television and film projects including Grace Taylor who was a producer’s attachment on drama series , and Lizzie Cater who was attached to the Post Supervisor on the series .

Billie Egan who received a paid Gender Matters attachment to work on said, “The skills I learnt through my Gender Matters placement were invaluable in steering me into art co-ordinating, which I love. I learnt how the art department runs on a mid-size Australian feature, including the ins and outs and responsibilities of the department. My Gender Matters attachment has resulted in further career opportunities, and I have just finished working on the Australian feature

and The Call Back (now known as ) received Better Deals distribution funding.

Beyond Gender Matters

• Due to the success of the Attachments for Women program, from July 2017 a new was introduced for all Screen Australia productions.
• In May 2018 Screen Australia updated its guidelines for and which stipulate that unless in exceptional circumstances, at least one female director must be used on extended television series where there is more than one filming block.
• In July 2018 the agency made , removing most barriers to entry. This change was inspired by the success of Gender Matters: Brilliant Stories, which allowed new ideas and talent access to Screen Australia’s development funding.
• The agency has continued to offer bespoke industry development opportunities, such as the workshops and public forum held in July 2018, which assisted creatives to pitch their ideas to market.