International Co-production - Costs of International Co-production

Costs of International Co-production

Hoskins, McFadyen and Finn also identify drawbacks of international co-production:

• increased co-ordination and shooting costs;
• increased costs of dealing with government;
• loss of control and cultural specificity; and
• opportunistic behaviour by production partners.

Debate concerning international co-productions centres on the potential for productions to have little cultural specificity in any of its home countries. Internationalisation brings tensions in terms of cost, benefit and opportunity. In Australia, for example, O'Regan and Ward have argued that an influx of international productions to Queensland's Gold Coast in the 1990s presented a distinct challenge to local producers. In the face of such challenges, local producers need to learn "how to internationalise local film and television production in order to retain and hopefully build market shares; and how to develop new models of financing that combine both local and foreign sources." One approach has been to reconcile this tension by creating "local production with an explicit international orientation." But not everyone agrees this is the best approach. For example, the idea that Australia should produce more 'deterritorialised' programming such as fantasy and science fiction has been met with disquiet in some sections of the industry.

In Australia, some have suggested that a narrow definition of ‘local content’ has restricted Australia’s ability to engage with international partners. Julie Hammett-Jamart reflects on the different approaches taken by France and Australia to this issue and argues that a literal-minded definition of Australian culture has been 'antagonistic to the collaborative nature of film production, and in particular international co-production'.

The Canadian study found evidence that, for television projects, domestic joint ventures performed better than international joint ventures. However, in the case of larger budget projects, domestic joint ventures were found not to be a viable alternative to international joint ventures. In their later study of co-production in Australia, the authors identified financial pooling as the most important benefit and increased co-ordination costs as the greatest drawback. This suggests that co-production is more suited to larger budget productions, primarily film, which have greater capital needs but do not carry the same dollar-for-dollar coordination costs as smaller projects.

Government bodies are keenly aware of these concerns. A review of Australian co-production rules acknowledged the tensions between cultural and economic objectives, and argues that 'requiring the program’s aims to be predominantly economic or cultural would hobble the program and reduce its effectiveness in achieving either outcome'.