SAFC: safely weathers ill-weather budget

The South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC) has escaped unscathed from a budget that included swinging cuts to the public sector, although it will review its operations and programs.

SAFC chief executive officer Richard Harris nevertheless told Screen Hub that "These are very straitened times for all state governments at the moment, we didn`t get any further haircuts which was good, but the fact is that we know that in the short to medium term we`re looking at straitened circumstances.”

While the budget had not cut funding to the agency, the pain had already been felt in 2010-11, with the government failing to renew millions of dollars in Film SA funding. The final $1.2 million payment for this program was made last year.

"We`ve already started a review of all of our programs and the way we operate, looking at everything seriously across both operations and the programs we run,” he said, noting that the review process would include consultation with the South Australian industry. "There is no doubt that our ability to fund programs is reduced from two years ago.”

He said that moving into the new Adelaide Studios complex last year had created uncertainty in the agency`s budget, as the exact costs of running the studio was unclear. The agency now had a firm grasp of the real costs, which would allow them to plan for changes in operations and programs.

There was a brief moment several years ago when state agencies were very competitive, and he was worried that this had "created unreal expectations about what agencies could contribute to budgets.”

In the new, tighter environment all of the state agencies, with the exception of Screenwest, were looking at having less money, he said.

He expected to have a clearer idea of the revenue that the studios would bring in once Screen Australia made its investment decisions in July.

Article via Screen Hub

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