Podcast – Matt Deaner: Screen Producers Australia
The CEO of Screen Producers Australia Matt Deaner discusses the challenges and opportunities facing the sector.
In the lead-up to the annual Screen Forever conference, Deaner reveals his thoughts on how to maintain a sustainable industry as producers grapple with the emergence of streaming platforms and their ripple-effect.
Deaner also delves into the hurdles of networking (11.30), financing (13.00 min mark), forging a career if you're an emerging producer (16.00), and the different kinds of producers that can exist (21.00).
And from conversations with Netflix (27:00 mark), Deaner says how he learnt Australian content found a whole new audience through the platform.
"What was illuminating for them and for us is that when they put up our content – maybe historically made content – it was resonating with a lot of people and was getting great audience traction in territories like America," he says, which goes against the idea that international audiences wanted to remake Australian ideas (such as the US version of Kath & Kim).
"Audiences are responding to the quality we have in this territory."
In August it was announced that Netflix will be a supporting partner at Screen Forever, the annual three-day conference put together by SPA that's set to run from 20-22 November in Melbourne.
The Netflix acquisitions team will be exclusively presenting at Screen Forever, as will speakers including: GLOW co-executive producer and writer Sascha Rothchild; executive producer Nathan Ross (Sharp Objects, Big Little Lies); Hoodlum producer Tracey Robertson (Tidelands); and producer/writer/showrunner Vicki Madden from Sweet Potato Films (The Kettering Incident).
"Screen Forever is a great thing to really get your head into what's going on in this market and for other people internationally that might want to come to Australia to produce," Deaner says.
"It is the stocktake moment where you can go, 'ok what's happening across the landscape and who's changed and what's going on and how do I tap into that for my own future as a creator in this industry'."
For more information and tickets, visit the Screen Forever website.
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