"Wildside is getting a bit controversial because it cost a lot of money and nobody is watching it."114
In Chapter 2, the Committee briefly referred to the ABC television drama series Wildside with respect to ABC management practices and a lack of transparency.
The issue of Wildside and the volume of ABC funds allocated to the Sydney-based series was the subject of a great deal of evidence throughout the Inquiry. In discussing the Wildside issue, the Committee does not doubt the critical success of the series and notes it has won many industry awards in recent months.
The Committee's key concern and focus has been on the decision making process that lead to such a large proportion of the drama budget being spent on one drama program in one location and in one format, police drama, that is already well served on commercial television.
The ABC is reported to have spent $20 million over 2 years for 60 episodes of Wildside. The ABC has not been able to confirm to the Committee the exact cost of the program. The first 40 episodes went to air in 1998 and another 20 in 1999. The program will not continue for a third series due to the high costs and lack of overseas sales.
ABC management indicated the decision to fully fund Wildside was made in light of funding which led the ABC to gamble on recouping overseas sales rights:-
Mr Lloyd-James - The options were to seek distribution guarantee or distribution investment from outside the ABC or to take up that risk ourselves and see whether we, either ourselves or with a sales agent, could earn revenue through the exploitation of rights. It was certainly a decision that was appropriate to the way the ABC was having to deal with its own life in the light of a $67 million cut from the federal government.115
The ABC's decision to fully fund Wildside, using a large proportion of its drama budget, and the fact that such a decision was in contrast to funding for co-productions in Victoria, was a major concern of the Committee and witnesses.
The Committee notes that drama series today, are mostly produced under some form of joint venture, co-production or pre-sale arrangement, to help defray the enormous cost involved. Such an arrangement was used to commission the successful Melbourne-based SeaChange series.
Wildside was co-produced with Sydney producers Gannon & Jenkins. The ABC decided to use its own money to fund the bulk of the production on the assumption that the ABC would be able to sell the series in overseas markets to defray the cost. The Melbourne-based series, SeaChange, was co-produced with Artist Services. On this occasion the ABC required that Artist Services fund the majority of the production.
Mr Bill Garner from the Australian Writers Guild made the point that no Victorian producers had received such a deal, or were likely to:
Mr Garner - Wildside is a fully funded production. The ABC is putting up all the money. None of the other drama productions in Melbourne are fully funded by the ABC, so they all have to be co-production shows.116
By co-production, Mr Garner is referring to overseas investors as well as the ABC and the production company involved. He went on to say:
Mr Garner - The main thing we are concerned about in Melbourne is not that `Wildside' was commissioned, but that it was commissioned entirely with ABC money, and commissioned for such a large number of episodes that it effectively used up something like two-thirds of the entire ABC budget, which meant that in Melbourne and everywhere else in Sydney and around the country the drama departments were left to divvy up what was remaining.117
ABC Management believed the decision was appropriate:-
Mr Lloyd-James - In my view it was an absolutely proper decision to make. It got talked through by an enormous number of people, and yes, I was pushing it, because I thought it was proper. I still think it was proper. If it proves up (sells to overseas markets) I will know it was proper.118
The Committee notes, however, that overseas sales of the program have been poor, suggesting the ABC's risk in fully funding Wildside has not paid off financially. Australian Writers Guild representative, Mr Mac Gudgeon, told the Committee:
Mr Gudgeon- I believe `Wildside' has sold only to Yugoslavia, and I think the Hungarians are also interested - neither of which are very big markets now.119
An article in The Australian newspaper also noted the lack of overseas sales:-
"Alas - the necessary foreign markets did not open as hoped, our former mother country's networks preferring to purchase the product of her trans-Atlantic ally rather than a prime slab of Australian meat. The often improvised and over-lapping dialogue make it a sub-titler's nightmare, so scratch the non-English speaking world."120
The large proportion of funds allocated to a Sydney based production was also a major concern of the Victorian Government's film body, Cinemedia:-
"It is unclear what justification existed for the commitment of such a large proportion of funds to be made for one project."121
Even the ABC's new Commissioning Editor for Drama, Ms Sue Masters, believed the proportion of funds allocated to one production was questionable:-
Mr Power - If you had been Commissioning Editor, would you have committed two thirds of the drama budget to fully fund `Wildside'?
Ms Masters - Probably not.122
- FINDING
The Committee finds that the ABC's decision to allocate a significant proportion of its drama budget to one Sydney-based program is another example of centralisation of resources.
The Committee further finds that there has been a lack of transparency and accountability in the decision making process with respect to the funding of Wildside. In particular, the ABC has made a decision to fund the vast majority of the Sydney-based Wildside co-production, whereas Melbourne-based co-productions such as SeaChange, have been funded largely with outside production company funds.
The Committee finds that the proportion of ABC's drama budget allocated to Wildside has had an adverse affect on drama producers throughout Australia.
114 Tingwell, Charles, Minutes of Evidence, 9/11/98, p.505
115 Minutes of Evidence, 9/11/98, p.517
116 Minutes of Evidence, 9/11/98, p.484
117 Minutes of Evidence, 9/1/98, p.488
118 Minutes of Evidence, 9/11/98, p.524
119 Minutes of Evidence, 9/11/98, p.484
120 Pottinger, Paul, "Prime fare to the end", The Australian, Media Supplement, 8/4/99, p.20
121 Cinemedia, Submission No. 67 to EDC, 9/11/98, p. 4
122 Minutes of Evidence, 9/11/98, p.520
