Screen Producers Australia (SPA), formerly the Screen Producers' Association of Australia (SPAA) and earlier names, is a national organisation representing
film production
Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, cast ...
businesses, emerging producers, service providers and screen industry supporters. It campaigns for a healthy commercial environment for the
Australian film industry
The cinema of Australia had its beginnings with the 1906 production of ''The Story of the Kelly Gang'', arguably the world's first feature film. Since then, Australian crews have produced many films, a number of which have received internati ...
. It also organises and hosts the annual
SCREEN FOREVER conference for film industry professionals, and the Screen Producers Australia Awards.
History
In 1956, independent producers united to lobby
federal and
state governments to support Australian content on television and in the cinema, using both regulation and subsidies. A secondary goal was to increase their bargaining power in
industrial relations
Industrial relations or employment relations is the multidisciplinary academic field that studies the employment relationship; that is, the complex interrelations between employers and employees, labor/trade
unions, employer organizations, ...
negotiations with
trade union
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...
s representing actors and technicians. In the late 1950s, the Australian Film Producers Association (AFPA)was created, mostly consisting of producers of advertisements, who lobbied against the importation of
television advertising
A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...
. For the next ten years, they lobbied to ensure higher levels of Australian content on
commercial television
Commercial broadcasting (also called private broadcasting) is the broadcasting of television programs and radio programming by privately owned corporate media, as opposed to state sponsorship. It was the United States′ first model of radio (a ...
.
AFPA became the Film Production Association of Australia (FPAA), registered in 1972 as an
employer association. The
Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance
The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA), also sometimes referred to as the Alliance, is the Australian trade union and professional organisation which covers the media, entertainment, sports and arts industries.
Its Musicians section ...
(MEAA) and the producers' association have sometimes joined forces (such as lobbying for the protection of Australian industry and content), and sometimes clashed (such as with regard to the use of foreign actors in Australian films). Governments started funding some Australian
feature film
A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...
s during the 1970s, leading to the founding of the Independent Feature Film Producers Association (IFPA) in 1973. Difficulties in negotiating agreements with
Actors’ Equity led to a merger of IFPA and FPAA in 1976, forming the Film and Television Production Association of Australia (FTPAA).
[
In 1985, the FTPAA rebranded as the Screen Production Association of Australia (SPAA), and held the inaugural SPAA Conference, with the aim of increasing membership and funds. In 1994, the name changed to Screen Producers’ Association of Australia (SPAA).][
In November 2013, it rebranded as Screen Producers Australia.]
Description
Screen Producers Australia supports the interests of businesses in their production of feature film
A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...
s, television program
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication Media (communication), medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of Transmission (telecommunications), television tra ...
s, interactive content, and games across all genres and formats. Since its origins in the 1950s, the organisation has provided a consistent voice lobbying for Australian content regulation. Today its focus remains on advocacy, as well as industrial relations, and conferences and other events, such as SCREEN FOREVER and the Screen Producers Australia Awards.[
]
See also
* Screen Forever (conference)
Further reading
*
*
References
External links
*
{{Cinema of Australia
Television organisations in Australia
Film organisations in Australia