In 2019, the Morrison Government embarked on an extensive review of the Australian screen sector under the promise of long-overdue industry reform. Communications, Cyber Safety and Arts Minister Paul Fletcher today announced new local content quota rules for commercial free-to-air broadcasters and shocked the screen sector with a failure to regulate streaming giants such as…
Continue readingThe Australian Writers’ Guild wishes to update members on our submission to the ‘Supporting Australian stories on our screens’ Options Paper, which proposes a new support framework for Australian stories in a multi-platform environment. The Options Paper was co-authored by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) and Screen Australia, in response to the Government’s request…
Continue readingMore than a dozen organisations representing the screen industry have called for greater harmonisation and transparency of content quotas and investment incentives across all platforms to secure the future of Australian stories on screens. In a joint submission to the Supporting Australian stories on our screens options paper lodged today, the Australian Directors’ Guild (ADG), Screen Producers…
Continue readingThe Australian Writers’ Guild acknowledges the $250 million Arts and Entertainment industry package announced today by the Federal Government as a welcome reprieve for the sector. However, despite months of advocating by arts organisations, the package fails to address the needs of thousands of freelance and casual writers, directors, producers, cast and crew impacted by production shutdowns,…
Continue reading23 April 2020 – Has a theatre company offered you a deal to stream your play online? Due to the COVID-19 crisis, many theatre producers have been looking to stream recorded versions or live readings of plays. While the Australian Writers’ Guild is supportive of these initiatives, we also want to ensure that playwrights are being…
Continue reading14 April 2020 – In response to the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the financial sustainability of our national television broadcasters, the Morrison Government today announced a suspension of content obligations until the end of this calendar year. While there will be no change to the requirement for broadcasters to meet a 55% Australian content obligation, broadcasters…
Continue reading20 March 2020 – At a time when productions such as The Voice, Clickbait and Australia’s Got Talent, along with a number of Australian scripted dramas are shutting down in order to comply with public health warnings, organisations representing Australia’s independent producers, directors, writers, casts and crews today wrote to the Government seeking urgent support for…
Continue reading12 January 2020 – Industrial contracts and rates available to AWG members have been updated for 2020, with rates increased with CPI (as of 1 January 2020). You can access the updated rates via the Member Portal here. Contract templates and other industrial resources can be accessed here. Please note: You must be logged in to the AWG website and have a current membership to…
Continue reading12 December 2019 – The Australian Writers’ Guild has joined fellow screen industry guilds in calling out the federal government’s abrupt decision to fold the Department of Communications and the Arts into a new super ministry, omitting the Arts, as an insult to the industry. In an article in IF Magazine, we state that ‘the removal of ‘Arts’ from the…
Continue reading6 December 2019 – The Australian Writers’ Guild is deeply concerned that the federal government has announced a restructure, abolishing the current Department of Communications and the Arts and rolling it into the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications. Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s justification for the public service overhaul is to ‘bust bureaucratic congestion’….
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