So here’s the unspoken problem with the Canberra Screen industry.

A collection of tweets from @DanSanguineti

Our feature film was considered too grassroots to receive funding from the ACT Government, despite the fact I have been working in Canberra’s screen industry for 17 years.

With ACT Arts Minister Gordon Ramsay MLA seat in doubt even more so tonight from latest #actvotes distributions for 2020, I genuinely believe the Arts portfolio needs refreshing. Don’t let an recent re-election to govern, be a glowing review of the last 4 years. The ACT Government continues to fail the local screen industry & ignore grassroots practitioners. Film funding policies are flawed.

The next 4yrs needs to see a better change for local filmmakers. The industry is propped up by the practitioners, working for little to nothing not because producers don’t pay, but because there is no or little funding. And yet any attempts to close that problem are met with a list of ineligibilites.

The CBR Film Fund is inaccessible unless you have a large broadcast deal or distribution agreement, but that in itself shows little understanding of the digital streaming market. It’s an overly competitive fund & heavily reliant on projects that stand a chance of return to the fund.

In the end, the CBR Fund has become effectively a marketing budget for Tourism ACT to attract outside productions. Local voices are being silenced on a national stage because outside gatekeepers don’t really want to tell our stories and if they do unless we have political scandal central to our plot — see Total Control or The Code.

These productions come locally and want non-Canberrans on as key crew & rarely consider Canberra actors more than a public servant in the background. The successes of the fund support Foxtel & ABC productions. The diversity of voices in funded projects equals ZERO originating from Canberra.

The ACT Gov’s failure to support Canberra film talent is constantly causing more locals to find better employment opportunity in Melbourne & Sydney & if this how our city continues in film funding policy, someday soon I’ll have to do the same & go elsewhere for work & funds.

Despite being one of Canberra’s most active filmmakers, I’m still not able to be supported and haven’t since 2014, despite the hard work & investment I give to our community every day. Film funding policy needs to be improved and it needs to better serve ACT filmmaker locals.

It needs to better represent where our industry actually stands not where some wild vision for the future sits. A dedicated grassroots fund beyond ArtsACT annual screen funding component needs to be established. More funds available to make film sets more inclusive and diverse.

So frequently I hear there isn’t enough paid work in Canberra for Canberra actors & crew. This isn’t because producer’s like me are cheap. We just don’t have capital to pay 10–12 people for a day’s work. I work extra jobs, just to afford paying crew on creative projects.

It’s hard not to feel disenfranchised towards local screen & arts bodies, & plenty of my critics may brush this off as disgruntled behaviour, but the currently policy decision will result in continued steps backwards instead of growth for our industry.

There’s a majority of ACT filmmakers that would benefit & be elevated with proper production funding support but they’re not eligible. How do they get made? Do they get made? The funding tiers available for local screen production are limited. And that’s before we even start exploring diversity stats.

Screen Canberra can only work within the boundaries defined by how the CBR Film Fund is meant to be awarded. It’s time that a genuine grassroots tier is developed as part of the CBR Film fund. Production funds. Not development. A shoot & edit. A cast & crew paid for a day. Finished projects should be the only goal. The criteria shouldn't be about the quality of the idea, but the quality of the production. Its not about winning awards either.

Filmmaking in the ACT cannot be elitist. The worst idea made well is better than no ideas made. Everyone should feel empowered to tell their story.