Heartbreak High is a global hit. So why aren’t there more Aussie shows like it?

Broadcast video on demand (BVOD) refers to digital platforms operated by free-to-air networks, such as 9Now, SBS On Demand and ABC iview.

Early last year, the Labor government signalled the advent of long-awaited legislation that would force local and global streaming services to produce a certain amount of content from an Australian perspective.

Known as content quotas, the new rules were slated to be up and running by July 1 this year. However, after a delay in 2023, all involved parties remain in the dark over the policy’s final details, arrival date and subsequent implementation as the government continues to work through its complexities.

The government did say in November the rules would work in one of two ways: either requiring a certain level of investment based on subscriber count – meaning Netflix, which has the most subscribers, would have to invest more than its counterparts – or forcing streamers to invest a set percentage of their local revenue.

The industry is split on the need for such legislation. The people who make the shows – producers, writers, actors – believe it is necessary to sustain a healthy film and arts sector and continue to tell Australian stories. As things stand, international media companies reap the benefits of making programs in Australia that aren’t necessarily written for local audiences, they say.

Claire Pullen, chief executive of the Australian Writers’ Guild, says: “We’re operating in an environment where everyone gets paid taxpayer-funded incentives to make things here, but not create things here. So what you see is things being made that aren’t necessarily distinctly Australian.

“It’s critical for our creative industry that we as taxpayers get something back for that.”

Examples of such made-in-Australia productions include Marvel superhero movie Thor: Love and Thunder, and Apple TV+’s history series Metropolis, which was halted in 2023 because of the writers’ strike in Hollywood.

As a result, the cost of producing shows – for both free-to-air and paid services – in Australia has steadily increased, leading to a rise in reality programming, which is cheaper to make and more predictable in the risk-versus-reward equation of attracting audiences.

Rather than a response to audience needs, Pullen says, the rise and rise of reality shows is a responsible course of action in prevailing conditions.

“It is the sensible response from particularly the free-to-air broadcasters to make whatever is cheapest when their main competitors [streamers], who now have more of the market, don’t have to meet any quotas at all,” she says.

“It’s a logical corporate response, but that’s also not the audience’s fault.”

A TV film on John Farnham, alongside an episode of Home and Away and Vera, were the only non-news, sport or reality programs to land in the top 50 broadcast shows of 2023, in a year dominated by Matildas matches, Married at First Sight, The Block and Farmer Wants a Wife.

The ABC produces the most titles, with programs such as The Newsreader, Bay of Fires and Utopia, while Nine, the owner of this masthead, produces the least free-to-access scripted drama. However, the company has shifted the majority of its scripted commissioning to its video-on-demand service Stan, which produces the most titles among the streamers.

An argument against quotas, used by the networks and streaming platforms, is that they would increase the already soaring cost to produce shows in Australia.

While spending on TV drama from the free-to-air sector has risen in the past two years after the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted production, it still remains below pre-pandemic levels. Added to that, the number of titles produced is 31 per cent below the pre-COVID level, and total hours produced fell in all years bar 2023.

In 2020, obligations for free-to-air networks to produce certain minimum levels of Australian scripted content were slashed to half due to the COVID-19 restrictions. They have not been reinstated.

Currently, there are no obligations for streaming services such as Netflix and Disney+, but late last year, Netflix said its investment in Australian and Australian-related content passed $1 billion between 2019-2023.

Speaking to this masthead n August, the streamer’s local director of content, Que Minh Luu, said content aimed at Australian audiences was driven by demand, not by the need to fulfil any requirements. “That’s what we did with Heartbreak High,” she said.

“Lean into the slang, say ‘eshay’, then try to watch the language experts figure out how to translate it into Dutch and Bahasa”, rather than neutralise the accent and show the Harbour Bridge for international audiences, is how she described the streaming giant’s approach.

Some other international streamers have all but paused productions as they wait for the legislation, the head of Screen Producers Australia, Matt Deaner, told a Senate hearing in Canberra this month.

Without it, Pullen says, the market for quality Australian content will continue to shrink. And when the bill arrives, there will still be a significant lag before we see more local content on screens – the time between commissioning a program and its release usually spans about 18 months, or longer.

A spokesperson for Arts Minster Tony Burke said on Thursday the government remains committed to the content obligations.

“Consultation is taking longer than we had hoped, but we are determined to get this right,” the spokesperson said.

The Business Briefing newsletter delivers major stories, exclusive coverage and expert opinion. Sign up to get it every weekday morning.