Should Australian dramas be aiming for universal appeal if they want to sell to international audiences, or is it better to be culturally specific and highlighting their ‘Australian-ness?’
That was a question raised last week at the Australian Content in the Streaming Era Symposium at ACMI.
But there was a range of views on the topic.
Sam Lingham from Haven’t You Done Well? productions, whose Aunty Donna’s Big Ol’ House of Fun series was filmed in the USA for Netflix said, “I think any story can really travel genuinely if it’s done well enough.
“It’s a strange question coming from Australia, considering we’re so used to consuming media from countries from all over the world. It’s just something we do quite universally.”
Lingham argues that local references (ie. place names, lingo, brands) were the main area for consideration but said there would always be a place for content that talks specifically about Australian issues for Australians.
“But I think for the most part, most stories should be able to travel. Maybe it’s a matter of broadly-American audiences getting more-used to watching stuff from other countries. But I’m pretty optimistic that everything will travel and fly.”
Andy Barclay, Manager of Business & Legal Affairs at Screen Producers Australia, said the streaming platforms had made Australian stories more accessible to international audiences.
“It’s becoming more normalised for them to listen to Australian accents and hear those without wanting it to be dubbed into American, as was very much the case, even only a few years ago. So that’s that’s a big positive.”
But Louise Cocks, Online Investment and Development Manager at Screen Australia said, “I think that actually, the more specific something is, the more it will travel, because it’s more true to the story and the characters and the world.
“The streamers have opened that up, with all the different types of content you watch on Netflix or Stan, or whatever, now that you wouldn’t have necessarily watched 10 years ago. I think that content does travel really well because it is so specific and in that world.
“So I don’t think that Australian content does need to be more broad to travel. I think actually that the secret is in the ‘specific’ and being true to those characters in the world that you are portraying.”
Photo: Bryan Tang.
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