The “Golden Era” of Australian TV Drama – How networking and collaboration have improved Australia’s television industry over the past five years

Just a short while ago, while flipping channels through Australia’s free-to-air stations, the average Australian viewer’s choices seemed fairly limited. Besides Seachange and Allsaints, it seemed the best we had on offer were Neighbours or Home and Away. And yet, in just a few short years, it would seem that we are now rather spoiled for choice. Puberty Blues, Redfern Now, Offspring, House Husbands, and Packed to the Rafters barely scratch the surface of what’s on offer on Australian screens each weeknight.

What caused this seemingly dramatic increase in quality over a short space of time? The basic principles underlying networked literacy, as outlined by Adrian Miles, advocate for a need to collaborate, to change the way knowledge and content are produced, and to look heavily at the way that content is distributed and shared within its audience. These are fundamental principles that can be applied both figuratively and literally to the world of Australian television production, and that may help to indicate the ways in which Australian writers, directors and producers are finally starting to get it right.

Imogen Banks and John Edwards are a creative duo whose names have flashed across suburban television screens for many years, often to the tune of Offspring’s jazzy tunes and retro graphics, or Puberty Blues’ ‘Are you old enough?’. The two are producers who have worked together on many programs over the last ten years, including Channel 9’s Tangle and the upcoming Party Tricks for Channel 10. The two seem to have something of a midas touch, as it would appear that nearly every program bearing their name is something of a work of gold. But what really differentiates this co-producing team and the work they create, is their ability to collaborate and pull together a team of highly talented and creative individuals. This concept of collaboration through networking fits in nicely with Adrian’s description of network literacy, as media creatives must cast their nets wide to uncover the most appropriate and talented individuals to contribute to their content, in the most resourceful way possible.

But the very concept of industry collaboration, represents another type of network in which producers and other industry heavyweights must become increasingly literate within. The downside of the increase in quality and quantity of Australian TV drama, is that the pool of talent becomes spread increasingly thin throughout the various programs and productions. This shows the need for forming connections within the different areas of the industry, as all sections of production and distribution become linked within a greater web or network and eventually encompassing and promoting more and more previously uncovered talent.

Another aspect of Adrian’s quote indicates the need for increased and improved content distribution, as noted in Duncan Watts’ piece ‘The Long Tail’. With digital advancement, comes greater opportunity for content distribution, as is given with Watts’ example of the music industry. From Watts, we learn that misses can also create profit, and that with greater and easier online content distribution, we can uncover huge niche markets who previously may have struggled for access to the content they desire. In the world of music, programs such as iTunes and Spotify have contributed greatly to this phenomenon, as we can see that without the limitations that physically buying content might have previously presented (such as the act of taking time to drive to a record store, particularly in rural communities, or the physical space that low-selling CDs take up on the racks), there are still a huge number of people who want access to this music. In television, the equivalent is online content, most notably through ABC’s iView program. iView allows users to access content that they may have missed, or that they desire to watch again, streamed through the internet. Added to the ease of this, the site is, as with its television counterpart, totally ad-free, adding to the convenience and pleasure of the activity.

Redfern Now is a program produced through a collaboration between ABC and Blackfella Productions, that details the intertwining lives of several Indigenous Australians living in the Sydney suburb of Redfern. The program is able to count a lot of its success through ABC iView, as each episode is kept available on the site for a number of weeks after its initial screening. I only came across the show through the website, and was pleased at how I was able to watch all of the season in one go. Had I had to wait each week for an episode to be aired at a certain time, there is a huge potential to lose interest. This shows how in touch the industry are becoming with the needs of their audiences for convenience and ease of viewing. In an increasingly busy society, viewers need to be able to watch what they want, whenever they want to, from the ease of their bedrooms and living rooms. As the industry becomes increasingly literate with the networking needs of their particular media, the content produced as a result can only improve.

Another example of the need for better understanding the needs of the audience for greater content distribution, is the comparison between Jane Campion’s recent tele-series Top of the Lake, and the recent Australian feature film The Turning. As is explored in this article on The Guardian, the success of Campion’s work when compared with the somewhat embarrassingly underperforming collaborative effort of 2013’s The Turning. The Turning seems to fit a certain niche market of people who may not feel as motivated to visit the cinema, and yet would prefer watching each story told within the film as separate episodes through ABC2. Top of the Lake, however, performed extremely well with ratings, and has had further success through DVD sales and other forms of content distribution. Many ask the question, would The Turning have worked better in a miniseries shown on television and then made readily available through online streaming and DVD production?

As industry heavyweights begin to focus on becoming increasingly network literate, we can see the overall quality and success of content produced increase over time. The industry in itself is a form of network, and by forming more and more connections between sections of the industry, the network or industry thus becomes stronger, and allows opportunities for newcomers to rise within it, supported by the surrounding web. Producers and executives must also become clearer with the needs of their audience, pertaining to the guidelines of networked media explained by Adrian Miles, in order to produce and distribute content that reaches the greatest audience possible. This points to the need for content makers and producers to incorporate collaboration in a resourceful and supportive way, and be in touch with the needs of their audiences in the way that they produce and distribute their content.