The Tasmanian Filmmakers Alliance fears Screen Tasmania could be reduced to little more than a grant-processing office after losing three staff members, leaving the agency with just 1.5 full-time-equivalent positions.
Two full-time employees accepted voluntary redundancies and a part-time worker’s fixed-term contract was not renewed as the state government pushes ahead with its public service overhaul.
Screen Tasmania is the Government’s film, television and digital media agency, helping attract productions to the state and providing funding and support to local filmmakers.
The changes are tied to the dissolution of the Department of State Growth, announced by Premier Jeremy Rockliff earlier this year.
Under the restructure, Screen Tasmania will be brought together with Brand Tasmania and the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery under a consolidated tourism, events and creative industries body.
The alliance says the key concern is whether Screen Tasmania will retain a dedicated leader to attract productions or simply become part of a larger bureaucratic structure.
Tasmanian Filmmakers Alliance representative and freelance TV director Shaun Wilson said the agency needed someone actively pursuing productions and building relationships with production companies and other screen agencies.
“If you don’t have a head of your screen agency who’s out there working with those interstate and federal agencies and production companies across the country … then production kind of dries up,” he told Pulse.
Wilson said the situation was not hopeless if the government acted to rebuild the agency.
“We’re hoping we can get back to that kind of level where we have a series of larger productions happening here,” he said.
He pointed to changing streaming business models as a potential opportunity, with platforms moving towards advertising-supported content and seeking longer-running, lower-cost series.
The alliance estimates Screen Tasmania has helped generate more than $100 million in spending in Tasmania from about $17 million in state government production investment between 2011 and 2025.
Wilson said The Survivors received about $500,000 in state support while spending about $8.8 million in the state, an estimated 18:1 return.
Arts Minister Roger Jaensch said the government was increasing funding to the arts with a $10 million funding boost over the next four years across Arts Tasmania and Screen Tasmania.
“We continue to work with Screen Tasmania to ensure a strong future after two staff took voluntary redundancies,” he said.
The Tasmanian Filmmakers Alliance has written to Jaensch seeking more detail about the agency’s future structure and staffing.
Former Screen Tasmania head Alex Sangston declined to comment on the situation at his former workplace.
“In case you’re wondering and I know people are, I have exactly zero interest in making comment on the story today about my former workplace,” he posted on social media.
