Local content quotas on streaming platforms will cause bottlenecks: Disney chief

Imposing Australian content rules on streaming platforms such as Netflix, Amazon and Disney+ could cause bottlenecks in the screen production industry, warns the local head of the Walt Disney Company.

Managing director of the Walt Disney Company in Australia and New Zealand, Kylie Watson-Wheeler. Picture: Daniel Pockett

Imposing Australian content rules on streaming platforms such as Netflix, Amazon and Disney+ could cause bottlenecks in the screen production industry and hinder its ability to deliver additional hours of programs, warns the local head of the Walt Disney Company.

The Albanese government has flagged quotas for the global streaming giants, which operate in Australia but are not obliged to produce Australian programs as the free-to-air commercial broadcasters are.

But the managing director of the Walt Disney Company in Australia and New Zealand, Kylie Watson-Wheeler, said the local screen production industry was under pressure and may not be able to cope with increased demand if quotas were in place.

“The consideration first is whether or not we would be able to fulfil that volume of local content across the board,” Ms Watson-Wheeler said.

“It is truly an extraordinary industry and we have amazing talent in (the) market. But I do know that there is an enormous amount of production going on at the moment, and a lot of pressure on the sector.”

She said Disney was prepared to discuss Australian content with the government, adding that the company had “significant” investment in local programs, with nine in production or on screen.

Working with local production companies, Disney has invested in three original drama series: The Clearing, the story of a cult based on Anne Hamilton-Byrne’s notorious group The Family; a comedy about Skylab’s fall to Earth called Last Days of the Space Age; and a Dickensian adventure set in colonial Australia called The Artful Dodger.

A documentary about the AFL women’s league, Fearless, is streaming internationally on Disney’s platforms, and the other programs also will be available to a worldwide audience.

“I think our investment locally is both significant and broad-based,” Ms Watson-Wheeler said. “Our commitment to the local industry is really evident. We are certainly comfortable with discussing a broad-based commitment to local content development.”

Disney has made a confidential submission to the government’s deliberations on a national cultural policy, likely to include Australian content rules.

Arts Minister Tony Burke has said he would decide on the quotas question this year.

Industry body Screen Producers Australia said streaming platforms should be required to invest 20 per cent of Australian-earned revenues in Australian content.

Disney’s Australian operation is a subsidiary of the US ­publicly listed Walt Disney Company, and is not required to publicly report Australian revenues or audience figures.