The six-part series Territory has been going gangbusters on Netflix all over the world since the show premiered at the end of October. Originally slated with the title Desert King, the change to name the hit after the Northern Territory is just another reason why the Top End is getting plenty of attention at the moment.
Jennie Hughes as Director of the region’s film agency is arguably the engine behind all the NT’s screen time at the moment, with hits like Thou Shalt Not Steal on Stan, Deadloch Season 2 and Top End Bub coming to Prime Video, and Kangaroo being released next year through StudioCanal.
Screen Territory sits strategically within Tourism NT, and when Irresistible visited the shared offices up on the eight floor of the Charles Darwin Centre in Darwin earlier this year, the team were quick to nominate Jennie as a local hero. So that’s exactly what we did in our Irresistible City Guide to Darwin. The knock- on effects of her projects on local employment and tourism are being felt across multiple communities, and she has big plans to bring a state- of- the- art production studio to the NT.
Irresistible chatted to Jennie one week after the launch of Territory, to find out how she’s doing it, and what’s next.
Congratulations for Territory. How is everyone in the Top End responding?
“The Territory hasn’t had anything like this before it’s brought so much to the region. We’ve just been looking at the phenomenal numbers in awe. To be that global, to get that kind of exposure is extraordinary. Our contribution provided through our Production Attraction Incentive Program (PAIP) was $1.3 million which generated $7 million in spend before the show was even viewed. The ongoing value is going to be huge; people know that. It has been dubbed into multiple languages and it ranked No. 3 globally on Netflix, reaching No. 1 in major territories including France, Brazil, Netherlands and Argentina. I’m actually looking forward to seeing it in Italian! There’s something really great and rewarding about working with Netflix and getting that reach straight into peoples homes.”
Did the Netflix team embrace the project early on?
“They have been so supportive and have put considerable efforts into their advertising. They’ve made smart ads like having Nick “Honey Badger” Cummins come up and try and be a ringer for a day. Those clever value adds really work. Netflix’s co-CEO Greg Peters was here in Australia for the launch, and they put a massive Akubra hat on top of their new offices in Chippendale. It was fantastic.”
“We’ve been working on Territory for about 4 years. It’s just brilliant to go from reading a script to seeing it realised in such a beautiful way. The producers Ben Davies, Rob Gibson and Paul Ranford and the teams at Ronde and Easy Tiger have been great collaborators from the beginning, and really exemplified that Aussie spirit of getting in there and making it happen.”
Was everything filmed in the Top End?
“The vast majority and all our hero scenes are up here. Tipperary station and Kakadu National Park were used extensively, and the bar where you can land a helicopter on the beach to have a drink is the Crab Claw Island Resort. South Australia was used for some interiors and Mallala in the Adelaide Hills had a portion of the filming. But overall, the series is resonating because it really is about the Territory, and the landscape here is so powerful.”
“We have had the most amazing production throughout. Because of securing cinematographer Simon Duggan we ended up with a wonderful camera team, nearly the full crew from Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. We trained up a lot of people because of the project who now have lifelong skills. They were filming real musters and riding alongside enormous numbers of cattle.”
How is the film community of Darwin changing because of this and other projects?
“There are people now that have been able to go from working on one production to the next. They can rely on the work and can have a little down time between these really intense blocks. It’s changing the demographics of who lives here. Filmmakers and production crews tended to come and go in the past. Our output was primarily one-off documentaries and festival feature films by great filmmakers such as Warwick Thornton. Now there’s a community of people engaged in the industry full-time.
The real-life manager of Tipperary station was very impressed with the cast and crew, how they were up at the crack of dawn and working well into the night. I’ve even noticed locals picking up extras work in different productions. I’m sure I recognise someone and then realise they’ve gone from playing a background cop to a chef in different shows. It’s really good fun.”
Do you think in the future people will move to Darwin to break into the film industry?
“Why not?”
“It’s all about creating a pipeline and advertising the NT to filmmakers from Australian and overseas as an attractive option. We have Deadloch season 2 and Top End Bub in post- production, and a great new feature film Kangaroo in post as well. We also fund an annual short film initiative up here. You’ve got to give people opportunities and create stepping stones to develop the ecosystem.
The next step is for us to have our own studio. We’ll be able to keep all aspects of production in the Northern Territory then, as well as the spend. It will be cost- effective for the production companies as well as they won’t have to pack everything down and ship the team somewhere else. It seems natural that we will do that in Darwin, but I would love to have a post- production facility in Alice Springs as well.”
Would a production studio have knock on effects for other industries?
“It could be both ways. A lot of filmmakers come from the advertising and music world. A lot of directors cut their teeth making an ad. So, the more production we have up here of any kind, the more cross- over into the film world. Equally, if the studio is being used by advertisers or music production or anything else, it just adds value and spend to the region, keeps crews employed and skilled, and makes the Northern Territory richer in every way.
We can have more set design, more art department, more equipment and costume people. Everything can be multi-use. I’d like to see something created within 2-3 years. We’re actively working on proposals now.”
“I’ve worked in small companies and for large institutions, including in international sales, finance and acquisitions. Moving around has given me an overview of the whole industry and I’ve got deep connections to many people and organisations. When you work for small companies, you get pretty good at capturing a market without a big budget, and those kinds of skills have stayed with me.
I worked for Jerry Sherlock at the New York Film Academy which really toughened me up. I ran 3 film funds at Macquarie bank, and was an Executive Producer on Mick Molloy’s hit film Crackerjack and the 2002 film Dirty Deeds with Bryan Brown, Toni Collette and Sam Neill. It’s all been such a great learning environment. Sometimes things aren’t a hit, a production might not grab the audience, and anyone that’s been around for a while will have had a few misfires. I’ve been through those cycles and I’m not fazed by them.”
“I came to the Territory six yrs ago and I thought if I don’t like it, I’ll just go home. I’d transited once through Darwin years ago, on the way to India I think, but that was it. Once I came up here though, that was the end of it. I love it. I’ve really enjoyed working to instil the idea in people, both here and elsewhere, that the NT is an amazing place for film production.
“I loved working with Dylan River, who directed Thou Shalt Not Steal. It’s an eight-episode road series set in Central and South Australia in the 1980s. The show was number 1 on Stan and won best episodic series at SXSW Sydney. Dylan is Warwick Thornton’s son, and is one of the most exciting directors I’ve seen in a long time.
Kangaroo, which is still in post, is full of the most lovely little Joeys and Roos and people are going to fall in love. It’s the first feature for the new Australian production arm of StudioCanal, Cultivator Films. It’s a story inspired by the work of Chris ‘Brolga’ Barnes, who founded the Kangaroo Sanctuary in Alice Springs. These kinds of projects will have such a long lasting impact. Imagine kids in France watching a movie about kangaroos. Having a new production company in StudioCanal that we can continue to work with is really exciting as well.”
“Australia has co-production treaties with places like Singapore, India, Malaysia, and South Korea. There’s also a memorandum of understanding with China. There’s no reason why we can’t bring more collaboration and inbound production from countries overseas, especially Asia. We’re so close. It’s all about developing relationships and going back to the conferences and the forums over and over. People have to know who you are. Because of the treaties we can qualify as original Australian and Asian content. There will be even more knock-on benefits to tourism and advertising as well.”
“Our Screen Summit was incredibly successful this year. About 15 people came to it the first year I was in the role at Screen Territory. Now we have over a hundreds delegates and attendees with top guests. We have a lot of industry and financing decision makers, including Screen Australia, as well as all the filmmakers producers and writers. We had a big panel at the end of this years Summit, honouring and acknowledging our First Nation filmmakers. Their work has been an accelerant for putting the NT on the map and it was really wonderful.
Screen Territory sits alongside Tourism NT. Utah does something similar but that kind of close co-working is still unusual. How does that arrangement affect what you do?
“Screen production is completely independent and Tourism NT are really respectful of the creative independence of the filmmakers. That said, I really love the synergy with marketing and tourism, and how film can generate tourism outcomes. The team at Tourism NT really bring that home. Territory is an enormous advert for the NT. There’s an unprecedented audience reach and an expansion of the NT into global consciousness, both as a location for filmmakers and for tourists. We can work together to leverage this impact.”
How well are the incentive schemes working?
“They really help to the point of being essential. There is a federal government rebate which has increased to 30% on qualifying Australian production expenditure to compete with overseas markets such as the US state of Georgia, the U.K. and South Africa, as well as Screen Territory’s local NT incentives including the Production Attraction Incentive Programme for minimum NT spends of $2 million. If filmmakers are spending in USD there’s another saving by filming in Australia, but really the costs are prohibitive without the incentives.
The incentive schemes really got going in the early 2000s for films like The Matrix and companies like Village Roadshow and Fox really pushed them through, and we’re all still benefitting from that.”
And what about the Aussie film industry overall? Do you think we’re in a good place?“I feel very buoyant about the Australian film industry. We have incredible talent here, and from our small population we have a strong creative filmmaking community that can pump out the hits as evidenced in Territory, and our crews are revered throughout the world. Our content resonates overseas and we often now see success in those markets. Colin from Accounts, for example, produced by Easy Tiger, the co-producers of Territory, is a massive hit in the USA.Companies like Animal Logic have been industry pioneers and achieved an enormous amount for an Australian company and have recently been acquired by Netflix. Rising Sun Pictures is another world class visual effects company with countless awards, and they are still based right here in Australia.
We’re fortunate that we have government support and a lot of independent infrastructure around film. In the USA they don’t have agencies in every jurisdiction like we do, there’s no agency development money. Everything has to go through the studios or through private equity.
It’s 40 years since the quintessential Aussie film Crocodile Dundee came out, and when I look at that now it was groundbreaking, and still is. It created a whole brand and it’s still part of the international collective psyche. And of course it was all about the Northern Territory. Everyone at home and overseas wants a part of that magic and we can capitalise on that.
