Screen Australia has released a new analysis of 197 narrative production applications submitted between January 2023 and October 2025, finding that marketplace contributions – while a consistent presence in finance plans – are rarely enough on their own to fully fund a project.
The data, drawn from 119 feature film, 59 adult television drama and 19 children’s television drama applications, was compiled by the agency’s Market & Audience team to help producers benchmark realistic expectations for distribution advances, minimum guarantees, presales and gap financing.
Among feature films, 97% of applications included an ANZ distribution advance, though most represented less than 5% of total project budgets. Ninety-six percent of applications had a rest of world (ROW) sales agent attached, and 48% of those agents provided a minimum guarantee (MG) upfront. Most MGs came in below AUD500,000 ($345,000), though a number of higher-budget titles secured guarantees exceeding AUD2 million ($1.38 million).
Gap financing featured in 34% of feature film applications, with reliance concentrated in the AUD5 million-AUD15 million ($3.45 million-$10.35 million) budget range, where roughly half of projects required it. Seventy percent of projects that used gap financing carried gaps greater than 10% of total production costs.
