No Second Chance in Theatrical Release:
The Discipline Around Understanding Your Audience @ Screen Forever

May 7, 2025

Australian films are not reaching their potential audiences in Australian cinemas. Of the 80 local films released in 2024, the 10 highest-grossing took 84% of all local box office revenue. Too often, distributors and exhibitors express frustration about many films simply not understanding who the audience is.

When developing and financing a film, filmmakers are asked, “Who’s the audience?” by every potential stakeholder at every stage of the process. In an intensely competitive theatrical environment, we all understand the critical importance of knowing the intended audience of a film. We know we need to let that knowledge guide the story and its characters from its infancy and that we must keep that audience is front of mind at every step. We just don’t always know HOW to do that.

This Screen Forever panel explored strategies for identifying an audience when planning a theatrical release and examined methodologies that filmmakers and marketers could use to find that audience, ensuring their films connected with the right audience at the right time.

Cinema Association Australasia Executive Director Cameron Mitchell set the scene with an overview of the then-current global and local cinema landscape, and leading industry luminaries – Todd Brown, Alex Taylor and Greg Denning - with recent local and international case studies revealed how the filmmakers' understanding of audience was core to success in cinemas.

The session was moderated and produced by Lori Flekser, in association with the Australian Feature Film Group (AFFG) and sponsored by Australian Made.

Speakers:

Lori Flekser – Executive Director, Motion Picture Distributors Association Australia (MPDAA) and committee member of the Australian Feature Film Group (AFFG)

Todd Brown – Head of International Acquisitions, XYZ Films

Greg Denning - Studiocanal, Head of Sales & Acquisitions and Development Manager, STUDIOCANAL

Cameron Mitchell - Executive Director, Cinema Association Australasia

Alex Taylor - Marketing and Partnerships Manager, Maslow Entertainment

Screen Australia Filmmaker Masterclass @ AIMC

Oct 28, 2024

Screen Australia has partnered with AIMC on a new program designed to increase engagement and attendance for Australian filmmakers. The program is available here: 

https://cinemaassociation.asn.au/convention/program/.

The Screen Australia Filmmaker Masterclass on Monday is dedicated to Australian production with the screening of a high-profile local film, and the recordings are now available to watch online.

#1 Australian Exhibition Panel

Moderated by Cameron Mitchell, a panel including Preetham Daniel, Ross Entwistle, Claire Gandy, Brett Rosengarten and Sharon Strickland. They discuss the challenges and opportunities for Australian films and emphasize the need for broader appeal, stronger storytelling, more effective marketing and distribution campaigns to bring back local audiences and unlock global potential.

#2 In Conversation with Rob Connolly

Rob Connolly shares his thoughts with Benjamin Zeccola on the importance of collaboration between filmmakers, distributors, and exhibitors and encourages filmmakers to be more proactive in reaching audiences through outreach programs and engaging with local cinemas.

#3 Australian Distribution Panel

Moderated by Nick Hayes, a panel comprising Tiffany Millane, Edwina Waddy, Paul Wiegard and Marc Wooldridge who discuss the strategies and challenges of Australian film distribution. They touch on the importance of understanding the target audience, developing strong pitches, along with leveraging social media and influencer partnerships to enhance the film’s visibility in the market. The panellists emphasized the value of theatrical releases while acknowledging the need to adapt to evolving industry trends and embrace digital and streaming platforms.

#4 Connecting with Audiences

Keynote presentation by Sue Maslin on what audiences want from Australian films- strong storytelling, relatable characters, and unique settings - and she questions why we are still making so many films every year that struggle to find their audiences. 
The visual presentation can be downloaded here.

#5 Marketing Panel

Felicity McVay and Rachel Watt deep dive into marketing feature films. They shed light on the importance of tailoring content to different social media platforms and the need to build a community around the film to engage with the core audience.

#6 Marketing - TikTok Presentation

Moderated by Sara Ogden, Tik Tok influencers Elle Rayias and Aicha Robertson discuss their experiences in creating content on TikTok, including their strategies for collaborating with entertainment companies and sharing behind-the-scenes insights. By making authentic content, leveraging trends, and building relationships with industry professionals, they are able to resonate with their audience and potentially enhance film campaigns.

#7 Marketing & Research

Demi Hopkins shares the importance of effective key art and marketing strategies for films. Early planning and communication between filmmakers, unit publicity and the distributor is key.  Allocating sufficient resources for photography and other marketing materials to capture visually strong key art.

#8 Publicity Panel

Amanda Goddard breaks down the crucial role of public relations (PR) in the film industry, from building media relations, running publicity campaigns, managing crises, event planning to content creation.

AFFF @ AIMC
Livestream

Nov 1-2, 2023

The inaugural Australian Feature Film Forum (AFFF) has offered a dynamic lineup of sessions live-streamed from the Australian International Movie Convention during Wednesday 1 November to Thursday 2 November, 2023.

Partnering with the AIMC for the first time, the AFFF program aims to close the gap between filmmakers and the theatrical marketplace and facilitate the sharing of current data, trends and analysis of the feature film marketplace. Streaming the panels allowed filmmakers from across Australia to participate in the critical screen event, many for the first time.

The full program details are available here.

Stage 3:
AFF Prism

June, 2022

Stage 3 of the Australian Feature Film Summit was an in person event, that took place at Swissôtel, Sydney on Tuesday 7 June, 2022.

The session welcomed a gathering of forward thinkers, industry leaders and people in a position to shape the Australian theatrical film sector. These included Major and indie distributors, Film Makers, Investors, Film Festivals, Data Specialists, Industry Associations, Sponsors, Screen Australia, State Agencies and many other connected industry professionals that play an important role in connecting Australian films with audiences, here and around the world. 

Facilitated by Dr. Simon Lonstaff, four questions were addressed in detail focusing on new ideas, innovative solutions and broadening understanding between the different players.

  1. What’s the best model for sharing critical audience data that enables access and also safeguards (or even increases) revenue streams for data owners and aggregators?

  2. What’s needed to improve cut-through for Australian film releases?

  3. What is an acceptable risk/reward ratio for each industry sector (production, distribution, exhibition, investors) that would attract more investment to support a more prosperous and consistent local production sector?

  4. Can streaming services successfully co-exist with theatrical releases and serve to fully exploit the potential of Australian films?

 

Stage 2:
AFF Summit

May, 2022

Stage 2 of the Australian Feature Film Summit was an in person event, that took place at Event Cinema, George Street, Sydney on Thursday 12 May, 2022.

Including sessions on Capturing the Audience, Building Audience, Incentivising Success, and a Case Study on The Drover’s Wife, the event attracted over 270 in-person attendees and over 135 virtual attendees.

For a full look at the program please click here and a list of the speakers can be found here.

NB. Deanne Weir wasn’t able to attend and was replaced by Olivia Humphrey (Co-Founder Storyd Group) and Mitu Bhowmick was unable to attend and was replaced on the panel by Sasha Close, moderated by Lori Flekser.

You can now view the entire program of the day via the clips on this page.

Additional links

The latest Screen Australia podcast featuring Sue Maslin:
https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/sa/screen-news/2022/05-06-feature-film-q-and-a

6 Data Sources Every Producer Should Read & Why:
https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/sa/screen-news/2022/05-11-6-data-sources-every-producer-should

 

Stage 1:
AFF Virtual Summit

October, 2021

Stage 1 of the Australian Feature Film Summit was an online event, that took place on Friday 22 October 2021.

Providing an overview of the performance of Australian cinema in 2020/21 and survey the challenges and opportunities currently facing producers, distributors and exhibitors. This event acted as a prelude to the main event next year and invited all participants to identify common ground and new ideas on how to increase cinema audiences for Australian films.

The full program can be found by clicking here and the speakers can be found here.

You can now view the entire program of the day via the clips on this page.