Anything but a picnic at Aunty

THIRTY-ONE years ago a young Kim Dalton found himself on a film location in country South Australia as the second assistant director. The film was Picnic at Hanging Rock and the director was Peter Weir.

The film has become one of the great Australian classics but at the time no one had an inkling of what was to follow. Weir, of course, went on to greater heights and so did many of the cast and crew, including actor John Jarratt (Wolf Creek), cinematographers Russell Boyd and John Seale, both of whom have subsequently won Oscars, and co-producer Hal McElroy is the creator of some of the most successful and long-running shows on TV (Blue Heelers, Water Rats, Murder Call, Return to Eden).

"It was an amazing experience," says Dalton, who was in the right place at the right time, just as the rebirth of the Australian film industry began.

A few years earlier, at age 17, he had shown single-minded determination by taking the unusual step of upping sticks from his home in suburban Melbourne and moving interstate so he could study at the only tertiary drama course then available, at Flinders University.

He graduated just as the South Australian Film Corporation was established and moved straight into television and film projects, mostly educational documentaries. That's how he got his start.

Since then he's operated his own production company, worked in international sales and distribution with Beyond International and on the investment side with the Film Finance Corporation, and was involved in financing numerous TV projects and feature films including Muriel's Wedding and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. For the past 6 1/2 years, he's been chief executive of the Australian Film Commission, overseeing a significant restructure of the organisation and securing increased funding.

In less than two weeks, he becomes the new director of television for the ABC, replacing Sandra Levy who joined the Nine Network last September, amid great anticipation about the direction he might take the national broadcaster.

While the state of ABC funding often grabs the headlines, Dalton arrives at the ABC with a near-record audience share for TV. There are, however, huge question marks over what sort of budget he will have. The ABC's triennial funding submission is before the government and the KPMG review into the funding adequacy and efficiency of the ABC is still in progress. Last June the ABC estimated its operational costs had declined 27 per cent in real terms over the past two decades, and it has pitched to government a proposal to pump $60 million into new Australian-made programs over the next three years.

When Dalton swaps his sun-filled AFC office and its panoramic view of Sydney Harbour for the hothouse atmosphere of the ABC, he will walk in the door just as managing director Russell Balding prepares to walk out, for a top post in the private sector as head of Sydney Airport. It is also unclear whether chairman Donald McDonald, whose second five-year term expires mid-year, will be there for another term.

All this is taking place against a backdrop of media companies having to rethink how they produce and deliver content to rapidly fragmenting audiences in the new digital era, and the possibility of fiercer competition, should reforms on foreign ownership and cross-media rules come into play.

McElroy says he admires Dalton for taking on the ABC job, which is "fraught will all sorts of political pressures. The internal politics is very draining and demanding ... It's a very big challenge because many of the problems, I think, are internal of their own making.

"It's a divided house," he says.

McElroy has had a long professional association with Dalton stretching back to the days of Picnic.

He recalls the young Dalton struck him as very easygoing, friendly and open, "but underneath there was a quiet determination. He still has that quality ... He's no pushover."

Dalton won the job over two other shortlisted candidates, Ian Carroll, who heads the ABC's satellite Asia Pacific television service, and Chris Hilton, the joint chief executive of production company the Essential Viewing Group. When Dalton's appointment was announced, Hilton told Media he was not disappointed. "[It is] clearly a difficult position with high expectations from numerous stakeholders," he says.

Most people, it seems, have strong views on what needs to be done at "Everyone's ABC". Dalton, though, respects protocol and won't comment on the ABC until he's actually in the chair, nor is he the type of executive to let slip an ill-timed remark when the ABC is facing crucial budgetary decisions.

Asked if he had received any advice about taking on the job, say from predecessor Levy, he replied, "I think you'd be foolish to go into a job like this without talking to a broad range of colleagues. I'm a great one for consultation and talking to people. I don't mean to say that cutely. I think I am known for that."

Levy did not respond to requests for an interview, but independent producer Penny Chapman, who headed ABC television from 1995 to 1998, says Dalton is a terrific choice. His commitment to multi-media content creation, his experience in the private sector and as a lobbyist for Australian film-making will stand him in good stead, she says.

Others say the appointment is likely to lead to more high-quality Australian content and fewer cheaper studio-based shows. "The ABC is biting the bullet," says Geoff Brown, executive director of the Screen Producers Association of Australia. "We see this as a positive statement about where the ABC wants to go over the next few years. It's an opportunity to trade its way out of the doldrums."

The production sector, which has had a rocky relationship with the ABC, hankers for a return to the model of the early 1990s which produced shows of the calibre of Brides of Christ, Janus and Blue Murder.

On Sunday night Dalton was ensconced in front of the tube to catch the latest episode of Claudia Karvan's Love My Way, just 24 hours after flying in from Mumbai where he presented a package of 13 indigenous films at the film festival and later helped to launch Oz Arts, a 12-month cultural program showcasing Australia's performing arts on the subcontinent.

"I'm more than happy to watch Mary Bryant [the historical drama about the First Fleet convict] and enjoy it and I've been a great follower of Secret Life of Us," he says. His preference is for drama that confronts contemporary issues. "But I'm actually very eclectic, very catholic in my tastes," which is the sort of diplomatic response to be expected from the man who will determine what the ABC's weekly audience of 13 million viewers will see on the box.

Dalton comments, though, that there is a strong commitment by the federal Government on Australian content. Communications Minister Helen Coonan is particularly involved with what needs to be done to ensure an Australian presence in the digital environment, whether it's on the internet or on a whole range of delivery platforms that are going to emerge, he says.

"The issue is always how do you do it, what are the mechanisms. You can't go to government and ask for endless amounts of money," he says. "The very fact that the Australian Film Commission's funding has increased substantially over the last four or five years, the fact that the Film Finance Corporation's budget has continued, and the government's review into the 10BA tax area - all of these are indicators the government is concerned about the issue.

"The only thing I would say about the ABC in this regard is that I think the role of the ABC, as the national broadcaster, is even more important in this new and emerging environment where we are seeing a real fragmentation and fracturing of [audiences] and a multiplicity of services."

Dalton says his new job will take him back to a much closer relationship with program-making. "I see myself as being committed to Australian culture and the importance of Australian voices on our screens, whether they be TV screens, the cinema or, increasingly, on our computer screens or our iPods."

His championing of Australian TV and film is well known but it is his ability to maintain a good relationship with Canberra that has impressed industry body the Australian Screen Directors Association.

"At times he has been accused of being cautious ... but there have been times, and the free trade agreement [with the US] is an example, where he's been prepared to put at jeopardy his relationship with government in the interests of the industry," says executive director Richard Harris. "He had to run that fine balance of being critical and of negotiating an outcome.

"In the end he was being phoned by the Prime Minister in terms of the final deal that was done. There were things we didn't win in the deal, but that was one thing we did win."

As a result of advice from the AFC, the federal Government held out against the US which argued hard to rule out any Australian government regulating or intervening with the delivery of new media services. Future governments will be able to introduce a regulatory regime, if necessary, to ensure Australian content to Australian audiences.

Harris says while Dalton's leadership style is not inspirational - "he's not the type to stand in the pulpit and deliver a 'I have a dream' kind of speech" - he is a straight-shooter and astute, which is why he thinks he is adept at working on policy with bureaucrats and politicians.

Whether Dalton took on the job with a specific brief to fill is not clear. "Nobody knows and that would only be second guessing," says McElroy. "But everybody recognises he's got a big challenge and I believe he's up to it."