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Crawford Productions
Crawford Productions is an Australian former media production house, now primarily involved in distribution and licensing. It focused on the radio and television industries.
Founded in Melbourne, Victoria in 1945 by Hector Crawford and his sister, actress and voice-over artist Dorothy Crawford, the company, also known as Crawfords Australia, is now a subsidiary of the WIN Corporation.
The company has been defunct as a production house since 2002, and it now markets DVDs of it former programs.
Crawford Productions was initially founded exclusively as a radio production company in 1945, and then specialized in drama, light entertainment, and educational programs. When broadcast television was introduced to Australia in 1956, Crawford Productions was one of the few Australian radio production houses to successfully transition to the new medium.
Early Crawford TV productions included Wedding Day (HSV-7, 1956), the first Australian-produced sitcom Take That! (HSV-7, 1957–59), The Peters Club (GTV-9, 1958), Raising a Husband (GTV-9, 1958) and the drama play Seagulls Over Sorrento (HSV-7, 1960). They also produced segments of the Export Action documentary series, The Flying Dogtor cartoon series, and a local adaptation of the US game show Video Village (HSV-7, 1962–66).
The company's production output differed from that of the Reg Grundy Organisation, who specialized in quiz and game shows before transitioning to drama serials. Company co-founder Hector Crawford was an orchestral conductor and a prominent figure in the ongoing campaign for local content regulations on Australian television.
During the 1960s and the first half of the 1970s, Crawford Productions dominated Australian drama series. They gained an early foothold with their first major TV series, Consider Your Verdict (1961–64), which presented dramatizations of court cases. Like other local producers, they faced heightened competition from imported overseas programming, as there were no local content regulations governing Australian television at the time. As a result of this de facto free-trade agreement, most programs shown on Australian TV content were imported from America. At the time when police procedural series Homicide premiered in Australia in late 1964, more than 80% of all content broadcast on Australian TV came from America, and American productions enjoyed a virtual monopoly over the TV drama field. The report of the 1963 Vincent Commission into the Australian media found that 97% of all drama shows broadcast in Australia between 1956 and 1963 were American productions.
Australian producers competed against high-quality, high-budget imported programs that drew from an international talent pool and a skill-base that grew out of Hollywood. The competitive advantage enjoyed by imported content was exacerbated by the fact that the once-thriving Australian film industry had been decimated by competition from the major American studios. Since the beginning of the 1960s, film production in Australia had come to a standstill. Only one locally produced and funded feature film was made in Australia in the decade between 1959 and 1969. One of the major impacts of the suppression of the local film industry was a rapid erosion of skills and experience among local film-makers and an exodus of local talent to Britain and the USA.
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Crawford Productions
Crawford Productions is an Australian former media production house, now primarily involved in distribution and licensing. It focused on the radio and television industries.
Founded in Melbourne, Victoria in 1945 by Hector Crawford and his sister, actress and voice-over artist Dorothy Crawford, the company, also known as Crawfords Australia, is now a subsidiary of the WIN Corporation.
The company has been defunct as a production house since 2002, and it now markets DVDs of it former programs.
Crawford Productions was initially founded exclusively as a radio production company in 1945, and then specialized in drama, light entertainment, and educational programs. When broadcast television was introduced to Australia in 1956, Crawford Productions was one of the few Australian radio production houses to successfully transition to the new medium.
Early Crawford TV productions included Wedding Day (HSV-7, 1956), the first Australian-produced sitcom Take That! (HSV-7, 1957–59), The Peters Club (GTV-9, 1958), Raising a Husband (GTV-9, 1958) and the drama play Seagulls Over Sorrento (HSV-7, 1960). They also produced segments of the Export Action documentary series, The Flying Dogtor cartoon series, and a local adaptation of the US game show Video Village (HSV-7, 1962–66).
The company's production output differed from that of the Reg Grundy Organisation, who specialized in quiz and game shows before transitioning to drama serials. Company co-founder Hector Crawford was an orchestral conductor and a prominent figure in the ongoing campaign for local content regulations on Australian television.
During the 1960s and the first half of the 1970s, Crawford Productions dominated Australian drama series. They gained an early foothold with their first major TV series, Consider Your Verdict (1961–64), which presented dramatizations of court cases. Like other local producers, they faced heightened competition from imported overseas programming, as there were no local content regulations governing Australian television at the time. As a result of this de facto free-trade agreement, most programs shown on Australian TV content were imported from America. At the time when police procedural series Homicide premiered in Australia in late 1964, more than 80% of all content broadcast on Australian TV came from America, and American productions enjoyed a virtual monopoly over the TV drama field. The report of the 1963 Vincent Commission into the Australian media found that 97% of all drama shows broadcast in Australia between 1956 and 1963 were American productions.
Australian producers competed against high-quality, high-budget imported programs that drew from an international talent pool and a skill-base that grew out of Hollywood. The competitive advantage enjoyed by imported content was exacerbated by the fact that the once-thriving Australian film industry had been decimated by competition from the major American studios. Since the beginning of the 1960s, film production in Australia had come to a standstill. Only one locally produced and funded feature film was made in Australia in the decade between 1959 and 1969. One of the major impacts of the suppression of the local film industry was a rapid erosion of skills and experience among local film-makers and an exodus of local talent to Britain and the USA.