Queensland’s massive production dive

QUEENSLAND’S annual production spend took a $300 million dive in the past financial year due to the lack of a Hollywood blockbuster filmed in the state.

QUEENSLAND’S annual production spend took a $300 million dive in the past financial year due to the lack of a Hollywood blockbuster filmed in the state.

Following a record $424 million expenditure in 2016/17 — courtesy of Queensland-filmed blockbusters Thor: Ragnarok, Aquaman and Pacific Rim: Uprising — the state dipped to a $137 million spend in 2017/18, according to Screen Australia’s drama report.

It was part of a national decline in expenditure from $1.3 billion to $817 million.

Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston in Brisbane during Thor filming. Picture: Jasin Boland/©Marvel Studios 2017

Screen Australia attributed the result to reduced foreign production spend, particularly in Queensland where “industry concerns around the process of obtaining the Location Offset top-ups and potential studio limitations in Queensland due to the Commonwealth Games in 2018” deterred foreign studios.

Village Roadshow Studios was used as a venue for the Commonwealth Games in April, making it unavailable for filming.

The result comes despite strong foreign investment in the state, including ABC Studios International financing Brisbane series Harrow and local Netflix productions Tidelands (starring Elsa Pataky and Madeleine Madden) and a comedy series by Chris Lilley.

Nationally there was a record expenditure of $718 million by Australian titles, including Queensland films Celeste, Danger Close and Escape and Evasion.

While the report highlights the gravitas of Hollywood investment in Australia, Screen Australia boss Graeme Mason said the interest in Australian productions was positive.

“The end game for us … is not only to help make content, but for those stories to reach an audience, and Aussie drama is delivering on that,” he said.

“The global market is hungry for our stories.”

Queensland has landed three Hollywood titles in 2018/19 with Dora the Explorer filming on the Gold Coast and Godzilla vs Kong and US series Reef Break both coming to Queensland next year, having been named as the first recipients of the Federal Government’s $140 million top-up to the 16.5 per cent Location Offset.