Federal incentive for ‘runaway’ productions key to Gold Coast film industry’s continued growth

AFTER cementing its international reputation as Australia’s blockbuster movie capital, the Gold Coast is ready to play a starring role in our screen industry’s future.

AFTER cementing its international reputation as Australia’s blockbuster movie capital, the Gold Coast is ready to play a starring role in our screen industry’s future.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk — whose Government has set its sights on doubling the value of Queensland’s screen industry in the next 10 years — said the Coast was the rising star of the industry nationally.

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Queensland accounted for three per cent of Australia’s screen industry in 2015.

“That figure is now 33 per cent and rising and last year the screen industry was worth $1 billion to the Queensland economy,” she said.

Director Joachim Ronning on the set of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales on the Gold Coast. Picture: Supplied, Disney Studios.

Thanks to a collaborative approach to growing and sustaining a vibrant film industry by stakeholders including Gold Coast City Council, the State Government and Screen Queensland (SQ), local schools and universities, the Gold Coast Film Festival, Village Roadshow Studios, talented local crew, A-list stars and a huge range of industry stakeholders has not only helped the Coast become a premier filmmaking destination, our screen scene is paying dividends for the industry nationally.

Locations marketing agency Ausfilm’s research shows that large-scale international productions contributed more than $453 million in foreign direct investment to the Australian economy in the 2017 fiscal year.

Village Roadshow Co-Executive Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer Graham Burke. Picture by Luke Marsden.

Village Roadshow co-CEO Graham Burke AO said the Coast’s Oxenford studios — home to the largest sound stage in the Southern Hemisphere and the largest purpose-built water tanks in Australia — were “the fulcrum of production in Queensland”.

A record 12 international blockbusters have filmed in Queensland in the past five years — the lion’s share of them on the Coast, including Aquaman, Thor: Ragnarok, Kong: Skull Island and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.

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Almost a third of the top 100 films released in 2013 were filmed internationally — a figure that grew to almost half by 2016 thanks to exchange rates and the tax incentives and subsidies offered by countries eager to grow their screen industries, including Canada, England and Australia.

Brie larson as Mason Weaver in a scene from the ‘runaway production’ Kong: Skull Island, which filmed on the Gold Coast. Picture: Supplied.

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Known in the industry as ‘runaway’ productions, the blockbusters accounted for most of the $468 million international productions spent in Australia in the 2017 financial year.

Stakeholders agree an ecosystem of support measures is required to keep the industry firing —

including direct government funding, tax incentives and Australian content quotas.

It’s why the industry breathed a sight of relief earlier this year when the Federal Government announced an extra $140 million in funding to attract major offshore screen productions to film here.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop (right) chats to Village Roadshow Studios president Lynne Benzie after announcing the Federal Government’s four-year $140 million location incentive for big budget films. AAP Image/Dan Peled.

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Village Roadshow Studios president Lynne Benzie said the increase would make us more competitve with countries and territories that have been highly successful in attracting large-scale productions, inlcuding New Zealand, Atlanta, Canada and the UK.

“Without the higher offset we would not be able to attract international productions on the same scale,” she said.

Ausfilm CEO Debra Richards said the top up was “outstanding news” for crews, technicians, studios, VFX and postproduction facilities and “any business that benefits from large-scale international screen production across Australia”.

“With a certain and clear competitive Location Incentive, Australia will be able to secure up to another $151 million per annum in additional production value,” she said.

The Aquaman set built at Hastings Point as part of the film’s Gold Coast shoot. Picture Mike Batterham

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While the top up was welcome news, the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance, the union that represents casts and crews, said the increase must be made permanent.

“What happens at the end of four years? Will we face the same drought of overseas productions again?” MEAA CEO Paul Murphy said.

“The only sustainable long-term solution is a permanent increase in the location offset from its current 16.5 per cent to 30 per cent.

“This extra funding has provided a four-year breathing space, but we will continue to urge the Federal Government to lift the offset to 30 per cent.”

Originally published as Federal incentive for ‘runaway’ productions key to Gold Coast film industry’s continued growth