Dora filmmakers explore Gold Coast during Games as locals land jobs on city’s next big shoot

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has met with a number of Hollywood bigwigs as they prepare to start filming the Dora the Explorer live action film on the Gold Coast.

HOLLYWOOD has been bowled over by the Gold Coast community’s support for the movie industry.

Queensland Premier and Trade Minister Annastacia Palaszczuk met with US producer John Scotti, UK director, Paramount Pictures James Bobin and New Zealand production designer Dan Hennah in Brisbane yesterday to discuss the upcoming Dora the Explorer live action film shoot on the Gold Coast.

CREW PRESSURE FEDS TO LIFT LOCATION OFFSET AND SAVE JOBS

Cameras will begin rolling on the live action film adaptation of the popular cartoon and comic characer Dora the Explorer on the Gold Coast on August 6.

Pre-production will begin once GOLDOC bumps out of Village Roadshow Studios, which was used as the venue for squash, table tennis and boxing events during the Commonwealth Games.

Dora the explorer

DUCTION ON DORA TO BEGIN AFTER COMMONWEALTH GAMES

The film’s Coast shoot was one of two major productions put at risk when the Federal Government denied requests for ­location rebates for the projects to be increased to an internationally competitive 30 per cent.

The live-action Dora shoot, and the estimated 500 production jobs it’s expected to generate, were saved at the 11th-hour when Ms Palaszczuk pledged to fill the funding gap.

“The Dora producers really thought they were going to New Zealand before I decided this was too important to miss so I stepped in with the movie makers of the Gold Coast to make it happen,” she said.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Screen Queensland CEO Tracey Vieira met with US producer John Scotti, UK director, Paramount Picture James Bobin and New Zealand production designer Dan Hennah in Brisbane yesterday to discuss the upcoming Dora the Explorer live action film shoot on the Gold Coast.

MORRISON ALL BUT KILLS OFF BID TO SECURE DORA

Ms Palaszczuk said many cast and crew members of the locally filmed blockbuster Thor: Ragnarok — including indigenous people who landed their first break on that film — had already secured work on Dora.The local workers include a set designer whose first job was on Thor: Ragnarok — and who is now in hot demand to work on movies around the world.

“Set design isn’t something you learn in school. You need to work on movies,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

Director Taika Waititi and star Chris Hemsworth on the set of Thor: Ragnarokon the Gold Coast. Many local crew who worked on the film have landed work on the upcoming Dora the Explorer film shoot. Picture: Jasin Boland. ©Marvel Studios 2017

She said US producers said landing work on film shoots was “all about what’s on your resume”.

“Once you have the experience, you are away but you don’t get the experience if the movies don’t come,” she said.

Ms Palaszczuk said the intense 48 hours of negotiating that proved the difference between Queensland losing production on the Dora movie and saving the film shoot were not contrived.

BREATH STARS HAD TO 'UNLEARN HOW TO SURF'

“The Dora producers really thought they were going to New Zealand before the Premier and the movie makers of the Gold Coast stepped in,” she said.

Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison has ruled out permanently lifting the Federal Government’s location offset incentive to 30 per cent. Picture: Staff photographer.

Ms Palaszczuk said Hollywood was genuinely overwhelmed by community support for the movie industry in Queensland and on the Gold Coast.

“They couldn’t believe the coverage and support of the Gold Coast Bulletin,” she said.

“We were the talk of Tinseltown — which usually has to battle a very jaded Los Angeles.”

She said the film’s producers were overjoyed they were able to find all the locations they needed for the project within 40 minutes of their production base at Village Roadshow Studios.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Chris Hemsworth at the Australian premiere of Thor: Ragnarok at Event Cinemas Robina in October 2017. Picture: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images.

“Americans were here during the Commonwealth Games commented on how impressed they were by the vibe of the Gold Coast and crowds attending the Games,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

“They didn’t realise what a cosmopolitan, international city the Gold Coast was — or how beautiful it is.”

Ms Palaszczuk said the Dora shoot could potentially be the first of many.

“Dora is a franchise. This isn’t one movie — it’s many,” she said.