State budget reveal: Coast to get $5m boost in film funding as Logies party hots up
An extra $5m in funding is to be provided for the booming screen industry on the Gold Coast, as the State Government unwraps a pre-Logies gift package.
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An extra $5m in funding is to be provided for the booming screen industry on the Gold Coast, as the State Government unwraps a pre-Logies gift package.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk in a speech at a function on the Coast on Saturday in the lead-up to the Logies is to talk up a raft of new movie and television initiatives including creating a reality TV hub on the Coast.
The Premier is a guest at the Screen Queensland and STAN 2022 TV Week Logies Industry Event and hinted the State was “securing a pipeline of productions”.
After being postponed for two years due to COVID, the TV Week Logies Awards are back at the Gold Coast Convention Centre on Sunday in The Star precinct.
The funding adds to last year’s $71 million budget commitment, which saw $53 million to attract new productions, $10 million to source post production and visual effects and $4 million for the screen finance fund to support domestic film, television and games production.
The Government also committed $6.8 million for a new studio in Cairns and next week’s budget will include another $5.8 million for that studio, plus $7.95 million for its operation.
“We have also committed $5 million towards a reality TV hub here on the Gold Coast,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
The Premier will use her visit to the Coast for the annual TV awards to outline to the entertainment industry how serious Queensland was about being “Screens Land”.
“Queensland is Screens Land. This is not a boast. It’s government policy,” she said.
“I want to attract more of this tremendous industry to choose Queensland for one simple reason — it generates jobs, grows careers and is good for our economy.”
The Government estimates that since 2015, Screen has injected $1.3 billion into the Queensland economy.
“It’s created 14,000 jobs. Ten thousand of those jobs were right here on the Gold Coast,” the Premier said.
“Every nail used to build a set, every sandwich used to feed the crew means money in the pockets of Queenslanders.
“I could give you a long list of productions that have chosen Queensland but they don’t come much bigger than Elvis.
“I am especially proud of that one because it came about after a meeting I had with (director) Baz (Luhrmann) in London.
“As with anything connected with Baz, it was a very colourful meeting. Basically I told him how great Queensland is — and Baz and (his wife) Catherine (Martin) ended up moving here.
“I am happy to tell all of you how great Queensland is, and all of you are welcome to move here too. When it comes to screen we put our money where our heart is.”
The Premier recalled how when the Logies was first hosted on the Coast there were “quite a few people dissing us”.
“Now, no-one can imagine them being anywhere else. And we should celebrate our television industry,” she said.
“We no longer watch it on the same screen as our parents did. But it’s still television.
“It’s still the campfire that we gather around to come together at the end of a day. To share our stories. To tell each other what we are watching and how we are feeling.”
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