Creative brothers in the frame for Hollywood

Australia’s COVID-fuelled cinema renaissance is creating exciting new opportunities for small local creative businesses to crack the big time in Hollywood.

Frame Creative principals and brothers, Sam, Tim and Simon Pearce. Picture: Roy Van Der Vegt

Australia’s COVID-fuelled cinema renaissance is creating exciting new opportunities for small local creative businesses to crack the big time in Hollywood, with one Adelaide business run by three brothers scoring a starring role in the new action flick Mortal Kombat.

In the same week that director George Miller revealed the next Mad Max film would be shot in NSW, Adelaide brothers Tim, Sam and Simon Pearce were enjoying a standing ovation at the Australian premiere of Mortal Kombat for their world-class ­design work on the action pic.

The three started their company, Frame Creative, eight years ago working in design and advertising and have predominantly been employed by South Australian-based brands and events such as Tasting Australia, Mismatch Beer and the SANFL.

Last year, however, they landed the contract to design the credits and typography for the Mortal Kombat film, including designing a bespoke typeface for the movie’s credits, signage and branding.

With the federal government investing $540m on film location incentives for movie production houses over the next eight years, many US companies are regarding Australia as a safe place from COVID with rich local creative talent.

For a small business such as Frame Creative, this means they have made it big in Hollywood.

Managing director Tim Pearce said the combination of federal and state government support and a passionate Aussie director in Perth-born Simon McQuoid meant films such as Mortal Kombat were underwriting jobs and investment in Australia.

“The whole process has been so humbling,” Pearce told The Australian.

“The premiere was such an amazing experience. Simon thanked a lot of the other more established local names such as ­Rising Sun pictures who had worked on the film but then made a point of saying to the crowd: ‘Right, where are the Pearce boys?’ and getting us to stand up in the cinema.

“He said he was going to work with us on every film he ever did and that we had blown his minds and absolutely nailed it.

“We really had to pinch ourselves, it was such an overawing experience.”

Pearce said one of the benefits for Australian businesses was in having a solid core of Australian directors and producers and senior filmmakers in the industry who were committed to working with other Australians.

“It’s not just talk, blokes like Simon are deadly serious when they say they want to maximise the work for locals, and it’s not tokenism either; it’s because they know that Australian creative industries are up to the task,” he said.

“The great thing about the premiere was seeing how many local people had worked on it, from set designers to make-up artists.”

SA Minister for Innovation and Skills David Pisoni told The Australian that securing Mortal Kombat had elevated small companies such as Frame Creative “on to the world stage”.

“I anticipate more local jobs to be created as a result of increased investment in film in SA on the back of the kudos Mortal Kombat is generating,” he said.