Lights, camera, action!
Studios start racking up the business
VILLAGE Roadshow Studios went from “virtually empty” to “full until March next year” within hours of the Federal Government announcing its new Location Incentive.
Village Roadshow Limited Co-Executive Chairman and Co-Executive CEO Graham Burke said the phone at the Oxenford studios had been “ringing hot” since Foreign Minister Julia Bishop and Arts and Communications Minister Mitch Fifield joined Tourism, Trade and Investment Minister Steve Ciobo on the Gold Coast to announce the new incentive.
“The studios are already booked out until March 2019,” Mr Burke said. “This demonstrates the policy worked.
“We’ve gone from virtually empty to full through until March next year.”
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk hopes to attract more new blockbusters to film here when she heads to Hollywood next month.
“I always knew lifting the tax offset would be a game changer for the Queensland film industry, so it’s great to see the Federal Government finally jumping on board,” she said.
As the Bulletin revealed yesterday, details of the $140 million funding boost, to be rolled out over four years, will be revealed when the Federal Budget is handed down on Tuesday.
Senator Fifield said the incentive would effectively increase the current 16.5 per cent location offset for international film productions to a more competitive 30 per cent to pave the way for a pipeline of blockbuster movies and a permanent screen industry.
Mr Burke said the announcement would provide “jobs for our kids”.
He said Australia’s three major productions studios – Village Roadshow on the Gold Coast, Fox Studios in Sydney and Docklands in Melbourne – and the businesses they support would be virtually empty without the initiative.
Blockbusters have become globetrotters during the past decade as major US studios head offshore to cash in on tax incentives. In 2013, a third of the top 100 films at the US box office were filmed overseas. By 2016, that number had risen to almost half.
Mr Burke said the Location Incentive was a “true rebate”, not a subsidy. “Every $1 invested in film creates $3.30 of economic activity and the rebate is paid on average three years after the investment, so Australia has enjoyed great prosperity of the dollars years before a fraction goes back.”
WHERE TO NEXT P64-65
THE surprise star of the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony is gathering dust in a shed.
The giant, inflatable Migaloo that left a worldwide audience both captivated and confused during the polarising entertainment spectacular is now somewhat deflated, with its future uncertain.
Unlike Matilda – the 1982 Brisbane mascot that still enjoys fame as a quirky Queensland tourism icon – the blow-up whale is unlikely to ever find a permanent home.
Designed exclusively for the Games opening ceremony, Migaloo’s materials would not stand up to the rigours of life exposed to the elements and its gigantic size also restricts the options of where it could call home.
Jack Morton Worldwide yesterday did not respond to phone calls or emails for comment on what plans they have for Migaloo.
However, a Games insider said it would not cope well with wind or rain, ruling out any attempt for a permanent outdoor home.