Silver for the screen
EXCLUSIVE: Film industry to get $140m boost in Federal Budget
GOLD Coast workers and businesses are set to reap the rewards of a $140 million funding boost for Australian film in Tuesday’s Federal Budget.
A new Location Incentive will be rolled out over four years from 2019-2020 to help attract more international blockbusters to film on Australian soil and ensure the country’s $3 billion film and TV industry continues to grow.
The funds will help further cement the thriving reputation the Coast has forged as a leading hub for film and TV production in the wake of a string of locally filmed blockbusters including Aquaman and Thor: Ragnarok.
Forecast to tip more than $260 million in new foreign investment into the local economy, the Budget measure will complement the Federal Government’s existing 16.5 per cent Location Offset component of the Australian Screen Production Incentive tax rebate.
The new incentive will effectively increase the 16.5 per cent Location Offset rate to 30 per cent for eligible large budget international productions that film here from July 1, 2018.
The $140 million boost is a big win for the Gold Coast film industry that will make the city a more attractive filming location for big-budget international movie and TV productions eager to capitalise on a highly skilled pool of screen professionals and world-class facilities at Village Roadshow Studios.
The funding is designed to ensure a continued pipeline of international productions to our shores, create more than 3000 Australian cast and crew jobs and boost the bottom lines of some 6000 support service businesses each year.
Gold Coast MP and Federal Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Steven Ciobo, who has spent the past 12 months in talks with executives from major US studios, is believed to have played a key role in securing the deal.
“This new funding means more international films will be made here in Australia, and particularly in Queensland, which means more local jobs,” he said yesterday.
“The major studios have told us they want to make movies here.
“This funding makes Australia more competitive and will help secure more major productions that will create and support local jobs.”
The incentive is the shot in the arm the local film industry, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and the Gold Coast Bulletin have campaigned for to help entice more big projects to film here.
The Bulletin called on the Federal Government to increase tax breaks for international productions to help save local jobs after Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison refused to raise the location offset incentive from 16.5 to 30 per cent to bring the Dora The Explorer movie to the Gold Coast.
The film shoot was secured when the State Government stepped in to cover the shortfall.
Queensland film workers also called on the Federal Government to boost tax incentives to protect the local industry earlier this year as part of the #myjobmatters campaign.
The new Location Incentive is the first of a number of reforms the Federal Government is considering to further support local production.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said the incentive was a “positive policy change” that would help attract high quality, large budget feature film projects and grow talent and creative industries.
“It will also promote Australia as a dynamic, innovative economy and tourist destination,” she said.