Sweeping shots and big refunds make Australia a choice location for international screen productions
Arts
The film industry in South Australia is selling its vast landscapes and massive rebates as the most economical filming location for global production companies.
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Courtney Gibson, the CEO of the South Australian Film Corporation, said adding the Australian Federal Government’s recently announced “Location Incentive Fund” to South Australia’s Post Production Digital and Visual Effects rebate would make the state the most economically attractive to international production crews.
“With our 10 per cent PDV rebate on top of this increased federal location incentive, South Australia is able to offer the best rebates in the country.”
The South Australian PDV rebate provides a tax rebate on the expenses of production companies working in the state.
The Location Incentive Fund will increase the national Location Offset rate from 16.5 per cent to 30 per cent from July 1 for eligible large budget international products that film in Australia.
The South Australian capital, Adelaide, is home to renowned visual effects studio Rising Sun Pictures, which employs more than 200 staff and has contributed visual effects to more than 120 movies and TV series, including Thor: Ragnarok, Game of Thrones and the X-Men, Harry Potter and Hunger Games series.
Tony Clark, managing director of Rising Sun Pictures said the announcement significantly shifts the landscape in favour of filming in Australia.
“In combination with the South Australian PDV incentive, it represents a powerful draw card to bring production and post production to the state, creating significant employment and growth opportunities for screen businesses. We’re already seeing the local incentive bringing new and expanded projects to South Australia and setting the stage for future growth,” he said.
Dale Roberts, CEO of South Australian production and post-production studio KOJO said the Australian initiative would create more confidence of long-term high-quality careers for artists.
“Kojo have [completed] over 50 features films and built a business around working on productions globally so this initiative from the Federal Government gives us a compelling competitive advantage for South Australia to be considered one of the world’s leading production and PDV centres,” he said.
French company Technicolor, which employs more than 15,000 people across the world, announced in February that it would build a AUD$26 million, 3000sq m visual effects studio in Adelaide – to be known as “Mill Film”.
The studio, which has been described as a “game-changer” for the Australian film industry, is expected to be fully operational within five years.
Technicolor has worked on many films and television productions including recent Oscar nominee The Shape of Water, as well as Blade Runner 2049, Wonder Woman and Jungle Book.
Along with industry-based technical expertise, Gibson said the proximity of amazing natural landscapes to the capital of Adelaide are key drawcards for big overseas screen productions.
“The other things that make South Australia such an attractive place to shoot are our quite spectacular locations and we know this is what the international TV networks want, great big sweeping shots that they can’t get anywhere else in the world,” Gibson said.
Areas across the state including Warren Gorge and Saltia were used to film Australian horror movie ‘Wolf Creek’ while Netflix film ‘Cargo’ was filmed in the regional town of Blanchetown and Outback outpost of Beltana.
In its announcement, the Australian Federal Government claimed the Location Incentive would bring in more than $260 million in new foreign investment to the local economy and create more than 3000 jobs for Australian cast and crew.
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