Written by new-contact on Jun 20, 2013. Posted in Incentive News

Major co-producer urges Australia to improve location filming incentives

Village Roadshow Entertainment Group CEO Greg Basser has urged Australia to boost its location filming incentives. He said it was the best way to enable the country’s production industry to compete internationally.

Speaking at Screen Australia’s policy conference in Canberra, Basser warned that Australia’s production industry risks becoming “irrelevant from a global perspective” if filming incentives like the country’s 16.5% Location Offset are not increased, Inside Film reports.

“Whether or not and to what extent films for global release are produced here in Australia - we have the facilities, crew and talent to compete with the best - will depend significantly on the continuance of the existing Producer Offset and post-production incentives and, more importantly, a levelling of the playing field for the Location Offset to bring it up to levels equivalent to those offered both within the United States and elsewhere in the world,” Basser reportedly told the conference.

Australia has had trouble attracting major international shoots in recent years partly because of the strength of its dollar. The government has relied on one-off payments to secure features on the scale of The Wolverine and, most recently, Disney’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

The Australian government has relied on one-off incentive payments to secure The Wolverine and Disney’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Earlier this year, a AUD20 million filming incentive was set up apparently to continue funding one-off payments, although Australia’s Arts Minister Simon Crean described the new incentive as “a precursor to an increase in the Location Offset”.