We’ve covered two new commercials this week filmed in Canada and Italy, respectively. We have updates on filming incentive controversies across the US, while Australia has been hit by the cancellation of major feature project Paradise Lost.
Authorities in Virginia are looking at reforming their filming incentive, while their Alabama counterparts are considering boosting their own film fund. The developments show how the benefits of filming incentives are dividing opinion across the US.
In a setback for the Australian film industry the planned big-budget adaptation of Paradise Lost has been cancelled. The project was scheduled to film at Fox Studios in Sydney, but the production company has got cold feet as the budget swelled way north of USD100 million.
Ontario had a great 2011 with a 30% increase in direct spend from foreign shoots, including a nearly 50% rise in international features. International TV shoots rose by a little over 25%. The overall production spend throughout the province was also up 30%, surpassing the CAD1 billion mark.
The filming incentives shake-up in Michigan has resulted in big-budget feature Robopocalypse going elsewhere. Steven Spielberg’s upcoming directing project was asking for incentive payments that would have accounted for most of Michigan’s annual film fund.
This week we covered a creative new online advertising campaign from Honda. The UK is in the spotlight again with the release of Steven Spielberg’s War Horse, while the British Prime Minister has called for the UK film industry to back more commercial projects. Elsewhere, US filmmaker Nicole Ballivian is planning a shoot on the West Bank.
Steven Spielberg recreated early 20th Century England on location in the southern UK for his period epic War Horse. Filming focussed on the hills of Dartmoor and the village of Castle Combe in south-west England, while the trenches of the First World War were recreated in Surrey.
It’s been a good year for the established production hubs around the world, with regions like Buenos Aires, South Africa, Eastern Europe and New Zealand maintaining their appeal for commercial projects. Australia has seen a production resurgence, while in the US the spectre of budget deficits has put real pressure on state filming incentives.