Written by new-contact on Oct 7, 2010. Posted in Incentive News

Screen Australia makes co-production guidelines more flexible

Screen Australia has revised its co-production guidelines to make it easier for projects to access financing and incentives. The changes involve including Australian personnel in the points scheme from production jobs that were not awarded anything previously.

Fiona Cameron, Head of Strategy for Screen Australia, said: “A new expanded points test recognises the reality of contemporary filmmaking and gives credit to Heads of Department not previously allocated points, such as the VFX supervisor, costume designer, sound designer and, in the context of animation, the key model designer.”

Official co-productions are also eligible for the Producer Offset. This entitles TV projects and documentaries to a 20% rebate, while feature films can get a 40% tax rebate.

Australia continues to attract major productions. Steven Spielberg's epic TV miniseries The Pacific filmed in Victoria and one of his latest TV projects as Producer, Terra Nova, will be filming in Queensland.