Queensland production injects $465m to state economy

Screen Australia’s Drama Report 2021–22 shows Queensland’s screen industry contributed $465 million to the local economy in the last year including hosting four international screen productions.

“As the sunshine state opened up from the pandemic, its reputation as an ideal filming destination — backed by a winning combination of incentives, crews, locations and facilities — contributed to a pipeline of feature films like Ticket to Paradise, Wizards! and sci-fi series Nautilus flocking to Queensland, as did homegrown series including Upright and Darby and Joan,” Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said.

“Queensland rode the wave of record-breaking investment in Australian drama by streaming services, with Screen Queensland supporting projects from Netflix, Stan, Disney+, Paramount+, Amazon and more.

“Netflix alone produced four titles in Queensland — Boy Swallows Universe which is currently in production, Irreverent, A Perfect Pairing and True Spirit.”

The govt’s enhanced Post, Digital and Visual Effects (PDV) has injected more than $38.5 million to the local economy.

“Within the first 12 months of the increased incentive, 20 projects were confirmed for Queensland post-production facilities across a variety of services including visual effects, animation, editing and sound — boosting Queensland Production Expenditure by 270 per cent since 2019–20,” said the Premier.

“Offering the most competitive PDV incentive on the east coast of Australia at 15 per cent has stimulated unparalleled growth in just 12 months — supporting 13 local businesses, growing employment opportunities and generating millions for the Queensland economy.

“Queensland has a long-held reputation as a destination of choice for filmmakers and by supporting the state’s PDV capabilities, our government is keeping Queensland top of mind as a complete end-to-end home for screen production.”

PDV Projects include Last King of the Cross with post-production by Brisbane facility Chop Shop Post.

Mark Fennessy CEO of Helium said, “Screen Queensland’s PDV financial incentive is a welcome added bonus to a production as large in visual scale as Helium’s Last King of The Cross.

“Choosing Chop Shop Post to manage the visual effects across the series, both on set and in post-production, was an easy decision to make, as not only does their reputation precede them, but they work to budget, deliver clear and practical feedback about how to get the greatest visuals on screen, and intuitively problem-solve with a creative edge.”