Screen Producers Association boss Matthew Deaner says it’s great news for non-Australian productions but has triggered “great angst” in the local industry.

“While the recent confirmation of the increase in Australia’s Location Offset [from 16.5 per cent to 30 per cent] that benefits non-Australian projects was great news, the absence of commensurate certainty for Australia’s home-grown industry and Australian projects through streaming regulation is now causing great angst in our industry,” he said.

“Over the past week, I’ve been contacted by members around Australia who are concerned about where our industry now stands.

“This is particularly the case as the 1 July start date for streaming regulation has come and gone with no new time frame from the government.”

However, both Ausfilm and the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) welcomed the legislative changes.

So did some in Hollywood, especially streaming giants Netflix and Amazon.

“Australia has juiced its tax incentives for foreign, mostly Hollywood movies and TV series that shoot locally,” advertised The Hollywood Reporter.

“That means mostly foreign and especially Hollywood productions will benefit from the increased location offset for blockbuster projects, as Australia looks to be more competitive with rival international jurisdictions and draw more projects and employment to its shores.”

It is also an ominous sign that less entertainment is being made in America  – non-US TV shows and movies make up about 70 per cent of Netflix and Amazon’s original content commissions, according to Ampere Analysis.

The downside, says Deaner, is that without “a counterbalance” in commissioning local productions, last week’s decision means the screen sector “is on track to develop more as a service provider for Hollywood productions”.

Local storytelling, he warns, is at risk.

‘More bang for our buck’

Australia has become “one of the most competitive” locations for film and TV production, says Ausfilm, with all states and territories in a position to offer local casts and crews, facilities and backdrops.

When Universal Pictures filmed Hollywood action-thriller The Fall Guy last year, it was a great day for the local industry.

The federal government contributed $30 million from its Location Incentive budget, forecast employment for 1000 Australian cast and crew – not to mention 3015 extras – and the big-budget film was expected to inject $244 million into our economy.

One crew member, special effects supervisor Dan Oliver (Mad Max: Fury Road, Thor: Love and Thunder, The Invisible Man), said the industry will get “more bang for our buck”, attracting more productions and long-term investment.

“Certainty the location offset [also] means that foreign investment in our industry makes sense in a way that it hasn’t before,” he said.

Filmed on location in Queensland including Village Roadshow Studios and the Daintree Rainforest, the Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire producers told Ausfilm this week the decision to film in Australia for the third time was our “diversity of locations and the solid crew base”.

They also called out the state and federal governments for supporting the production and offering the Location Offset incentive.

The film is now officially the highest-grossing movie in the Legendary and Warner Bros. Monsterverse bringing in $57 million at the global box office.

Bryan Brown says quotas for Australian-made content are needed for streaming services. Photo: AAP

‘Make local stuff’

Australian actor Bryan Brown addressed the National Press Club this time last year to push for quotas for streaming services.

He said it was a matter of “fighting for our culture”.

Despite the government announcing in early 2023 that the streamers would be required to invest revenue in the production of local content from mid-2024, nothing has happened.

“A 20 per cent reinvestment obligation, complemented by strong and sound IP arrangements, would help secure the future of our industry and keep it vibrant,” Brown said at the time.

“The streaming companies will fight hard to not legislate. They are a business… and we must fight just as hard because this is for our culture.”

“There’s a new game on the block for our industry: Streaming.

“Australian audiences are loving streamers, and a few billion dollars in revenue is handed over by us each year to the streaming companies.

“We need some of that revenue put back into Australian stories.

“And I mean Australian stories. Not stories filmed in Australia with American accents.

“That’s a cultural death,” he said.

– TND