The screen production sector contributed more than $77 million to the state’s economy in 2013-14 and directly or indirectly employed the equivalent of 754 people, according to a new report by Deloitte Access Economics.

The  report, commissioned by the South Australian Film Corporation, also says the State Government’s $48 million investment in the screen production hub, Adelaide Studios, is paying dividends in attracting film-makers to Adelaide.

The screen production sector contributed $38.8 million in direct economic benefit and almost an identical amount in indirect benefit, or flow-on effects, to the State’s economy.

“One direct contribution from the screen production sector is the labour income of the approximately 150 staff who are employed by Rising Sun Pictures in their offices on Pulteney Street,” the report says.

“While much of its work is international, Rising Sun Pictures also benefits from other parts of the South Australian screen production sector and produced visual effects as part of the Anzac Girls production.’

“The jobs and investment in the screen production sector are spread across South Australia in a wide range of roles – from highly trained creative professionals at Academy Award winning Visual Effects (VFX) houses with major international reputations to trades working on film sets.

“Indirectly, screen production supports other sectors including food and hospitality, accommodation, construction and professional services.”

Deloitte Access Economics details the spending in South Australia by a number of high profile films and television series that have been shot and produced in the State, including:

• Anzac Girls, an ABC television series that received $330,000 from the SA Film Corporation, spent 58 per cent of its $9 million budget,
• Tracks, a feature film of the exploits of adventurer, Robyn Davidson, spent around $3.7 million of its $12 million budget, and
• Babadook, a horror movie, employed 95 South Australian crew and outlaid $1.8 million of its $2.7 million budget.

“Our consultation with the screen production industry found that the competition for projects to obtain funds was very strong and that the comparative values of the incentives offered by each jurisdiction were important to decision making,” the report says.

“Professional facilities and a critical mass of skilled workers in the industry were seen as important as government incentives.

“Several of the stakeholders who Deloitte Access Economics consulted with praised the Adelaide Studios facilities highly, and one said the ability to use Adelaide Studios (the screen production hub developed at Glenside) had proved decisive in choosing to locate a project in South Australia,” the report says.

Kirsty Stark, a young South Australian film producer and participant in Business SA’s SAYES program, has taken an innovative approach to the emerging world of online film. Read Kirsty’s full story in this week’s The Vanguard.