Office of the Arts, Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications
Australia has long had a reputation in the industry for making high quality screen production. But it may surprise you to learn that titles including Wolverine, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, San Andreas, and Thor: Ragnarok were also filmed in Australia.
Australia is home to diverse landscapes and architecture, world-class studios, award-winning cast, hard-working crew and post, digital and visual effects talent. Importantly, Australia ’s careful management of COVID-19 and the Australian Government ’s generous Location Incentive have made Australia one of the most attractive places in the world to make movies and television right now.
The Location Incentive is a merit-assessed grant program where funding of up to 13.5 per cent of a project ’s Qualifying Australian Production Expenditure may be offered to successful applicants. This grant works alongside the Location Offset (at 16.5 per cent) to effectively increase the tax rebate to 30 per cent to make Australia a globally competitive destination for international footloose production.
In July 2020 the Australian Government added AU$400 million to the Location Incentive, bringing the total program amount to AU$540 million. This adds to a strong pipeline of international screen production activity, jobs and investment by boosting the Location Incentive program over the next three years and extending it for four more years to 2026-27.
As at 26 March 2021, 22 productions have announced that they will film in Australia as result of support through the Location Incentive. This includes Blacklight starring Liam Neeson, Netflix ’s Escape from Spiderhead, Pieces of Her and God ’s Favorite Idiot; Thirteen Lives directed by Ron Howard; Stan and BBCOne series The Tourist, season two of Amazon ’s hit series The Wilds, and Ticket to Paradise starring Julia Roberts and George Clooney.
Together, the 22 productions are estimated to generate spending of over AU$1.66 billion, support approximately 12,700 local jobs for cast and crew, and engage more than 13,500 Australian businesses. This includes jobs in front of and behind the camera, and in industries as diverse as costume design to construction.
Large-scale international productions bring enormous benefits to the Australian screen sector and broader Australian economy. By attracting back-to-back productions, studios can build their relationships here in Australia, and an ongoing pipeline of work is established for Australia ’s screen sector. These continued opportunities will have long-lasting benefits by building the local industry, providing certainty for businesses to invest in skills and development, and inspiring Australian content creation.
Taika Waititi: Nurturing Indigenous talent and story
Director Taika Waititi is a strong proponent of Indigenous talent in the films he directs. Thor: Ragnarok (2017) brought together Indigenous film producers talent from across Australia as part of an attachment scheme with Screen Australia ’s Indigenous Department to nurture Indigenous talent and storytelling. This included Darwin-based digital artist Jonathan Saunders along with others working on stunts, and set design and graphic design/illustration.
“Being Maori, it ’s extremely important to me to have native presence on any film. We ’re bringing a huge Hollywood production to this country and it ’s only right that we make an effort to include Indigenous film makers on the journey” Taika Waititi, Director, Thor: Ragnarok, August 2016.
Waititi and actor Chris Hemsworth kicked off the filming of Thor: Love and Thunder on Australia Day with an Indigenous land acknowledgement ceremony.
“A beautiful start to our shoot today with a ‘Welcome to Country ’ ceremony from the Gamay dancers of the Gadifal and Bidiagal Nation and performance by Maori dancers from Te Aranganui.” Chris Hemsworth
