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Infrastructure loss causes crisis in the film industry

Press release from The Lantern Group

Ausfilm calls for urgent review of the incentive program to attract high end international feature production to Australia as Panavision announce the selling of a major piece of infrastructure – Panalux lighting – a division of Panavision, at the opening of the Screen Producers of Australia Association (SPAA) annual conference in Sydney today.

After accepting a facilities award for Panavision’s 45 years of service to the film industry, Martin Cayzer, Managing Director of Panavision, announced the sale of Panalux and the likelihood of millions of dollars of lighting equipment leaving Australia, due to the lack of the current Australian Screen Production Incentive scheme to compete in the market place internationally.

International production funded the development of the industry infrastructure over the past decade and now with the decline of international production comes the dismantling of that same infrastructure and the skilled crew base is leaving our shores.

This world-class infrastructure and crew, subsidised by international production, is used by local filmmakers to create features such as Patrick Hughes’ Red Hill who was able to access equipment and technicians at a much reduced rate. Soon this will no longer be the case and the quality of Australian films will suffer as a result.

“International productions give us – and many more service companies – the flexibility to meet local producer’s budgets. It allows our crews to be trained and gain experience so that they are internationally competitive,” said Cayzer.

He also highlighted that although the latest Screen Australia Drama Report 2009-10 shows a 2% total increase in production driven by two international productions Narnia and Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, the figures mask the fact that there are no international features scheduled in the pipeline.

The Ausfilm COO and LA Film Commissioner, Tracey Viera, states “US studios are no longer budgeting for Australia. There are several factors impacting on our ability to compete – there are many countries and states recognising the economic benefits of high end features; the low tax incentives combined with the rising AUD against the USD is not competitive and there is a contraction in the number of projects in the marketplace.”

“Urgent action by Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, is necessary to address the current crisis,” urged Cayzer. “Unless changes to the screen incentive program happens, Panalux is just the beginning of the dismantling of key infrastructure. We have already lost hundreds of highly skilled crew.”

The Ausfilm commissioned PricewaterhouseCoopers economic impact study reports that since the inception of the Australian Screen Production Incentive program in 2001, 2.2 billion AUD inward investment has been generated in Australia.

As this incentive program is no longer competitive, there are currently no international feature productions budgeting for Australia.