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New PDV incentive scheme in Queensland

Screen Queensland has launched a Post, Digital and Visual Effects Attraction Grant to secure national and international ‘footloose’ film and television projects to Queensland.

CEO Tracey Vieira said the PDV Incentive is part of Screen Queensland’s long-term positioning of Queensland as a competitive and attractive option for producers.

‘The PDV market is extremely competitive internationally and in order for us to generate new economic activity and jobs in the post sector, we need to compete on a level playing field. Queensland has world-class facilities and practitioners and this opens the door for business to grow and new talent to emerge,’ she said.

The Australian screen industry experienced a big increase in the national PDV sector expenditure from $10 million in 2012-13 to $37 million in 2013-14 due to the fall in the Australian dollar and productions taking advantage of the federal 30 per cent PDV Offset.

‘It is essential that we are competitive with the other States who have incentivised their post sector and that we too get a big piece of the PDV pie.

‘We are aggressively targeting foreign and footloose post-production and visual effects work with our new PDV incentive to increase the work output for Queensland practitioners.

‘We anticipate our brand new PDV initiative will deliver real results and I am thrilled to say that we have already attracted one international production with the U.S. romance fantasy feature film Age of Adaline; with one VFX vendor being Cutting Edge in Brisbane, Queensland.’

Age of Adaline is a big budget production starring Harrison Ford and Blake Lively, produced by Lakeshore Entertainment and Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, and will release in cinemas April 2015.

‘We congratulate Cutting Edge who secured this contract. This is not only a win for them but a win for all PDV facilities in Queensland.’

Queensland has experienced a trajectory of growth in international and domestic productions over the past 12months. And along with the PDV Incentives and to keep building a successful film, television and digital content industry in a shifting screen landscape, Screen Queensland has also recently unveiled amendments to its funding program guidelines.

‘As a screen agency, we are continuously engaging with our industry and working towards improving the infrastructure and financial incentives required to support increased levels of screen content production.

‘Our Screen Queensland Production and Development team is currently doing a roadshow around Queensland to talk with our industry about changes being made to our funding frameworks. We look forward to outlining these in detail in the coming few weeks once our team has visited their final stop of the SQ Roadshow in Cairns in Far North Queensland.

‘We believe our new PDV incentive, coupled with our updated guidelines, and on the back-end of our slate of production activity, will position Queensland as an attractive one-stop shop for footloose productions on a global scale.’

For further information about Screen Queensland’s PDV Incentive and other incentives, visit www.screenqueensland.com.au