With cameras rolling in Melbourne on Liam Neeson’s latest action thriller, Blacklight, the Victorian Government has made a record investment in screen production with the launch of the new Victorian Screen Incentive, designed to attract more international screen projects to Victoria.
The Victorian Screen Incentive will target the attraction of physical productions, post-production, VFX, animation and, for the first time, digital games projects to be made in the state of Victoria, which is Australia’s centre for creativity and digital innovation.
Caroline Pitcher, CEO of Film Victoria, said “The Victorian Screen Incentive aims to capture an increased share of the significant global growth that the screened entertainment industry is experiencing,”
“The incentive will increase Victoria’s competitive position to attract more projects of scale and coupled with a doubling of Film Victoria’s current investment in locally created digital games will grow the sector in capability and capacity alongside the best in the world.”
Caroline Pitcher, CEO, Film Victoria
The Victorian Screen Incentive provides a grant of up to 10 per cent on qualifying production expenditure in Victoria. It also sees the lowering of the post-production threshold to attract more projects to undertake post-production in Victoria.
“Victoria is a renowned global screen hub, home to award-winning talent and experienced crews, world-class infrastructure, diverse and film-friendly locations all within easy reach of downtown – and on top of that, Melbourne is a wonderful place to live,” said Caroline.
“Our expert post-production, VFX and animation studios have highly-skilled creators, editors, animators, compositors, sound engineers, composers and more, who can deliver the best outcomes possible for projects, and we’ve proved that time and time again.”
Written, directed and produced by Ozark co-creator Mark Williams, Blacklight is the latest in a long line of productions that have filmed in Victoria, including Preacher S4, The Cry, Winchester and The Leftovers S3. Netflix Originals series Clickbait, starring Adrian Grenier, Betty Gabriel and Zoe Kazan, is currently wrapping the last few weeks of its shoot in Melbourne, and Shantaram, which commenced filming in Victoria last year, will return to production in 2021.
Victoria’s VFX studios have created award-winning visual effects on some of the world’s most recognised productions, such as Spider-Man: Far from Home, Captain Marvel, Black Panther, Aquaman and Game of Thrones, while the state boasts a strong animation sector with many globally renowned animators and studios, including Australia’s largest 2D animation studio, who have the talent and capability to deliver world-class animation for film, series and digital games.
The Victorian Screen Incentive can be combined with the Australian government’s Australian Screen Production Incentive, including the 30% PDV Offset, 16.5% Location Offset (which can be combined with the additional 13.5% Location Incentive) and the Producer Offset, which is 40% for features and 20% for TV/online, as well as with Film Victoria’s Regional Location Assistance Fund (RLAF) which offers grants to encourage screen productions to locate production activity in regional Victoria.
To talk to Film Victoria about making your next project in Melbourne, you can contact:
Find out more about:
Joe Brinkmann
Production Attraction & Support Manager, Film Victoria
joe.brinkmann@film.vic.gov.au