Saturday, December 9, 2023

Ten Percent Post/VFX Incentive Puts NSW in Front for Global Filmmakers

The Australian state of New South Wales is now one of the most competitive locations in the world for filmmakers following the announcement of a new 10% tax incentive for the Post, Digital and Visual Effects (PDV) sector.

According to funding body Create NSW, the post-production incentive gives filmmakers and studios even more reasons to locate in NSW. Coupled with Create NSW’s extended Made in NSW funding, which so far has supported over 20,000 jobs and brought in a spend of over AUD$700m across the State, the body says this is a great opportunity for filmmakers and studios.

Nearly 60 per cent of Australia’s screen practitioners and more than half of the country’s production and post-production businesses call NSW home. The incentive brings NSW in line with global locations such as the US, UK and Canada, in addition to competing States, and can be accessed by filmmakers on top of Federal incentives, who commit to spending over $500,000 on PDV in NSW.

This incentive has allowed Create NSW to sign with Warner Bros. for post-production on the upcoming Untitled Baz Luhrmann Elvis Project, which anticipates injecting up to $35m into the State.

The incentive has been welcomed by the likes of Animal Logic, Cutting Edge, Fin Design, Plastic Wax, Slate VFX, and Spectrum Films.

Warner Bros. Pictures Senior Vice President of Production Danielle Dajani said, “The announcement of a PDV credit by the NSW government will provide much-needed consistency and confidence to productions which must make decisions on where to place post work under very tight timeframes. This will allow us to utilize the world-class facilities in NSW for our upcoming Baz Luhrmann project in 2020.”

Animal Logic CEO Zareh Nalbandian said, “We welcome the NSW Government’s acknowledgement of the value of our creative industries by this important commitment to supporting the competitiveness of our film, TV and streaming industries.”

AL Chief Operating Officer Sharon Taylor added, “This clear commitment by the NSW Government to making PDV attraction incentives more competitive with other states such as South Australia will be a huge boost to Animal Logic’s ability to continue to secure large scale international productions like Peter Rabbit to NSW.”

Cutting Edge Head of Features & Television Marcus Bolton said, “This incentive will allow us to supercharge the national offer for Cutting Edge. We have already seen the uplift and benefit from other States’ incentives for us, and this NSW change would allow us to drive the focus for our Sydney team with increased infrastructure and most importantly creatives.

“This news coupled with the recent federal acceptance of PDV eligibility for the streaming services such as Netflix & Amazon is a winning combination for Cutting Edge to help kickstart the sector back in par with other domestic State offers.”

Fin Design Managing Director Chris Spry said, “This incentive allows NSW to be globally competitive again and will stem the closure of NSW businesses and outflow of talented professionals interstate and overseas.

“It will enable Fin to double in size in a matter of months and allow us to create 60 new full-time jobs for visual effects professionals. This growth will let us take on larger projects and increase our capacity, benefitting the entire State’s local, national and international screen production activity and creating even more jobs for the overall screen sector.

“It will also bring an important skillset back to the State, which will benefit multiple industries which use the same skills as visual effects professionals, including defence, education, medical and manufacturing sectors.”

Plastic Wax General Manager Felix Crawshaw said, “Online streaming services like Netflix, Amazon and Hulu qualifying for the federal PDV incentive is a game-changer for Plastic Wax and their clients, and this new State-based incentive takes this even further.

“State-based incentives are a crucial deciding factor that influences producer’s decisions on where to place their shows. With the Animation industry showing strong growth and set to reach US$270bn by 2020, this incentive will not only ensure that NSW remains competitively ‘on par’ with other territories, but also position NSW perfectly in becoming the animation capital of Australia.”

Slate VFX Directors Prue Fletcher, Bryn Farrelly and David Booth said, “SLATEVFX are pleased that the NSW Government is now offering this PDV incentive on top of the federal rebate, which brings it up to 40% for filmmakers.

“This incentive will help grow the digital production industry and stimulate the local sector by enabling companies to expand and retain talented crews. It will also be a major attraction to international productions, complimenting the services provided in NSW.”

Spectrum Films Managing Director Josh Pomeranz said, “This 10% PDV rebate will not only mean a significant boost to post production houses being able to support local content across feature and TV production, it will bolster Spectrum’s ability to strengthen our connections with the North American and Asian markets.

“The incentive will maximise the ability of post houses to capitalise on the increase in global content production due to the surge in demand for SVOD. Everyone will benefit from this with increased employment in the post sector, stimulating creative talent and the VFX sector with whom post houses are frequently collaborating. It is an exciting concept with enormous ramifications for the future of the film and television industry in NSW.”

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