Government must act immediately on incentives: Fuel VFX
In its response to the review of the Australian independent screen production sector, post-production and visual effects company Fuel VFX asks the federal Government to act immediately to change the Location/PDV incentives.
“The review puts forward two possible solutions to offset the impact [of the high Australian dollar] on the screen industry. Fuel VFX would endorse either of these proposals and would encourage the federal government to act immediately to implement these reforms to current policies,” policy ancd communications manager Trish Graham told Encore.
The review mentioned the two potential proposals to counter the decline in offshore large-budget production: “to either increase the rebate level to 30 per cent; or to introduce a rebate level range starting at 15 per cent and rising to 30 per cent, pegged to the value of the Australian dollar against the US dollar”.
“The report reflects the considered opinions of many screen industry professionals and stakeholders, taking onboard a diversity of submissions and focus group discussions with producers and service providers. The review clearly outlines the issues that are restricting the ability of Australia to attract offshore production, specifically the uncompetitive nature of Australia’s incentives as compared to territories like Canada and US states like Louisiana, and more importantly the effect of the high Australian dollar,” said Graham.
“Production incentives offered by the government are an essential element in helping companies like Fuel remain competitive in a global market. They help make us attractive to Producers who shop globally for the best companies to work on their films. Currently with our dollar so high, they are even more important in helping to buffer the exchange rates. When the threshold for the PDV offshore incentive was reduced from $5m to $500,000 in 2010, this certainly helped Fuel secure contracts with a number of high-profile US studio feature film productions,” she added.
