Certain budget reforms brought down by Peter Costello last week
have, on the whole, been welcomed by the Australian film industry.
There has been a streamlined approach to the various funding bodies
when the Government announced the creation of the Australian Screen
Authority, a merger of the Australian Film Commission, the Film Finance
Corporation and Film Australia Limited.
A greater emphasis has been placed on private investment with the
treasurer outlining plans to introduce a rebate on production of 40%
for film and 20% for television and at the same time removing the much
criticized 10BA scheme. Whether this will transpire into more film and
television being made, or better content being produced, only time will
tell. But we see this as a long overdue initiative.
Another potentially exciting development was the introduction of a 15%
rebate for off shore work valued at over $5 million to the post
production and digital effects industries; naturally very close to our
hearts, given that these can provide much needed employment to many in
the post production areas. Whilst it may not necessarily affect
Editors, any initiative that brings business to this country will
surely benefit practitioners and enable post production companies to
not only maintain, but build their infrastructures. The Australian
Screen Editors Guild applauds this rebate initiative.
However, our concern is that it shouldn’t just apply to a single
project. It is very rare for a single project to have a budget of over
$5 million for post alone and therefore it would be more advantageous
for a studio or production company to bundle together a number of
projects including editing, sound and visual effects to make up the $5
million quota. This would surely create a greater incentive for
offshore work to travel here, thus employing more people, who can pay
more taxes and generally benefit the Australian economy and our local
infrastructure.
This of course, needs to be coupled with a well-structured data highway
(broadband) to access this business, or this wonderful potential may go
largely unrealised.
Let’s keep lobbying.
You can view the 2007-08 Budget Film Package at the AFC site.
