Industry review published: Offset results, “positive”
The Government has published the long-awaited review of the independent screen production sector, highlighting its level of investment and the areas of opportunity to improve the effectiveness of the existing offsets, but avoiding any clear recommendations.
“The Government has committed to working with the sector to respond to the Review. In particular I’m keen to hear more from the sector about its strategies for improving audience engagement and attracting additional private financing,” said Minister for the Arts Simon Crean.
Crean said Government investment had increased three-fold in the three years since the introduction of the Australian Screen Production Incentive (Producer, Location and PDV offsets), from $136.7 to $412.1m.
According to the Minister, the Producer Offset is encouraging domestic feature film production, with an 88 percent increase in total production expenditure ($265m in 2009/10) compared to the five year pre-Offset average ($141m). The Offset has provided $267m in rebates, from its inception in 2008 to the end of 2010 – however, details about what projects have received such rebates, and the amounts they have been able to claim remain a mystery due to tax secrecy laws; a large percentage of this amount is likely to have gone to Australia, Knowing and Legend of the Guardians.
