The Lego Movie builds the case for Australian know how
Two Aussie companies had a large hand in creating the new Lego movie,and in a piece that first appeared in The Conversation David Court of The Australian Film, Television and Radio School looks at what it shows about the local industry.
The Lego Movie was released to a legion of fans in the US last Friday and massive box office success. So what do a Hollywood movie and a Danish toy company have to do with Australia? Well, quite a lot as it happens…
Court
Sitting high in the credits for the film are Sydney-based visual-effects company Animal Logic and co-producer and co-financier Village Roadshow Pictures.
David are you seriously suggesting a local production company that gets a 40% production subsidy to make offshore films for Hollywood is a viable and integral part of the film industry ecosystem? It is a level of manufacturing subsidy which is simply unsustainable and Australian taxpayers should not have to subsidise it. The Great Gatsby is no different, financed by the same parties with the same level of subsidies. And there are countless others. Perhaps Australian advertising agencies should also receive a 40% subsidy to create commercials for here and abroad using Animal Logic or other local service providers, or brewers, wine makers, software creators or cattle farmers. What’s the difference then with these Hollywood film productions?
Actually, the US money subsidises the antipodean industry. It’s an effective financial way to ensure the domestic industry is there to continue to make domestic product. You only have to look across the pond to NZ to see how removal of the incentive decimated their industry – and thus their ability to tell local stories – in a year. That’s about to be reversed as that government belatedly realise their mistake.