Incentives


HBO Films' The Pacific

Mark Steven Johnson and Nicolas Cage
on the set of Ghost Rider

The set of Charlotte's Web
at Melbourne Central City Studios

Melbourne is an extremely cost-effective film making city, and its attractive financial incentives make it an appealing production destination.

Both the State Government of Victoria and the Federal Government vigorously support the film and television industry through various financial incentives. The Victorian Government has two financial incentive funds designed to attract productions to the State and the Federal Government offers three refundable tax offset rebates.

Film Victoria's Incentive Programs

The Victorian Government through Film Victoria offers incentive programs to encourage producers to bring their film and television projects to Melbourne and the State. The incentives are a simple grant system, provided in the form of a rebate at the end of production. To be eligible, your project must be footloose (ie. not already locked into production in Victoria, and you are exploring alternative interstate or overseas locations).

Production Investment Attraction Fund (PIAF)

The PIAF grant is designed to attract interstate or offshore productions to film or post produce feature films, television series, reality programs, mini-series, telemovies, animation series and documentaries in the state of Victoria.

Regional Location Assistance Fund (RLAF)

The RLAF grant is designed to encourage local and footloose projects (i.e. projects which have qualified interstate and/or international alternatives) to use locations outside metropolitan Melbourne. RLAF assists projects by offsetting some of the additional costs incurred when filming in regional areas such as accommodation, living overheads and travel.

If you are interested in filming in Melbourne, please contact Kate Marks, Incentives and Production Attraction Manager, on +61 3 9660 3200 or kate.marks@film.vic.gov.au

It is obvious that Film Victoria understands the film industry and what it takes to support a production... state of the art studio facilities, skilled crew, great financial incentives, and world-class post production services. Their relationships with the city and local authorities made filming on location very easy.

Andi Isaacs, Executive Vice President & Head of Physical Production, Summit Entertainment

Australian Federal Government Screen Production Incentive

Location Offset

The Australian Government's updated Location Offset provides a 15% rebate on qualifying expenditure to large budget film and television productions which film in Australia. The Location Offset is available to productions with a minimum Australian expenditure of AU$15million. Australian spends between AU$15million and AU$50million must represent 70% of the production's total budget.

Post/Digital/VFX Offset

Complimenting the Location Offset is a post production digital and visual effects (PDV) Offset. This provides a 15% rebate to projects that spend at least AU$5million on post, digital and VFX works in Australia regardless of whether the production was shot in Australia.

Producer Offset

The Producer Offset is a tax-based incentive for producers of Australian screen projects. A 40% rebate of qualifying expenditure is available to feature films and a 20% rebate of qualifying expenditure on all other formats, as set out in the legislation and guidelines. Eligible projects must be deemed to have Significant Australian Content in order to be entitled for this incentive. Screen Australia determines eligibility for Significant Australian Content and considers the following in their assessment:

For information about the Location and PDV Offsets please contact:
Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts
Telephone: 61 02 6275 9655
Website: www.arts.gov.au/film
Email: filmenquiries@environment.gov.au

Co-production Program

Australia has co-production treaties with a number of countries including Canada, UK and most recently Singapore and China. A film or television program approved as an official co-production is regarded as a national production of each of the co-producing countries. This means it is eligible to apply for any benefits or programs of assistance available.

More detailed information on the Producer Offset and Co-production program is available from:

Screen Australia
Producer Offset and Co-production branch
T: + 61 2 8113 1042
Email: produceroffsetenquiries@screenaustralia.gov.au
Website: www.screenaustralia.gov.au