Written by on Nov 2, 2012. Posted in On Location

International location filming falls sharply in Australia in 2011/12

International location filming in Australia fell sharply in 2011/12, with no big-budget productions shooting in the country. Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby qualified as an Australian production and may have had to film elsewhere without the Producer Offset.

Figures from Screen Australia show that the country made AUD49 million from international productions in 2011/12, a dramatic decline from the AUD86 million reported in the previous year. The strong Australian dollar is a long-term obstacle and the Government is under pressure to increase the location offset.

The Great Gatsby recreated a period New York in Sydney and the adaptation was also co-written and produced by Luhrmann: “To work with Australia's skilled film technicians and facilities, and to bring large-scale projects like The Great Gatsby to Australia, we can't have our head in the sand about the fact that the country is a long way away."

Without the Producer Offset there is simply no way that we could have picked up on and continued the creative relationships that have evolved with us in Australia, and that have so enriched our creative process.

Baz Luhrmann

He adds: “Without the Producer Offset there is simply no way that we could have picked up on and continued the creative relationships that have evolved with us in Australia, and that have so enriched our creative process.”

Hugh Jackman’s The Wolverine could only commit to an Australian shoot with a special, one-off Government rebate. The Steven Spielberg-produced TV series Terra Nova filmed its single season in Queensland but the high costs of location filming were reportedly part of the reason for the show’s cancellation.

(The Great Gatsby stills: Warner Bros)