17 > Celeste ANNUAL REVIEW 18 CONTACT Head Office Address: Gold Coast Office Address: Suite 1/30 Florence Street c/o Village Roadshow Studios Newstead Qld 4006 Building 9A, Entertainment Road Australia Oxenford QLD 4210 T. +61 7 3248 0500 Australia E. [email protected] Postal Address: PO Box 15094 City East Brisbane Qld 4002 Australia Screen Queensland's purpose is to grow the screen industry to be a significant contributor to the economic and cultural wellbeing of Queensland. > Harrow Screen Queensland ACN 056 169 316 ABN 20 056 169 316 Published by Screen Queensland 2018 Also published on screenqld.com.au -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- All figures noted in this Annual Report, including Queensland Production Expenditure (QPE) and jobs, are for the productions given funding in the 2017-18 Financial Year which may or may not have gone into principal photography. > Cover image - Tidelands In the 2017–18 Financial Year, Screen Queensland funded 28 film and television screen productions and games, which generated an estimated $168 million in direct Queensland Production Expenditure (QPE) and more than 1,960 employment opportunities for Queenslanders. > CONTENTS Message from The Premier of Queensland 5 Screen Queensland Chair 7 Look What We Achieved Together 8 2017-18 Highlights 10 Production in Queensland 14 New Initiatives in Screen 18 Screen Support Programs 26 Production Attraction Funding Program 30 Dora the Explorer 32 Soundstage 9 Village Roadshow Studios 34 Industry Participation 38 Development Investment in 2017-18 40 SQ Screen Investment 42 SQ Content Initiatives 44 Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander Initiatives 44 Investing in Game Developers 46 sqhub 47 Short Films 48 Screen Culture 2017-18 50 Women on Screen 52 Industry Events 1 July 2017 – 30 June 2018 54 Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Fund 2017-18 56 Year in Review 2017-18 62 > The Family Law Series 3 > Celeste > MESSAGE FROM THE PREMIER OF QUEENSLAND There are more than 340 film and video production and post production businesses and digital game businesses making their creative mark in Queensland today. Behind them all, and behind the exhilarating influx of overseas studios choosing to film here, is my Government’s strong commitment and very significant investment to support them through Screen Queensland. Our $50 million Production Attraction Strategy has so far generated over 5500 jobs and $501 million in economic benefit, securing major feature films like Dora the Explorer, Aquaman and Godzilla vs. Kong and television series like Harrow and Tidelands. Queensland’s screen industry is thriving. 2017–18 was a thrilling year for our screen Now a $1 billion+ economic driver, it boasts creatives and technical crews, who were an ever expanding list of big-name global catapulted to unprecedented heights productions, including the recent box office hit, thanks to Screen Queensland’s funding Aquaman. and opportunity-making, world-attention- grabbing initiatives. That momentum Our Advance Queensland Screen Industry continues, as does my Government’s 10-year Roadmap and Action Plan is now in commitment to building the industry place, setting out an ambitious long-term for the economic and cultural benefit of vision for Queensland to become a globally Queenslanders. recognised commercial and creative leader in the screen industry, creating jobs for the future, boosting the economy and enriching ANNASTACIA PALASZCZUK MP the community with diverse content. I take this opportunity to thank everyone who contributed Premier of Queensland to the Roadmap’s industry consultation phase Minister for Trade in late 2017. > Danger Close 5 Screen Queensland invests in people and projects to grow a creative, innovative and successful screen industry and delivers an active screen culture across the state. > SCREEN QUEENSLAND CHAIR SQ provided record levels of investment to games, an increase of 2010 per cent on the previous year, and also saw an overwhelmingly large response to new Game Development and Marketing Investment initiatives. SQ also provided record funds through the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Fund spending $530,593 in 2017-18 for a range of projects that included short films, short documentaries, masterclasses, placements, talent camp, development investment, market funding and production investment. This represents a 75 per cent increase on the previous year and a 254 per cent increase on In 2017-18, rapid changes and disruption in 2015-16. the screen industry continued to change the playing field for the screen industries globally. The support provided through SQ for projects This has resulted in increased demand of such as Ludo Studios' Bluey and Like A content that resonates globally, increased Photon’s Tales from Sanctuary City films, have audience choices and more platforms for resulted in the establishment of animation accessing content than ever before. studios in the state with more than 100 combined employees in those studios. Screen Queensland (SQ) is committed to We have also seen many crew permanently building a Queensland industry that is locate to Queensland due to the consistent creatively bold, innovative and global in its work taking place in the state. ambition. The 2017-18 Financial year has been an exceptional year for Queensland backed by The 2017-18 review provides great detail on strong Government support and new innovative the many applications, initiatives, productions, approaches that support practitioners to events and opportunities that SQ is delivering success. to support screen in Queensland. With the new Screen Queensland Studios coming In January 2018, SQ launched the sqhub which online in 2018-19 and the continued growth is the first-of-its kind in the Australian industry. of the screen industry in the state, the year sqhub brings Queensland game developers, ahead promises to be a blockbuster. digital content makers and screen industry creatives under one roof to enable collaboration and mentoring that is catapulting these businesses forward. In its first year, it has 13 full time residents and hot desks for daily use. > Celeste Linda Lavarch The sqhub has been regularly at capacity in its Screen Queensland Chair first year. 7 > LOOK WHAT A SHARED WORKING SPACE AND INCUBATOR PROGRAM WE ACHIEVED $ sqhub WAS CREATED THE 672,136 FIRST-OF-ITS KIND IN AUSTRALIA TOGETHER ABORIGINAL & TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER FUNDING TEAMS/ $ PROJECTS 1,652,184 31 SUPPORTED SPENT ON SQ CONTENT INITIATIVES TEAMS/ $ PROJECTS 612,998 SUPPORTED 1,963 DEVELOPMENT FUNDING 137 ESTIMATED SHORT/ JOBS CREATED THROUGH SQ-SUPPORTED PRODUCTIONS (INCL. FILMS $ 12CREATIVE TEAMS WERE SUPPORTED WITH 168M GAMES) INTERNATIONAL 23 PRODUCTIONS ESTIMATED QPE INDUSTRY $ 3 ESTIMATED EVENTS 480K FUNDING $92M IN DIRECT QPE DOMESTIC PRODUCTIONS ROI 15 injecting 7 WERE SUPPORTED PDV $ DIRECTLY INTO THE GAMES WITH $397,218 FOR EVERY $1 INVESTED, 3 PROJECTS QUEENSLAND ECONOMY PROJECTS FUNDING ESTIMATED 61M ESTIMATED WE RETURNED $ $ $ 1,485,500 1.6M 7 TO THE 2.3M SCREEN CULTURE FUNDING IN DIRECT QPE IN DIRECT QPE QUEENSLAND ECONOMY FESTIVALS AND 36 SCREEN EVENTS 9 The SQ-supported project Celeste, a Paramount Pictures’ Dora the compelling love story by Brisbane-born Explorer was successfully attracted to filmmaker Ben Hackworth and set in Queensland by the State Government the tropical splendour of Far North via Screen Queensland. 1 Queensland, goes into production. 5 Written by Ben Hackworth and Bille Brown, Dora the Explorer filmed exclusively in directed by Ben Hackworth and produced by Queensland on location and at Village Roadshow > 2017-18 Lizzette Atkins and Raphael Cooks of Unicorn Studios on the Gold Coast. Films. It provided approximately 350 job opportunities HIGHLIGHTS for Queensland crew and creatives plus an attachment program helping to build the careers of early-career practitioners. The production spent > Bluey approximately $43 million directly in Queensland. Queensland-based and Emmy® and Grace Beside Me, a 13 episode Mystery thriller The Second, a Screen BAFTA Award-winning Hoodlum live-action children’s drama series, Queensland and Stan Original Feature Entertainment created and produced the premiered on NITV in February 2018 Film, went into production (funded in 2television series Harrow, which debuted 6 with a second window on ABC ME 7 the 2016-17 FY) with first-time feature in Australia on ABC TV in March 2018 to critical (funded in the 2016-17 FY). film director Mairi Cameron and written and and audience acclaim. Hoodlum was the first produced by Stephen Lance with Leanne Tonkes production company in Queensland to secure a Grace Beside Me, produced by Dena Curtis as producer. prestigious first-look deal with Disney-owned ABC and Lois Randall, was filmed in Beaudesert Studios International for Harrow, which has since and the spectacular landscapes of the Scenic The Second opened the 2018 Gold Coast Film premiered in the United States on Hulu with more Rim region of South East Queensland. Festival and screened at the Sydney Film Festival. than 20 million subscribers. The drama series was nominated in 2018 for a The feature film was nominated in 2018 for an > Harrow In 2018, Harrow was nominated for a TV Week TV Week Logie Award for Most Outstanding Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Logie Award for most outstanding drama series. Children’s Program. Arts Award (AACTA) for Best Indie Film. 3 4 8 Wik Vs Queensland was produced