Aust must do more to attract Hollywood
One of Hollywood's top producers says Australia must offer better subsidies if it hopes to attract major film projects.
Lorenzo di Bonaventura, whose movies include the $US2.6 billion Transformers franchise and Angelina Jolie's action film Salt, is a big fan of Australian film crews, facilities and locations after shooting The Matrix and its two sequels in Sydney.
Di Bonaventura was a high-ranking executive at Warner Bros and a key player in choosing Australia as the shoot location for 1999's The Matrix, but the financial landscape has changed with the Aussie dollar today almost doubling in value against the greenback, making it less profitable for Hollywood to film Down Under.
More than 40 US states, including Louisiana, New Mexico, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, and European nations aggressively compete with Australia for Hollywood projects by offering juicy subsidies and incentives.
'Yes, they do,' Di Bonaventura told AAP when asked if the Australian government needed to increase its subsidies.
The federal government offers a 16.5 per cent location offset, 30 per cent post-production and visual effects offset and a 40 per cent producer offset and Australian states also offer incentives.
The federal government dug deep into its pockets to attract Hugh Jackman's X-Men sequel, The Wolverine, with a 'one-off' $A12.8 million subsidy, something the Australian film industry, desperate to attract big productions, hopes becomes a regular incentive.
Di Bonaventura said beefed-up incentives would help overcome the tyranny of distance between the US and Australia.
'It is very hard,' di Bonaventura said of the time difference and distance between Australia and Los Angeles.
'You are 17 hours away time-wise so it gets complicated.
'You are a long way away from your family.'
Di Bonaventura's next major film release is G.I. Joe: Retaliation, an action sequel starring Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson and Bruce Willis.
The producer selected New Orleans as the shoot location, with Louisiana boasting a 30 per cent tax credit for production costs within the state.
Lorenzo di Bonaventura, whose movies include the $US2.6 billion Transformers franchise and Angelina Jolie's action film Salt, is a big fan of Australian film crews, facilities and locations after shooting The Matrix and its two sequels in Sydney.
Di Bonaventura was a high-ranking executive at Warner Bros and a key player in choosing Australia as the shoot location for 1999's The Matrix, but the financial landscape has changed with the Aussie dollar today almost doubling in value against the greenback, making it less profitable for Hollywood to film Down Under.
More than 40 US states, including Louisiana, New Mexico, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, and European nations aggressively compete with Australia for Hollywood projects by offering juicy subsidies and incentives.
'Yes, they do,' Di Bonaventura told AAP when asked if the Australian government needed to increase its subsidies.
The federal government offers a 16.5 per cent location offset, 30 per cent post-production and visual effects offset and a 40 per cent producer offset and Australian states also offer incentives.
The federal government dug deep into its pockets to attract Hugh Jackman's X-Men sequel, The Wolverine, with a 'one-off' $A12.8 million subsidy, something the Australian film industry, desperate to attract big productions, hopes becomes a regular incentive.
Di Bonaventura said beefed-up incentives would help overcome the tyranny of distance between the US and Australia.
'It is very hard,' di Bonaventura said of the time difference and distance between Australia and Los Angeles.
'You are 17 hours away time-wise so it gets complicated.
'You are a long way away from your family.'
Di Bonaventura's next major film release is G.I. Joe: Retaliation, an action sequel starring Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson and Bruce Willis.
The producer selected New Orleans as the shoot location, with Louisiana boasting a 30 per cent tax credit for production costs within the state.
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