Study: A$16.5bn production boost for Australian economy
February 13, 2023
An economic impact assessment of film and television production incentives has found that the Australian government’s production offset programmes deliver a high level of return on investment. The report also finds that offset programmes underpin Australia’s global standing as a leading production hub among countries where governments have recognised the sector’s economic and cultural benefits.
Australia’s Location Offset, for example, which is critical to attracting major offshore film and television productions to the country, equated to A$5.89 (€3.82) return for every A$1 invested through the programme; The estimated amount of production expenditure associated with all the production offsets contributed a total of A$16.5 billion in economic output over the four years to FY2021/22.
According to Olsberg SPI, since the introduction of the Offsets, total production expenditure in Australia grew to more than A$2.2 billion in 2021/22, up 91 per cent over the four years studied.
The Study on the Impact of Film and Television Production Incentives in Australia by Olsberg SPI was launched by the Australia New Zealand Screen Association (ANZSA) and the Motion Picture Association (MPA) at an event at Parliament House in Canberra.
Presenting the key findings of the report, Jonathan Olsberg – Chairman, Oslberg SPI, said: “Our study into the impact of Australia’s film and television Offsets found that Australia’s Screen production industry is a thriving economic sector, supported by a suite of effective initiatives in the form of the PDV Offset, Producer Offset and the Location Offset and Incentive. The study provides further evidence that Australia’s system of screen production Offsets helps deliver economic impact on a consistent basis.”
Schuyler Weiss, Managing Director, Producer, Bazmark, said, “The Producer Offset allows Australia’s storytellers to turn an idea into reality, and this report shows that even purely on economic grounds that’s a good deal for Australia, with A$4.40 in economic value generated for every A$1 spent on the Producer Offset reaching far beyond the screen sector alone.”
Leading the panel discussion was Partner & Producer, SERVO Production Services, Jon Kuyper. Kuyper said, “Australia’s combination of attractive incentives, world class crews and facilities, and magical locations mark it as a global best-in-class for inbound production. However, it’s vital that we see some certainty around the location offset if the country is to achieve its full potential as one of the world’s leading production hubs.”
Key findings:
- Since the introduction of the Offsets, expenditure in Australia has grown, culminating in A$2.1 billion in total production expenditure in 2021/22. There has been an annual growth rate of 17 per cent in direct expenditure across the three Offsets between 2018/19 and 2021/22.
- This screen production expenditure has translated into economic value. Between 2018/19 and 2021/22, all the Offsets expenditure in Australia has contributed a total of A$16.5 billion in economic output.
- Research for the report shows that without the Offsets a lot of the production activity would not take place in Australia. The response to a survey of 10 large international production companies, which together were responsible for nearly 90 per cent foreign production expenditure between 2018/19 and 2021/22, indicates that all international productions would have either moved outside of Australia or not happened at all without the Location Incentive.
- The ROI metric for the three Offsets ranges from 4.40 for the Producer Offset to 5.89 for the Location Offset.
- Over the four years studied, Offset-supported productions expenditure grew by 91 per cent, Gross Value Added (GVA) generated from these productions grew by 92 per cent, tax revenue generated grew by 91 per cent and full-time-equivalent (FTE) jobs by 76 per cent.
- Between 2018/19 and 2021/22 total GVA across the three Offsets amounted to A$5.9 billion.
- In 2021/22, 20,600 FTE jobs have been supported across the three Offsets.