August 14, 2014

Senator the Hon. George Brandis QC,

Attorney-General
Minister for the Arts
PO Box 6100,
Senate,
Parliament House Canberra, ACT, 2600
senator.brandis@aph.gov.au

Dear Minister,

I am writing to you to express our members serious concern with respect to the offshore feature
film production sector.

As you would be aware the Location Offset plays an integral part in securing international feature
films in a very competitive global market. Its introduction under your stewardship in 2007 led to
the Australian feature film industry becoming a major player in the global race to attract
international productions. However the strong Australian dollar and increased competition
between international jurisdictions has led to some of the lowest of offshore production on
record. This is of serious concern.

Australian film talent is now being lost to the UK, the US and Asia. Australias film industry is at
the crossroads and in danger of losing its world standing unless it introduces competitive location
incentives.

The previous Federal Government committed additional support to The Wolverine in 2012, lifting
the total tax payer contribution for that movie to $25 million. This small investment resulted in
over $80 million of foreign investment in Australia and created more than 2,000 jobs.
The previous Federal Government vowed to consider any future increases of the Location Offset
on a case-by-case basis. This policy as I understand remains in place.

MEAA is aware that there have been a significant number of productions that have applied for a
one off increase to the Location Offset to make productions viable. I am sure your department is
aware of these productions. None of these productions have however come to fruition. As a
result of uncertainty in this area Australia is now being overlooked by international feature film
producers.

Encouraging major international productions delivers meaningful benefits for the industry and
the economy, including direct and indirect employment, skills development and training,
innovations in technology, infrastructure maintenance and renewal, along with direct benefits to
a range of businesses across Australia.


Combined with an attractive Location Offset, Australia can offer world class crew, locations, state
of the art studios and award winning post and visual effects houses, which make us extremely
competitive internationally.

MEAA has recently been through a broad consultation process with the industry to ensure that
our employment conditions are competitive internationally and fair. Although we have moved
significantly, the strong Australian dollar and higher global incentives continue to put us at a
distinct disadvantage that cannot be overcome from labour costs alone.

MEAA along with our industry partners support a permanent increase to the Location Offset, to
ensure Australias long term competitiveness for major international production.

We are aware that your department has been or will be approached to make a one off 30%
Location Offset for a planned Disney production for this year. The production is mooted to be the
biggest international feature film to be made in this country. We are currently negotiating
industrial agreements that give the production certainty regarding its production labour costs.

We would encourage the Federal Government and your department to work constructively with
the films producers to ensure that this production is filmed in Australia. We would also
encourage the Federal Government to consider increasing the Location Offset to 30%
permanently and thus support in the long term the feature film Industry in this country.

I, and a number of Australians leading film technicians would very much like the chance to
discuss with you this matter and other matters facing the industry. I will contact your office to
arrange a meeting time that is most suitable to you.

Yours sincerely




Malcolm Tulloch
Director, Entertainment, Crew & Sport,
Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance