Report
Gold Coast Independent Screen Production
Queensland University of Technology
2020
Appears in NTRO Research Collection
Abstract
The Department of Economy, Planning and Environment of the Council of the City of Gold Coast commissioned this study to investigate independent screen production activity and capacity in the City of Gold Coast. The research investigates the industry’s size, value chain and workforce; the screen business ecology and content formats created; and the views of above-the-line content creators on the state of the industry. The research examines both core screen content—including short-form and long-form narrative-based feature film, documentary and television series, online content creation, and virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) production—and commercial corporate video production. This study defines Gold Coast independent production as that which is independent of Hollywood, but also that which is independent of, and occurs outside of the Village Roadshow Studios. It does not examine foreign or Australian feature film and television production filmed at the Village Roadshow Studios, although it does interrogate the interdependencies between local independent and studio production. The study focuses on the activities of screen workers who live and work on the Gold Coast, or those who may live outside the region but whose primary place of work or business is the Gold Coast. Surveys and interviews focus specifically on the productions of independent Gold Coast above-the-line screen content creators, which includes producers, directors, screenwriters, and online content creators.
Research Background
To date, there has been no substantive study of independent screen production activities occurring outside of the Village Roadshow Studios on the Gold Coast. The research, commissioned by the Council of the City of Gold Coast, investigated the industry’s size, value chain and workforce; the screen business ecology and content formats created; and the views of above-the-line content creators on the state of the industry.
Research Contribution
* Between 2009 and 2019, there was a marked increase in the volume of local production and the number of Gold Coast-based production companies and screen content creators.
* Between 2009 and 2019, 35 independent feature films were filmed on the Gold Coast. Of this number, Gold Coast-based production companies produced 17 (49% of the total).
* Core content created by Gold Coast screen creators is a two-speed industry: 1) formal screen industry production supported largely by public funding 2) ‘indie’ self-funded or privately funded ‘guerrilla’ screen production.
* There is a higher proportion of film and television workers as a percentage of the Gold Coast’s overall workforce than in any capital city in Australia other than Sydney.
Research Significance
Key recommendations included: establish a producer development and mentorship program; develop a mid-career mentorship program to transition proven commercial corporate producers into core screen content production ; introduce a targeted mentorship program to increase the number of highly skilled above-the-line creatives; and lower the Council’s film attraction $1.5 million production threshold. In response to the report’s recommendations, the Council of the City of Gold Coast, implemented the new Screen Access Program, and the revised Screen Attraction Program. Both of which came into effect on 1 July, 2021.
Details
- Title
- Gold Coast Independent Screen Production
- Authors
- Mark David Ryan (Author) - Queensland University of TechnologyPhoebe Macrossan (Author) - Queensland University of TechnologyStuart Cunningham (Author) - Queensland University of TechnologyMarion McCutcheon (Author) - Queensland University of Technology
- Publication details
- 125 pages
- Publisher
- Queensland University of Technology
- Date published
- 2020
- DOI
- 10.5204/rep.eprints.136006
- ISBN
- 9781925553352
- Copyright note
- This work is covered by copyright. Unless the document is being made available under a Creative Commons Licence, you must assume that re-use is limited to personal use and that permission from the copyright owner must be obtained for all other uses. If the document is available under a Creative Commons License (or other specified license) then refer to the Licence for details of permitted re-use. It is a condition of access that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.
- Organisation Unit
- School of Business and Creative Industries
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99605208202621
- Output Type
- Report
- NTRO Classification
- NT2
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