The country is an amazing mix of welcoming/talented people and amazing scenery. Therefore, filming in Australia can be done with relative ease and in a wide variety of places.
Landscapes are very diverse varying from tropical areas or sandy beaches to arid regions or urban areas. Thus the diversity of wildlife in Australia means the country is the right place for capturing wilderness or doing scientific documentaries.
Openness to Foreign Journalists
Australia ranks 19th in the world according to the 2018 World Press Freedom Index done by Reporters Without Borders. Alongside countries like Austria, Denmark and Canada it is one of the places where free speech is truly accepted.
Usually authorities and contributors are open to talking to foreign journalists and documentary makers. Access to more remote communities can require more preparation, but our Australian production fixers have done it in the past.
Access & Filming Permits in Australia
Access to film in Australia depends on the kind of location you are aiming for and ownership of the place. While access to privately owned land and buildings can be discussed with the owner, approval to film on public domain or in national parks requires a permit.
The cost of a permit depends on the state/territory where the shoot takes place, type of location, duration and size of the crew (usually up to six people is considered small and anything above is big). Permits can cost anything between a few hundred and 1,000+ Australian dollars a day.
Our fixers in Australia have extensive knowledge on how to get them, so we are more than happy to answer any queries on email.
Tax Rebate
The Australian Government offers three types of tax offset for production expenses in making films (feature or non-feature) in the country. Each production can opt for one of the three.
The first refundable tax offset (the producer tax offset) is 40% of the production expenditure that qualifies for it on a feature film. Other productions can get up to 20% of the qualifying Australian production expenditure (QAPE).
The second option is the location tax offset, which is 16.5% of the QAPE.
The third and final offset applies to post-production and VFX (up to 30% of the QAPE incurred by the two).