New South Wales government announces funding for new movie studio site
Australia's movie industry received some happy news on the final day of the Sydney film festival. With the New South Wales government announcing a $380 million package to support the film and digital games sector. It will help develop a domestic sector that has played a starring role famous films like Happy Feet, Babe, and Planet of the Apes. New South Wales Arts Minister John Graham is hoping to help the industry attract even more Hollywood investment. "When filming happens, when screen production happens in Australia, half the time it happens here in New South Wales. This is the powerhouse. We're determined to keep that lead. That's why the government's investing strongly here." The package includes $280 million to support post, digital, visual effects and video game development. Another $100 million will help kickstart the hunt for a location to serve as Sydney's second film studio. Mr Graham says there's a critical shortage of production space, with Disney Studios at Moore Park currently the city's only film studio. The facility has played a pivotal role in blockbuster movies like Mad Max Furiosa and The Matrix "Unfortunately, no one can be told what the matrix is. You have to see it for yourself." Treasurer Daniel Mookhey expects to see the investment spur economic activity and job creation. "The industry supports over thirteen thousand direct jobs, and with this investment, we're confident that it's going to create a great degree of spillover. This is what it looks like to be boosting economic growth in New South Wales in the twenty first century." He says the sector already injects more than $1 billion into the local economy. The treasurer also announced new plans to cut red tape in an effort to make the movie and game-making as seamless as possible. Head of Screen New South Wales, Kyas Hepworth welcomed the news. "It's just exciting to see the government standing for the creative work as practitioners and storytellers within the state and we're not only looking at the state what happens in New South Wales affects Australia and elevates our storytelling globally." Other states have been competing for big budget films, too. Queensland is giving a $71 million boost to its screen industry, and W-A forking out $300 million for a studio complex in Perth.
It comes against the backdrop of threatened movie tariffs from the U-S -- which have created uncertainty that investments like these hope to redress.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ABC News
an hour ago
- ABC News
Catherine Chidgey and The Book of Guilt
New Zealand author Catherine Chidgey asks, what if World War 2 had ended differently in her latest novel The Book of Guilt. Plus Kevin Wilson sends his characters on an American road trip in Run for the Hills and Australian author Josephine Rowe on her moving and slender novel, Little World. What if the second world war had ended differently? This idea and more are explored in Catherine Chidgey's latest novel The Book of Guilt which is set long after the end of the war in 1970s England. Catherine is a New Zealand writer best known for her novels The Wish Child and Remote Sympathy which are also about World War 2 and she reveals her interest in this dark period in European history dates to her time at high school. Run for the Hills is the latest novel by American author Kevin Wilson and it features his trademark quirkiness and heart. It's about a group of newly discovered siblings who take a road trip across the US to confront their father for abandoning them. Kevin says the seeds for this novel were sown in his previous novel, Now is Not the Time to Panic. Australian author Josephine Rowe shares her approach to crafting a slim but clever book, Little World, which is about three people, seemingly disconnected over time and geography that's drawn together through a connection to the body of an almost-saint.
News.com.au
5 hours ago
- News.com.au
Australian teen Olympian Chloe Covell reveals iconic new role
Chloe Covell has had the kind of sporting career most people can only dream of. She's competed in the Olympics for Australia, she's won gold at the X Games and is considered one of the greatest street-style skateboarders currently in the sport. And now, she has just been made a playable character in the remake of the Tony Hawk Pro Skater + video game, a release which brings two of the most iconic sports games to modern consoles for the very first time. At just 15 years old, she has just started her senior year of high school. Her dad (former NRL player Luke Covell) was a teenager when the original version of Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 released in October 2001. The Tony Hawk Pro Skater video games were revolutionary when they first came out, changing world wide perceptions of skateboarding, and bringing attention to the sport. It made Tony Hawk a household name, and made kids in Australia aware of other legendary skaters through the roster of real life athletes they could play as in the video game. Including Covell in the updated game was a no-brainer for the developers. In fact, she was hand-picked for inclusion by none other than Tony Hawk himself. At a recent event in Los Angeles, Hawk exclusively told 'I saw her skate X Games before she qualified for the Olympics. I remember her trick selection, her sense of confidence at a young age, and I was like, 'she's got to be in it'.' At the same event, Rodney Mullen, a man who invented many of the most famous modern skateboarding tricks including the ollie, kickflip, heelflip and impossible, and is considered the 'Godfather of freestyle skating' was similarly impressed by Covell's skill. 'Oh my God. Blows my mind to see that much talent coming in.' However, even with all the praise and accolades she's getting, Covell remains as laid back and down to earth as you'd expect from a skateboarder. 'That they [Tony Hawk and Rodney Mullen] were even just speaking about me is pretty crazy, because they're really good skaters, and really inspirational to me' For Covell, the experience of having her head scanned into the game was a logistically challenging one, because of the timing.' I had to go to Activision, and it was during school time, so I had to have a tutor. But it was all really fun.' While many people would get choice paralysis when picking an outfit to be immortalised in a video game that will be played by people all over the world (the remake of Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1+2 sold one million copies in the first two weeks of release Covell found the process easy. 'I just picked my favourite outfit at the time.' While most of her friends had never heard of the Tony Hawk Pro Skater video games before because 'they're not skaters', Covell's friends are supportive. 'They think it's pretty cool and all of them said they're gonna get it and play it as me as the character, so that will be pretty funny.' As for Covell, she admits that her skating skills are better in the real world than the digital one, but she plans on splitting her play time between all the playable skaters in the video game. 'There are lots of legendary skaters on there, but it would also be fun to play as myself.' Back when the original games came out, there weren't many female skaters included, nor were there many female skaters at the parks. According to Covell, the sport is now seeing more of a gender balance, with so many new athletes picking up a board. '[The skating scene in Australia] is really good. Since the Olympics, there's been so many more young kids getting into it, especially girls,' she said. 'It's really amazing to see because even way before I started skating, there was like, no girls at the skate park and when I started skating, sometimes there were girls, and now there's always girls in the skate park.' She puts this shift down to Skateboarding's inclusion in the Olympics. 'I feel like it was, mostly the Olympics because there's a girls division, so I feel like the girls see it and they think it's cool, so they start trying.' Now that she's won the X Games, represented her country and been included in the most influential skateboarding video game series of all time, Covell has a new goal on the horizon: perfecting her favourite trick. 'My go to trick that I would usually do, that I'm still trying to work on to get bigger and better at, is switch kick flips down really big steps. I can do them, but I just want to be consistent.' Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3+4 will be available in stores from the 11th of July.
News.com.au
8 hours ago
- News.com.au
Footy commentator Brian Taylor goes rogue after X-rated replay
Brian Taylor couldn't help himself. The veteran AFL caller left Channel 7 colleague Kane Cornes chortling as he went rogue over revealing footage of Bulldogs champion Marcus Bontempelli during the club's big win over St Kilda on Thursday night at Marvel Stadium. The Dogs captain was somewhat stitched up when TV cameras captured the moment he crashed into the back of St Kilda's Mitch Owens, giving a free kick away with a high tackle in the third quarter. FOX FOOTY, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every match of every round in the 2025 Toyota AFL Premiership Season LIVE in 4K, with no ad-breaks during play. New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited-time offer. Slow-motion replays regrettably proved more revealing than most with the three-time AFL Players Association MVP seen sliding over his opponent's back and then landing on the ball. Taylor was quick to point out Bontempelli's tackle when the replay showed the moment the 29-year-old took a direct hit to his middle stump. 'Have a look at Bontempelli here,' Taylor said. 'He lands on the ball in an awkward position. You can see just here, I think it got him right on the doodle. 'He felt uncomfortable for a moment.' Cornes chuckled and responded by saying: 'It's a good pick up'. You can watch the incident in the video player above Hawthorn great Luke Hodge also responded by saying: 'I thought he was disappointed because he gave away the free kick, but that's the reason'. The grimace on Bontempelli's face said it all. Bontempelli's unfortunate flop wasn't the only bizarre incident with footy fans left snickering over an apparent coin toss injury before the game. Thursday night's TV broadcast showed the moment a corporate representative of St Kilda sponsor Chery Motor Group came undone with an apparent hamstring strain while flipping the coin. The unfortunate victim was seen immediately grabbing at the muscle after hoisting the coin into the air with enough force to launch Elon's SpaceX Starship. The man bravely hobbled off as Bontempelli and St Kilda captain Jack Steele ran back to their team huddle before the first bounce. One video of the pre-match injury shared by footy commentator Giulio Di Giordio has more than two million views on X. The hamstring homicide was discussed after the game on Seven with Saints champion Nick Riewoldt more than a little amused. 'That's unbelievable. Can you imagine his WhatsApp group at the moment,' he said with a laugh. 'It'd be merciless. Wow.' He went on to say: 'It's been a rough night for Saints people'. Leading injury analyst Brien Seeney, the physiotherapist behind the popular 'NRL PHYSIO' account on X, also posted a video of the hammy ping, writing: 'Textbook coin-toss hamstring strain mechanism. 'Likely to require 2-4 weeks recovery. Main rehab challenge is loading - need to start with tossing 5c coins and slowly progress all the way up to 50c. If that's done too quickly re-injury risk is sky high.' Channel 7 reporter Mitch Cleary said people inside the Saints camp had confirmed the act was not staged and had in fact been a real injury. It was a rough old night for the Saints with coach Ross Lyon left being blunt with reporters after the 72-point thumping. Lyon said there's was 'no magic bullet' to fix the issues plaguing his struggling team as another season threatens to peter out into obscurity.
