ASSG State Update – September 2023

On June 7th NSW members met up at the Edinburgh Castle Hotel in Sydney’s CBD. A raucous atmosphere inside the hotel brought great energy to the gathering, however probably some minor hearing loss as well. Fabulous to talk with the members I hadn’t meet before and always great to see some familiar faces, including South Australia’s own Pete Smith, who just happened to be in Sydney at the time. Thank you to all who came along and looking forward to the next one.

The Twelve Season 2 started shooting last month making it WA’s biggest production ever. With several productions shooting / slated for the rest of the year, the WA screen sector is gearing up for busy year ahead.

Cinéfest Oz kicked off last week with a great array of networking events, guest speakers, and films. As part of the festival, Cinésnaps ran half-hour taster classes on Sound Production for school children ages 5-18. The workshop covered location to post production and the kids got to record and walk their own foley.

The Mercury has launched their new business plan to save the organisation and continue helping emerging local filmmakers. It’s based on a monthly subscription model that includes use of facilities (inc. a voice recording/control room pair, a small 5.1 mix stage, colour grading suites, writer’s rooms, etc.), monitorships and cinema screenings for $25/month, with some sponsored memberships on offer.

The State Government announced extending the Video Game Development (VGD) Rebate, with $13.5 million of additional funding over four years dedicated to the game development sector. The Adelaide Film Festival Investment Fund was also given $2 million over four years for their investment fund.