All drama production
Spend by location

Overall, NSW has accounted for around half of all drama production spending since 1994/95. This fluctuates according to the level of major expenditure by foreign or high-budget local productions in any given year.

NSW accounted for the largest share of total expenditure in Australia and set a new record. Australian features Three Thousand Years of Longing, Blaze and Interceptor and US feature, Thor: Love and Thunder, were shot in New South Wales. TV dramas included RFDS, Amazing Grace and returning series of Home and Away and Doctor Doctor. Online dramas included Wolf Like Me and Eden, and US online series Nine Perfect Strangers and Pieces of Her. Foreign feature titles that undertook PDV only work included The Shrinking of Treehorn and The Batman, while foreign PDV-only TV and online dramas included New Dragons, Monkie Kid series 2 and The Book of Boba Fett

Victoria has fairly consistently accounted for around 20-30 per cent of drama spending, with fluctuations mainly caused by foreign productions. In 2020/21, Victoria counted for 16 per cent of  total production expenditure. Domestic drama titles that commenced shooting and/or post-production in 2020/21 included Australian titles Memoir of a Snail, Moja Vesna, Nitram and Wogboys Forever, and US feature Blacklight. TV dramas included new titles Fires, New Gold Mountain and The Newsreader, as well as returning seasons of How To Stay Married, Jack Irish, Neighbours and The Strange Chores, and the foreign title La Brea. Online dramas included Surviving Summer and the second series of Ms Fisher’s MODern Murder Mysteries and Superwog. Foreign PDV-only titles included Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, I Am Groot, 65 and WandaVision.  

Queensland’s slate is considerably affected by the presence of foreign productions, which usually account for a substantial proportion of total expenditure in the state on an annual basis. Queensland accounted for 29 per cent of total expenditure in 2020/21. Titles shot and/or post-produced included Australian film Baz Luhrmann’s Untitled Elvis Project and US feature Thirteen Lives. Local features included The Portable Door, Black Site, The Reef: Stalked, Sit. Stay. Love. and 6 Festivals and Australian TV drama Dive Club. US TV and online titles included Young Rock series 1, Escape from Spiderhead and The Wilds series 2.

Activity in South Australia is predominantly in the local slate and from foreign PDV expenditure. Spend fell from last year’s all-time high. Australian features that started production in 2020/21 included The Stranger and Gold. Australian TV and online titles included Aftertaste, Sunburnt Christmas and The Tourist. PDV work included Hawkeye, Nightbooks, Samaritan and The Boys series 3.

Expenditure in Western Australia is mainly related to the local and co-production slate, with children’s productions comprising a significant proportion of activity. In 2020/21, spend fell by 16% on the previoys year. Australian feature films Blueback, How to Please a Woman and Sweet As, local TV drama Itch series 2 and online drama, Iggy & Ace, all undertook production activities in the state.

Tasmania, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory accounted for one per cent of national expenditure in 2020/21. Australian titles included the feature Sissy, TV dramas Rosehaven series 5, Total Control series 2 and MaveriX, and online dramas The Tailings, Hug the Sun and Mia Culpa.