Screen Australia’s Producer Offset Guidelines have been updated with the changes applying to productions that commenced principal photography on or after 1 July 2021.
Screen Australia’s Producer Offset Guidelines have been updated to reflect changes to the Producer Offset under the Treasury Laws Amendment (2021 Measures No. 5) Bill 2021, approved by Federal parliament in December 2021.
These include:
- the amount of the Producer Offset is 40% for feature films produced for commercial exhibition to the public in cinemas;
- the amount of the Producer Offset for other eligible projects (including feature films produced for exhibition other than in cinemas, such as TV broadcast or SVOD) has increased from 20% to 30%; and
- the 65-commercial-hour cap has been removed for drama productions.
The changes apply to productions that commenced principal photography on or after 1 July 2021.
Broadly speaking, the assessment of whether a project is a feature film produced for commercial exhibition to the public in cinemas and eligible for the 40% rebate has not changed. This section has been streamlined and modernised to reflect current industry practice.
The guidelines have also been updated to simplify language and now include further information on key policy areas such as Incurred Expenditure and Non Arm’s Length Expenditure, as well as information for applicants regarding expenditure statements and QAPE, for example what to include in your General Ledger, Above the Line expenditure and what can be claimed under the Gallipoli clause.
Michele McDonald, Screen Australia’s Senior Manager of the Producer Offset and Co production Unit will be taking part in a series of upcoming workshops and Q & A events and Screen Australia will be releasing a range of materials discussing in detail the changes to the Producer Offset Guidelines including a podcast, videos as well as written articles. Details will shared on the Screen Australia website and via our social channels in due course.
