When Australian singer Delta Goodrem made her debut with rom-com, Love is in the Air late last year, it rapidly became Netflix’s No.1 movie globally within days.

Despite mixed reviews, the movie – filmed on location in Queensland and premiering on September 28 – was a streaming hit and a revenue boost for local casts, crews and businesses in the Whitsundays and Airlie Beach.

According to Netflix data, it was the streaming giant’s “most streamed Australian movie”, measured in a six-month period between July and December.

“This is an astonishing and humbling result for a tiny film shot in just 17 days,” wrote director and screenwriter Adrian Powers.

His “little Aussie adventure” clocked up 27 million views and joined the ever-growing club of domestic and international productions making their way Down Under.

On June 6, Screen Queensland confirmed the Gold Coast will become a “pirate’s paradise” as filming begins on The Bluff, from Amazon MGM Studios and Academy Award-winning independent studio AGBO (Everything Everywhere All At Once).

Starring high-profile Hollywood stars Priyanka Chopra (The Matrix Revolutions) and Karl Urban (The Boys, Mortal Kombat 2), the film is set to contribute an estimated $42.3 million to the local economy through production expenditure, and create jobs for about 600 cast and crew.

Set in the 19th century Caribbean, the feature film follows a former female pirate who must protect her family when the mysterious sins of her past catch up to her.

Screen Queensland boss Jacqui Feeney said The Bluff will benefit from Queensland’s highly skilled crews and creatives.

“Our local practitioners’ vast experience in water work, stunts, design and costumes will shine on The Bluff. We are also pleased to be collaborating with acclaimed independent studio AGBO on our attachment program, ensuring our industry’s next generation has the opportunity to work on a film of this scale and ambition.”

Dangerous Animals, the latest production from Brouhaha Entertainment (Boy Swallows Universe), has also started filming on Gold Coast.

And having recently completed post-production, Australian actors Asher Keddie and David Wenham co-star in a Paramount+ production, Fake, filmed across Melbourne and regional Victoria.

Dangerous Animals cast includes Hassie Harrison (Yellowstone), Jai Courtney (Terminator Genisys), Josh Heuston (Heartbreak High, Dune: Prophecy) and Ella Newton (Girl at the Window, Harrow). Photo: Screen Queensland

Competitive production incentives

According to industry body Ausfilm, tax incentives play a vital role in attracting studio productions to Australia.

Among those are the “location offset”, which the federal government increased in July last year from 16.5 per cent to 30 per cent, and which attracts new eligibility requirements.

There’s also the complementary Location Incentive grant budget of a total of $540 million for eligible projects which began in July 2019 and will continue until June 30, 2027, according to the Ausfilm website.

Arts Minister Leeanne Enoch said the state government’s investment in production attraction incentives, through Screen Queensland, “is creating thousands of local jobs and generating millions for the economy”.

She listed projects including Ron Howard’s historic drama, Eden, and reality TV series spin-off Aussie Shore, as well as recent releases Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, Apples Never Fall and Russell Crowe’s Land of Bad.

“Dangerous Animals is the latest in a strong pipeline of productions secured for Queensland, with this production supporting employment opportunities for 115 local cast, crew and creatives and contributing more than $10.7 million to the state’s economy,” Enoch said.

The storyline goes that Zephyr (Hassie Harrison), a savvy and free-spirited surfer, is abducted by Jai Courtney’s shark-obsessed serial killer. She’s held captive on his boat, and has to figure out an escape plan before being fed to sharks.

Feeney adds that said that Dangerous Animals “is an exciting genre film that joins a slate of local screen stories including Gettin’ Square sequel Spit, Audrey, Black Snow and How to Make Gravy.

Fake

Streamer Paramount+ is behind the new original series, Fake, which will premiere on July 4.

Starring Gold Logie-winning actress Asher Keddie (Lost Flowers Of Alice Heart, Nine Perfect Strangers, Offspring) and AFI-winning actor David Wenham (Elvis, Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers & The Return Of The King), Fake is an eight-part series that explores love in a world of liars, cheats, fantasists and phonies.

Inspired by Stephanie Wood’s powerful memoir Fake, this drama follows Birdie Bell (Keddie), a magazine features writer who thinks she’s found her perfect match when she meets successful grazier, Joe Burt (Wenham), on a dating app.

But as the relationship intensifies, Birdie is torn between Joe’s magnetic pull and the instinct that her boyfriend isn’t all he has led her to believe.

Paramount says Fake is a vital drama which goes deep inside the psychology of the victim of a love scam.