Film Victoria, the government screen agency in Australia’s most southern mainland state, has transformed to VicScreen, as Melbourne strengthens it’s place as a global screen city with the opening of Docklands Studios Melbourne’s new 40,000 sqft super stage.

VicScreen CEO Caroline Pitcher said, “Film Victoria has a rich legacy of screen industry support, investing in talent, skills, businesses and events to grow our industry and attracting productions of the calibre of Charlotte’s Web, Where The Wild Things Are and The Pacific, and more recently Preacher, La Brea and Clickbait.“

“As VicScreen, Victoria’s creative and economic screen development agency, we are better representing our entire screen ecosystem including digital games while continuing to promote Victoria as a world-leading centre for film and television production”

Caroline Pitcher, VicScreen CEO

Five minutes from downtown, Docklands Studios Melbourne now has six stages ranging in size from 8,000 sqft (743 sqm) to 40,000 sqft (3,700 sqm). The centrepiece of the new super stage is a giant 15 feet (4.5 metre) deep and 240,000 gallon (900,000 litre) water pit.  

“The world is already looking to Victoria as a screen entertainment partner – and a significantly larger studio complex with one of the largest sound stages in the southern hemisphere means we can host a greater range of projects at the same time,” said Pitcher. 

Caroline Pitcher

As part of the Victorian Government’s commitment to screen through its AU$191.5 million Screen Industry Strategy 2021-2025, VicScreen also recently launched an AU$2.06 million Specialist Placement Program to ensure the state’s local talent pool and screen businesses have the depth, skills and experience required by major productions.

The program is focusing on key crew roles including production Accountants, Location Managers, Script Editors and Post-production Supervisors that are increasingly in demand as more and more projects choose Victoria as their production destination.

Melbourne and regional Victoria are currently a hive of production with many high-profile projects underway.

Hollywood’s hottest young stars Saoirse Ronan, Aaron Pierre and Paul Mescal are currently shooting Foe for Amazon Prime, a sci-fi psychological thriller with Victorian Garth Davis, director of the Academy Award-nominated Lion.

Sarah Snook is starring in horror/thriller Run Rabbit Run following her Golden Globe Award win for Succession, while The Dressmaker director Jocelyn Moorhouse is back in Victoria filming Savage River, a gripping crime drama series with Golden Globe-nominee Katherine Langford (Thirteen Reasons Why, Knives Out).

NBC’s hit sci-fi series La Brea is returning to Melbourne to film its blockbuster second season, and Robbie Williams’ biopic, Better Man, will soon commence principal photography with The Greatest Showman director Michael Gracey at the helm.

Want to find out more about filming in Victoria or the state’s competitive financial incentives?
Get in touch with VicScreen’s Manager of Production Attraction & Support:
Joe Brinkmann
or visit vicscreen.vic.gov.au

Featured Image: On the set of NBC’s La Brea. Photo Sarah Enticknap