COVID-safe production continues in South Australia.

South Australia continues to cement itself as a premier location for COVID-safe screen production with new film A Sunburnt Christmas getting underway in Adelaide this month.

The new Stan Original Film is the second major production to shoot in South Australia since the global shutdown caused by COVID-19, following ABC comedy Aftertaste which commenced production in July.

Directed by Christiaan Van Vuuren (Bondi Hipsters, The Other Guy), the holiday-themed comedy is produced by Every Cloud Productions (Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, Deadlock) in association with South Australia’s Highview Productions, from an original concept by Elliot Vella, Gretel Vella & Tim Walker, with major production investment from Screen Australia in association with Stan and financed with assistance from the South Australian Film Corporation. Lisa Scott of Highview Productions is Producer, with Executive Producers Fiona Eagger and Deb Cox for Every Cloud and Mike Jones co-producing.

South Australian Film Corporation CEO Kate Croser said:

“We are thrilled to welcome the acclaimed and prolific Every Cloud Productions to South Australia for the first time with this Stan Original film. The turnaround on this production, post-Covid and pre-Christmas is incredibly quick, and is testament to the agility and skill of the nimble crew and vendors in South Australia, under the leadership of South Australian producer, Lisa Scott of Highview Productions.”

Ground-breaking new South Australian Video Game Development Rebate a game-changer for the industry.

South Australia’s games industry has had a significant boost in investment with the launch of the South Australian Film Corporation’s ground-breaking new rebate for video game developers.

The first of its kind in Australia, and one of only a handful of similar schemes in the world, the new South Australian Video Game Development Rebate (SA VGD Rebate) mirrors the SAFC’s already established and highly successful PDV Rebate for Post-Production, Digital and Visual Effects, by enabling video games studios to claim a 10% rebate on costs incurred to develop a game in South Australia.

Claimable on eligible projects with a minimum South Australian spend of $250,000, the rebate aims to establish South Australia as a leading location for games development by encouraging established local games studios to scale up, and by incentivising non-South Australian games studios to establish a base or undertake work in the state.

South Australia’s growing, independent games industry is already having an international impact with worldwide hits such as Hollow Knight from 2018 Australian Studio of the Year Team Cherry named one of the 12 best games for the Nintendo Switch by games industry bible Kotaku; Sugar Slam from 2019 Australian Studio of the Year Mighty Kingdom, which reaches more than 238 million users a day on messaging app Snapchat; and Foxie Games’ Horse Riding Tales with more than 10 million downloads and 1.5 million monthly players globally.

SAFC CEO Kate Croser said the agency would continue to work closely with industry in rolling out the Australia-first rebate, set to herald a new era for games development in the state.

“The SAFC’s hugely successful PDV rebate has led to South Australia cementing its place as an international centre of excellence for post-production, digital and visual effects, and we want this new video games rebate to do the same for the state’s games sector,” she said.

Kate Croser, SAFC CEO

For more information on the SA VGD Rebate go to safilm.com.au/games