For George Lucas, whose Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones opened worldwide yesterday, filming it in Sydney was a no-brainer: English is widely spoken, most workers weren't unionized and costs were a third less than in the US.
Lucas filmed 80 percent of the movie at News Corp's Fox Studios and will film the next Star Wars film there too, next year.
PHOTO: AP
It was part of the US$100 million that Hollywood spent in Australia last year, double the previous year.
"We came here primarily because of the talent base," Star Wars producer Rick McCallum told the Sydney Morning Herald. In addition, "It's much cheaper than anywhere else in the English-speaking world."
US workers are crying foul, saying they shouldn't be penalized for a strong US dollar that inflated costs at home and Australian tax breaks that proved hard for moviemakers to resist.
All five of this year's nominees for the Best Picture Oscar were filmed outside California, including The Lord of the Rings in New Zealand and Moulin Rouge in Australia.
The number of Hollywood-funded films shot overseas rose 53 percent between 1996 and 2001, leading to a loss of US$23 million in contributions to pension and health plans, said Ilyanne Kichaven, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles-based Screen Actors Guild.
Losses may swell to US$36 million by 2007, she said.
A new union rule requires its 98,000 members to refuse work in foreign countries that don't comply with its pay rates or work conditions. Rule-breakers face fines, suspension or expulsion.
"We recognize that production is going to be done in other countries, but wherever our members work we want their SAG contract to follow," Kichaven said.
Though the union says the rule will add at most 3 percent to a US film's budget, Australian filmmakers say it will force up costs for locally financed movies that use domestic actors. Since most local films have budgets of less than US$3 million, a US-style salary would erode profit margins, said Geoff Brown, executive director of the Screen Producers Association of Australia.
"It would mean if we wanted to cast Geoffrey Rush, Cate Blanchett, Rachel Griffiths or Hugh Jackman in a film, fully financed and produced by Australians, we have to pay that actor on a Hollywood scale," Brown said.
At the same time, though, filmmakers boosted production spending 6 percent last year to A$608 million (US$333 million), the Australian Film Commission says. A quarter of that came from countries like the largest movie maker India, which produced more than 40 films, TV ads and music videos in Australia since 1998.
Fox isn't alone. Village Roadshow Ltd, Australia's largest cinema operator, has a joint venture with AOL Time Warner Inc to produce films. The venture's most successful movie The Matrix, which had sales of US$450 million, was filmed in Sydney.
Melbourne-based Village is encouraging its partner to shoot more films and increase its post-production work in Australia, where it has a studio in Queensland state. Four US movies with budgets bigger than US$25 million each are slated to shoot in Queensland this year, according to Variety.
Aiming to make Melbourne more competitive, the Victorian state government last year allocated A$40 million to build six sound stages in the inner-city docklands, which are due to open next year.
More producers will be attracted by Australia's 12.5 percent tax rebate for foreign filmmakers, said Fox Studios Australia Chief Executive Michael Harvey. The rebate will allow Australia to compete with rivals Canada, the UK, Ireland and the Czech Republic for more US productions, filmmakers say.
New rules introduced last September will let foreigners claim the rebate if 70 percent of a film budgeted between US$8 million and US$27 million is spent in Australia. With a larger budget, filmmakers can claim the rebate no matter how much they spend in Australia.
"We have the talent, financially it's a good place to shoot and now there's an additional incentive," Harvey said.
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
ACTION PLAN: Taiwan would expand procurement from the US and encourage more companies to invest in the US to deepen bilateral cooperation, Lai said The government would not impose reciprocal tariffs in retaliation against US levies, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, as he announced five strategies to address the issue, including pledging to increase Taiwanese companies’ investments in the US. Lai has in the past few days met with administrative and national security officials, as well as representatives from various industries, to explore countermeasures after US President Donald Trump on Wednesday last week announced a 32 percent duty on Taiwanese imports. In a video released yesterday evening, Lai said that Taiwan would not retaliate against the US with higher tariffs and Taiwanese companies’ commitments to
CHIP EXCEPTION: An official said that an exception for Taiwanese semiconductors would have a limited effect, as most are packaged in third nations before being sold The Executive Yuan yesterday decried US President Donald Trump’s 32 percent tariff on Taiwanese goods announced hours earlier as “unfair,” saying it would lodge a representation with Washington. The Cabinet in a statement described the pledged US tariffs, expected to take effect on Wednesday next week, as “deeply unreasonable” and “highly regrettable.” Cabinet spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said that the government would “lodge a solemn representation” with the US Trade Representative and continue negotiating with Washington to “ensure the interests of our nation and industries.” Trump at a news conference in Washington on Wednesday announced a 10 percent baseline tariff on most goods
‘SPECIAL CHANNEL’: Taipei’s most important tasks are to stabilize industries affected by Trump’s trade tariffs and keep negotiations with Washington open, a source said National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) arrived in the US for talks with US President Donald Trump’s administration, a source familiar with the matter said on Friday. Wu was leading a delegation for a meeting known as the “special channel,” the Financial Times reported earlier. It marked Trump’s first use of the channel since returning to the White House on Jan. 20. Citing a source familiar with the matter, the Financial Times reported that Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) was also a part of the delegation. The visit came days after China concluded war games around Taiwan and amid Trump’s