Australia’s Screen Queensland to open $8m regional studio, invests in local prodcos

The Screen Queensland Cains studio complex will be part of a creative hub

A A$12.6m (US$8m) studio facility will open this month in Australia’s Far North Queensland, while state agency Screen Queensland has provided funding to four new production companies in the region.

Screen Queensland’s NQ Enterprise programme has awarded production companies Biopixel, Kite Fish Film, Millstream Productions and Pandamonium Films A$250,000 between them to grow their operations over the next 12 months.

The programme was created to boost the North and Far North Queensland screen business sector in the lead-up to the studio launch and the creation of a regional screen hub.

The Screen Queensland Cains studio complex will be the centrepiece of the Far North Queensland creative precinct, which aims to attract in-bound productions and develop local projects.

It will officially open on April 24 and was developed by Cairns-based Richard Field Constructions. The complex offers a 1,070 square metre sound stage, production offices, editing suites, sound recording studio, construction and wardrobe facilities, as well as an event space and creative tenancies.

“With the imminent opening of Screen Queensland Studios Cairns it’s an incredible time of opportunity for the region’s screen sector and we look forward to seeing where this new cohort of NQ Enterprise recipients take their businesses over the next 12 months,” said Screen Queensland CEO Jacqui Feeney.

Recent local productions include SBS-commissioned Tastes of the Tropics, Stan Original drama Black Snow; SBS Food cooking and cultural series Strait to the Plate and Tastes of the Tropics; ABC documentary series The Black Hand; feature documentary Beyond The Reef; reality series Australian Survivor: Blood V Water; Emmy-winner Puff: Wonders of the Reef; and romantic comedy Ticket to Paradise.