Sky Studio’s Tom Avison heads down under as founding CEO of Perth Film Studios

Perth Film Studios has appointed its founding CEO, UK studio executive Tom Avison, following a global recruitment drive.

Tom Avison

Avison is currently the director of operations at recently established Sky Studios Elstree, where he was the first operational hire. Sky Studios Elstree has recently housed productions including  Wicked, Paddington 3, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy and Jurassic World: Rebirth.

The new Australia studio facilityis run by Home Fire which has an initial 10 year operational contract with the West Australian (WA) government.

The contract also has an option available to the state government to renew for a further three periods of 10 years. The WA government has committed around A$290.5m (US$181.6m) to the construction and delivery of Perth Film Studios which is on track for an early- mid 2026 launch.

Avison is a veteran of the UK studio sector, previously holding leadership positions at 3 Mills Studios in East London and Twickenham Studios in West London.

In additional appointments, Home Fire has appointed experienced producer and production manager James Grandison as business and industry development director. Grandison’s appointment comes after working as a consultant to the start-up development of the studio. He joins the studios armed with a wide range of production experience across television and feature film and is currently a member of Screenwest’s Industry Advisory Group.

Home Fire and Screenwest have been pushing the new studio’s capabilities internationally and are scheduled to be returning to LA with Ausfilm in March 2025 to secure bookings.