Page title

Intro

Foreword

Western Australia’s screen industry is central to the future development of our State.

Our screen industry creates jobs, nurtures innovation, attracts tourists, is essential to our social fabric and sense of identity, and promotes

Western Australia to the world. All Western Australians will see the benefits of increased employment, economic activity, social impacts and cultural outcomes associated with a thriving screen industry.

The Western Australian Screen Industry Strategy: 2024-2034 is the State’s first whole-of-government strategy to support the industry to deliver social outcomes and diversify and grow our economy in line with the WA Government’s economic development framework, Diversify WA.

Western Australia is home to fantastic companies who are actively developing and producing screen projects. We have highly skilled and experienced screen practitioners and developers, praised internationally for their innovation, drive and distinctive storytelling.

Building on our screen industry’s successes, the WA Government is committed to strengthening the competitiveness of the industry, investing in the creative knowledge-economy jobs of the future, ensuring Western Australians have high-tech skills, and providing access to the facilities needed to maximise the full potential of the sector.

Just like our vast State, WA’s cultures are diverse and extraordinary. WA is home to the world’s oldest living and continuous cultures, stretching back at least 60,000 years, along with the rich contribution of Western Australians from culturally and linguistically diverse (CaLD) backgrounds. With this strategy, we can expand our opportunities to share WA stories and celebrate the diversity of cultures our State has to offer.

Western Australia offers spectacular and versatile filming locations across our nine distinct regions and our capital city, Perth. This strategy provides the opportunity to build our attraction as a screen production location, and a place for games and interactive businesses to grow and invest. It also provides a coordinated approach to the marketing and promotion of WA screen opportunities, successes, culture and identity locally, nationally and globally.

The strategy will ensure WA is best placed to grow and develop the screen industry over the next ten years, resulting in tangible benefits to the local economy, WA tourism and businesses, and the global screen industry.

Hon David Templeman MLA

Minister for Culture and the Arts; Sport and Recreation; International Education; Heritage

Western Australian Screen Industry Strategy

Western Australia has a reputation for producing and developing outstanding screen content. Global conditions are creating a platform for accelerated growth of the WA screen industry.
 
The Western Australian Government has recognised the opportunity to grow the WA screen industry in line with Diversify WA, the State’s economic development framework.
 
The Western Australian Screen Industry Strategy: 2024-2034 brings together initiatives  across government into a cohesive strategic framework. The purpose of this framework is to grow the capacity for the Western Australian screen industry to deliver improved economic, social and  cultural outcomes for Western Australia more broadly.
 
The strategy will guide the activities of the WA Government over the next 10 years and will be delivered in partnership with Western Australia’s not-for-profit screen funding and development  organisation, Screenwest, and the screen industry in our State.1
 
For the purpose of this strategy, the screen industry incorporates the functions and activities required to produce content that is viewed or consumed by others on a screen and includes film, broadcast  television, subscription video on demand and other interactive platforms, digital games, postproduction, animation, visual effects, virtual reality, augmented reality, extended reality, and screen  culture.2,3
 
This strategy provides an opportunity for the coordination of WA Government agencies, regional development commissions, local government authorities, tourism associations, chambers of  commerce, and other stakeholders and partners to take a holistic approach to screen industry development.
 
Creating a continuous pipeline of productions in the State and building the capacity and capability of  the screen industry workforce will support the delivery of a proposed state-of-the-art film studio and screen production facility.
 

The strategy’s vision statement outlines the Western Australian Government’s aspirations for the WA screen industry by 2034. The vision statement informs the goals, strategic pillars, initiatives and outcomes of the strategy.

Western Australia's screen industry

Western Australia is home to a vibrant and growing domestic screen industry and is well positioned to grow the State’s presence in the international market.
 
WA’s screen industry is a job-intensive, job-creating and export focused industry. Our screen industry reaches all corners of our State and encompasses a diverse array of screen practitioners producing content to enrich and strengthen our communities.
 
First Nations peoples have been sharing stories of these diverse lands and cultures for more than 60,000 years. This continues through the medium of screen. This strategy recognises, respects and celebrates the importance of First Nations Australian, and Western Australian, screen stories and storytellers.
 
WA storytelling has a global reach. Our stories draw on our unique cultures. They also resonate  with audiences around the world. WA-made screen content ranges from long running lifestyle series Garden Gurus to documentary series Our Law and Ningaloo Nyinggulu. It includes children’s series, such as Itch and 100% Wolf: Legend of Moonstone, and feature films like Blueback, How to Please a Woman, and Rams.
 
Western Australia’s diverse and talented screen practitioners have been recognised internationally, including at the Academy Awards and Emmy Awards, and their work has been selected for the  most prestigious international film festivals. Our games and interactive practitioners’ work has been showcased at premier international games conventions. Accolades earned by WA screen industry  practitioners include international and national awards for feature films Sweet As and Red Dog.
 
WA has a reputation for producing high quality, internationally successful documentary productions.  In 2020-21 alone, WA generated 12% ($27.5 million) of the total $226.9 million Australian expenditure on documentary production. Our State is home to large documentary production  companies including Prospero Productions, Electric Pictures and Artemis Media. Long running series like Outback Truckers and Aussie Gold Hunters are produced alongside documentaries including Australia’s Health Revolution with Dr Michael Mosley, Every Family has a Secret, Is Australia Racist? and Family Rules.
 
Western Australia’s post-production, digital visual effects, games and interactive technology companies are internationally renowned. This includes Siamese providing visual effects for Stranger Things, Double Barrel VFX completing visual effects on the feature film Elvis, and Black Lab Games developing Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector and Battlestar Galactica Deadlock.
 

Western Australian screen companies are also cultivating innovation across other industries including tourism, education, engineering, construction and health. They create interactive games; immersive  technology; and virtual, augmented and extended reality that solve real-world problems. 

Western Australia’s screen industry: Economic impact

Western Australia has a talented, award-winning screen industry that encompasses film, broadcast television, subscription video on demand and other interactive platforms, digital games, postproduction, animation, visual effects, virtual reality, augmented reality, extended reality and screen culture.

In the past three years4production activity in which the Western Australian Government has invested, via Screenwest, has generated:

  • 93 film, television and interactive projects
  • $116.8 million in production expenditure spent in Western Australia
  • $26.6 million in production expenditure spend in regional Western Australia
  • 3404 direct full time equivalent (FTE) jobs for Western Australians
  • 279 hours of screen content
  • 10.3% of key creative roles filled by Western Australians who identified as Indigenous
  • 17.52% of key creative roles filled by Western Australians who identified as diverse 6
  • 3.55 million invested in Western Australian First Nations projects, talent, and businesses

Western Australia's games and interactive sector has tripled in size in recent years:

  • 217% increase in games development full-time employees based in WA from 2020-21 to 2021-22.7

Our vision

Western Australia has a world-renowned screen industry showcasing exceptional creative content and stories to the world. Government and industry align to create new highly skilled jobs, attract investment and activity to grow and diversify our economy, and enrich our cultures and our people. 

Through this vision, Western Australia will work towards significantly increasing the value of the State’s screen industry over the next 10 years.

Goals

The strategy goals are the verifiable, measurable signs of success that will be achieved through the delivery of the Western Australian Screen Industry Strategy: 2024-2034.

The goals are: 

  1. Increase the annual measured economic contribution of screen industry Qualified Western Australian Expenditure (QWAE) across all formats and platforms8
  2. Increase Western Australian stories, talent and content on screens by:
    1. increasing the hours of Western Australian screen content created annually9
    2. growing the number of full-time WA games development employees to better reflect our proportion of the national population by 203410
    3. increasing the volume of content led by First Nations creatives and other creatives from diverse communities11.
  3. Increase the level of screen industry QWAE directly resulting from: production attraction incentives; post, digital and visual effects (PDV) incentives; and a new Screen Production Facility by 2034.12

The strategy goals have been set at an industry-wide level to provide a framework for the implementation of the strategy across all industry sub-sectors. The goals are quantifiable measures of the achievement of the vision statement. 

Strategic pillars and initiatives

Strategic pillars provide focus areas for the strategy. Each of these strategic pillars has targeted initiatives that the Western Australian Government has committed to delivering. 

The four strategic pillars are:
 
  1. Enabling — screen friendly WA
  2. Production — growing opportunities
  3. Infrastructure  — spaces to scale up
  4. Workforce — building capacity and capability

The initiatives are prioritised as short term, medium term or long term, with numbering occurring across strategic pillars to represent this prioritisation. 

Enabling: Screen friendly Western Australia

A screen friendly Western Australia means ensuring the WA Government is working towards a common set of objectives and outcomes to deliver the strategy. Sharpening the capacity of State Government to work collaboratively with Screenwest, Lotterywest, Regional Development Commissions, the Federal Government, local governments, and the broader industry will ensure WA can take advantage of opportunities to grow our screen industry.

Short term13

Initiative 1 — Development of a cross-government screen industry development team
  • Coordination of key agencies to drive the strategy delivery across government to enable screen industry capacity growth.
  • Liaising with Department of the Premier and Cabinet; WA Police; Department of Transport; Main Roads WA; Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions; Department of Health; and Regional Development Commissions to support production activity in the State.
The Screen Industry Development Team will include representatives from agencies that have accountability and interest in screen industry growth, such as the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries (DLGSC); the Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation (JTSI); the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD); the Department of Training and Workforce Development (DTWD); the Arts and Culture Trust; Tourism Western Australia; the Department of Treasury; the Western Australian Regional Development Commission Alliance; and Lotterywest; plus Western Australia’s industry development organisation, Screenwest. There are also regular touch points between screen productions based in Western Australia and WA Government agencies, such as the Department of the Premier and Cabinet; Western Australian Police Force; Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions; Department of Health; Main Roads WA; and the Department of Transport. The Screen Industry Development Team will consult with representatives from the Western Australian screen industry to inform the implementation of initiatives.
 

Medium term

Initiative 5 — Development of a Local Content Purchasing Policy for Western Australian Government Screen Production Purchasing
  • WA Government using its purchasing power to boost investment in local screen content.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) across the WA Government to prioritise the procurement of local WA screen industry businesses to produce content for Government information and promotional campaigns. This will reinforce the Western Australian Buy Local Policy 2022 and the WA Industry Link initiative to grow opportunities for the WA screen industry.

Initiative 6 — Development of a Screen Industry Marketing and Promotion Plan
  • Providing a coordinated approach to the marketing and promotion of WA screen opportunities, successes, culture and identity locally, nationally and globally.
  • Developing a Screen Industry Prospectus to market WA and our screen industry as open for business.
  • Growing WA audience engagement in screen culture and WA screen industry opportunities and achievements.

The strategy, and enabling governance reforms, will play an important role in positioning WA as an attractive destination for screen productions and screen industry businesses. It is an opportunity to promote the strengths of the WA screen industry globally and locally, including the success of local practitioners and developers, unique stories and outstanding locations across WA.

Promoting our dynamic screen culture ignites audience engagement with the WA screen industry. This builds an appetite for WA screen content and grows appreciation of the talent we have in Western Australia. 

Production: Growing opportunities

This strategic pillar identifies investment-ready opportunities to grow WA screen industry production over the next 10 years, and a framework for better coordination of investment to support the vision and goals of the strategy.

Short term

Initiative 2 — 10 year plan for Western Australia's screen industry production
  • Plan to grow screen industry production to achieve significant industry expansion, employment, economic and cultural returns.
  • Development and Production funding (intellectual property created and owned in WA) supporting capability and capacity building of WA screen practitioners and companies.
  • WA Production Attraction Incentive to draw national and international productions to WA and enable access to the Federal Location Incentive Program.
  • WA Regional Screen Fund to attract screen projects to undertake production in regional Western Australia.
  • WA Games and Interactive Fund to invest in WA digital game development and production to enable access to the Federal Digital Games Tax Offset.
  • Making WA an attractive place for screen industry investments of scale, streamlining processes, and applying exemptions to broaden international, national and local investment in the long term.

Develop a 10-year plan to provide better coordination and a prioritisation framework that can deliver greater effectiveness and efficiency to Government investment in the WA screen industry and the realisation of the strategy’s outcomes. 

Longer-term, sustained production levels create confidence within the WA screen industry, and signals to interstate and international stakeholders that WA is open for business.

Infrastructure: Spaces to scale up

This strategic focus area identifies WA Government investment in screen industry infrastructure and the needs assessments required to ensure infrastructure investment is fit-for-purpose for screen industry growth over the next 10 years.

Short term

Initiative 3 —  Development of a major screen production facility
  • A major screen production facility will attract national and international productions and investment to the State and create job and upskilling opportunities for the local industry. This, in turn, will catalyse a step change in the capacity of the local industry to deliver larger productions and more diverse screen content.

Medium/long term

Initiative 7 — assess smaller scale screen infrastructure requirements across WA
  • Assessment to determine the infrastructure needs to support screen industry activity, with a focus on post, digital and visual effects (PDV) and regional WA.

Long term

Initiative 8 — Development of a games and interactive technolog hub 
  • A hub for emerging game and interactive development studios and creatives to scale up their business and take advantage of growing opportunities.

A large-scale screen production facility, associated infrastructure, and major production incentives have been identified as opportunities for the future growth and development of the WA screen industry. The size and kind of projects Western Australia can host can be expanded, accelerating growth and development, increasing employment and the skills capacity of the local industry.

Infrastructure to support screen productions in the regions, and the post, digital and visual effects (PDV) sector, will ensure a holistic approach to growing WA’s local industry.

A hub for WA’s emerging digital games and interactive sector has been identified as a long-term goal. This timeframe gives the opportunity for both the progression of the proposed Screen Production Facility (Initiative 3), and the assessment of regional and PDV sector needs (Initiative 7), to inform how the Games and Interactive Technologies Hub can best contribute to the growth of the games and interactive sector in WA. 

Workforce: Building capacity and capability

This strategic pillar recognises the growth of the WA screen industry cannot occur without a skilled and available workforce. Increased industry investment will create a steady pipeline of screen production activity in the State. This requires a workforce of skilled and experienced practitioners ready to fill the jobs these productions will bring. 

Short term

Initiative 4 A Screen Industry Workforce Plan and Implementation
  • WA’s screen industry consists of highly skilled creatives, practitioners, developers and businesses.
  • Developing and implementing a workforce plan to create career pathways and build the capacity of the screen industry.
  • Increasing career and investment opportunities for First Nations people and people from diverse communities.
  • Ensuring equity and inclusion policies are standard across WA industry, including cultural safety protocols, inclusive leadership and boards, and inclusive hiring and retention practices.

The development and implementation of a workforce plan will inform the future needs for people and skills within the WA screen industry. Western Australia has a tertiary and vocational training eco-system with a strong track record in supporting students to develop the technical and creative skills that lay the foundations for a career in the screen industry. On-the-job training and development opportunities are a critical component of early-stage career development in the screen industry.

Long term sustained investment in the screen industry will create a steady pipeline of production in the State and improve the retention of screen industry creatives and professionals in Western Australia, including tertiary graduates. Ongoing employment opportunities can mitigate the risk of skilled personnel being drawn away by employment opportunities outside Western Australia and in other industries, such as mining and energy where their technical skills are highly applicable and in strong demand.

Strategy development

Following a Ministerial Roundtable workshop with key industry representatives in May 2022, the development of the strategy has been guided by a cross-agency Screen Industry Working Group and consultation with other key stakeholders. 

The Screen Industry Working Group consists of representatives from the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries (DLGSC); the Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation (JTSI); the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD); the Department of Training and Workforce Development (DTWD); the Department of Treasury;  Tourism Western Australia; and Screenwest.

Strategic alignment

How the strategy will work alongside Diversify WA, and related WA Government strategies and funding programs to grow the economic and cultural impacts of the WA screen industry is mapped in below.

Figure 1 Screen Industry Strategy Alignment

Chart showing the screen industry strategy alignment and existing and planned funding sources

Strategy development

  • Diversity WA (JTSI)
    • Future State: Accelerating Diversity WA (JTSI)
      • Cultural Infrastructure Framework (DLGSC)
      • Innovation Strategy (JTSI)
      • Asian Engagement Strategy (JTSI)
      • Invest and Trade plans (JTSI)
  • Screen Industry Strategy (DLGSC).

Funding

  • WA Regional Screen Fund (existing funding —Royalties for Regions funding)
  • Lotterywest Funding (existing funding — DLGSC lead)
  • New Screen Production Facility (planned funding — DLGSC lead)
  • Production Attraction Facility (planned funding — DLGSC lead)
  • Industry Growth Investment (new funding — DLGSC lead)
  • Games and Interactive Fund (new funding — DLGSC lead)
  • New Industries Fund (existing funding — JTSI lead)
  • Investment Attraction Fund (existing funding — JTSI lead).

Implementation

Screen Industry Development Team

Several State Government agencies have interest and accountability in the growth and development of the Western Australian screen industry. This strategy is targeted at building a collegiate and collaborative cross-agency approach to coordinating these activities and align them to a common vision and goals. A cross-government approach to coordinating initiatives, investment and policy is required.
 
The Screen Industry Development Team will facilitate alignment between and among WA Government strategies to grow the creative industries and diversify the economy.
 
The Screen Industry Development Team will be chaired by the lead agency for screen industry initiatives (DLGSC) and provide a framework to progress the initiatives contained within the strategy. The Screen Industry Development Team will report to the responsible Ministers, with the Western Australian Minister for Culture and the Arts taking a leadership role. The Screen Industry Development Team will prioritise membership and input for First Nations people and people from diverse communities. Representatives from the Western Australian screen industry will be consulted by the Screen Industry Development Team to inform the implementation of initiatives.
 

A representation of the Screen Industry Development Team’s place within the governance architecture for the delivery of the Screen Industry Strategy is provided below14.

Figure 2 Screen Industry Development Team

 

Chart showing the planned make up of the Screen Industry Development Team

  • Cabinet
  • Responsible Ministers
  • Screen Industry Development Team
    • Initiative delivery agencies
      • DLGSC
      • DPIRD
      • JTSI
      • DTWD
      • Arts and Culture Trust
    • Screenwest
    • Treasury
    • Supporting agencies
      • Lotterywest
      • RDC Alliance
      • Tourism WA
  • Screenwest
  • Screen industry.

The relationship between the State Government and Screenwest

Screenwest is an incorporated not-for-profit entity that structurally separated from the Western Australian Government in 2017. Screenwest has been integral to the development of the strategy as  a member of the Screen Industry Working Group and key delivery partner for the screen industry.
 
Screenwest works in partnership with government to deliver outcomes for the screen industry in  WA. The strategy provides the basis for an ongoing agreement between the parties, reflecting the  State Government’s role as the primary funder of Screenwest, and Screenwest’s function supporting  the development and production of film, television and digital game projects and growing industry  capacity in WA to meet the outcomes of the strategy.
 

Screenwest will be a member of the Screen Industry Development Team on an ongoing basis, to ensure it is able to provide input and respond to the State Government’s strategic direction  and progression of screen industry initiatives at a whole-of-government level.

Monitoring and evaluation

A Monitoring and Evaluation Plan will be developed by the DLGSC. The Monitoring and Evaluation Plan will outline the implementation of the strategy’s initiatives, communicate baseline data for the strategy’s goals, map how the initiatives will be assessed against the intended outcomes, and evaluate their efficiency and effectiveness annually and at the conclusion of the strategy delivery. This will incorporate revisions as circumstances change on both a global and local scale. 

Disclaimer

This document has been published by DLGSC. Any representation, statement, opinion, or advice expressed or implied in this publication is made in good faith and on the basis that the government, its employees, and agents are not liable for any  damage or loss whatsoever which may occur as a result of action taken or not taken, as the case may be, in respect of any representation, statement, opinion or advice referred to herein.

References

  1. Screenwest (Australia) Limited (Screenwest) is a not-for-profit Company Limited by Guarantee and governed by the Corporations Act 2001 and the Australian Charities and Not for Profits Commissions Act 2012. 
  2. This definition generally excludes what happens after post-production (i.e. once the content is 'finished' and ready to consume), meaning distribution, and broadcast are considered outside of scope  — noting that there can be overlap between distributors and creators following  post-production.
  3. Screen culture encompasses how we relate to and connect with screen content in our daily lives — at home, on your phone, in the cinema, at a festival/event. Screen culture is within the scope of this strategy as it contributes to raising the profile of WA screen practitioners and WA screen content.  
  4. 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22, inclusive of the periods of Government mandated COVID-19 travel and gathering restrictions.
  5. Producer, director, writer as per Screenwest funding guidelines. 
  6. Producer, director, writer as per Screenwest funding guidelines.
  7. Includes full time equivalents and contractors.
  8. Inclusive of film, broadcast television, subscription video on demand and other interactive platforms.
  9. Excluding content types not eligible for Screenwest funding as per the Screenwest Terms of Trade. It does include projects that have leveraged off a project previously funded by Screenwest e.g. spin off series or series that no longer require  Screenwest funding to close their finance plan. 
  10. Includes full time employees and contractors (based on annual IGEA Australian Game Development Survey).
  11. First Nations practitioners and other practitioners from diverse communities who are residents of Western Australia in key creative roles — at least as writer and director, and in the case of writing teams the lead writer. 
  12. Gross value of production expenditure occurring at or as a result of the Screen Production Facility.
  13. The initiatives are prioritised as short term, medium term or long term, with numbering occurring across strategic pillars to represent this prioritisation.
  14. RDC Alliance: the Western Australian Regional Development Commission Alliance.
Page reviewed 03 September 2024