Australia-Singapore screen co-production agreement signed

Australia’s Minister for the Arts and Sport, Senator George Brandis, and the Singapore Minister for Foreign Affairs, George Yeo, today signed a joint Australia–Singapore film and television co-production agreement.

The agreement will make both governments' film and television production incentives available to producers and will cover the production of new media projects.

Senator Brandis and Minister Yeo welcomed the agreement saying they believed it would lead to greater cultural collaboration between Australia and Singapore.

“Australia and Singapore already enjoy a strong bilateral relationship and this treaty with the Government of Singapore will further encourage creative and business collaboration between our film and new media industries,” Senator Brandis said.

“Singapore is actively marketing its film sector in Asia, which is an increasingly important region for the global film and television industry. Australian–Singaporean productions will create opportunities for Australian filmmakers to access this significant market.”

“Film co-production agreements promote cultural and creative exchange and help to share the economic costs and benefits of productions, encouraging the output of high-quality productions.”

Minister Yeo said the co-production treaty would promote both Australia and Singapore as premier destinations for creative filmmaking.

“Singapore is becoming a global media hub, and this co-production agreement will spur greater industry collaboration between both countries,” said Minister Yeo.

"It will encourage Australian and Singaporean companies to share production resources and help both countries develop their international networks.”

“The co-production agreement with Australia will also promote cultural exchange."

The co-production agreement allows an approved film or television programme to be considered as a national production in each of the co-production countries so that producers can then apply for any benefits or programs of assistance available in either country, including investment and tax incentives. The production is also treated as ‘local content’ in each country for the purposes of audiovisual regulation. The agreement will be administered by the Australian Film Commission and the Media Development Authority of Singapore, on behalf of their respective countries.

Existing partnerships between Australian and Singaporean media companies have resulted in a number of successful productions. Recent works include The Home Song Stories, which was produced by Australia's Big and Little Films and Porchlight Films with investment from Singapore's MediaCorp Raintree Pictures who are distributing the film in Singapore and Malaysia; and with majority finance provided by the Film Finance Corporation Australia. Another recent project is 5 Star Insider, a lifestyle TV program between Landmark Television of Australia and Singapore’s Oak3 Films which is currently being shown on Discovery Travel and Living Asia.

Other successful co-production projects include animation series Milly Molly by Pacific & Beyond (Australia) and Scrawl Studios (Singapore) and Master Raindrop by Greenpatch Productions (Australia), Big Communications (Singapore) and Flux Animation (New Zealand).

The Australian Government already has film and television co-production treaties with the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, Canada, Italy, Ireland, Israel and Germany and Memoranda of Understanding with France and New Zealand. In addition, a treaty with South Africa is currently under negotiation and another with China is expected to come into force shortly. Singapore has also entered into similar arrangements with Canada, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.

Recent co-productions to which Australia has been a party include the successful children’s animation Erky Perky (2006 – Canada), the television drama Tripping Over (2006 – UK) and the internationally released feature film The Proposition (2005 – UK).

Following the completion of Australia’s domestic treaty approval process, it is anticipated that the agreement between Australia and Singapore will come into force in the next few months.

For more information visit: www.afc.gov.au/coproductions or www.mda.gov.sg.

Media contacts
Senator Brandis: Travis Bell - t. + 61 448 950 248; e. [email protected]
Mr Yeo: Sharon Tan - t. +65 6837 9011; e. [email protected]