Media expert Debra Richards has been appointed the new CEO of Ausfilm as the organisation remains under pressure to attract international productions to Australia.
Richards has more than 20 years experience including time as the head of the Australian Subscription and Television Radio Association and 13 years at the Australian Broadcasting Authority. She began her new role today.
Former Ausfilm boss Jackie O'Sullivan vacated the role late last year.
Ausfilm chairman Alaric McAusland said Richards’ appointment as CEO will be an asset given the difficult state of the industry.
“We are extremely fortunate to have secured someone of the calibre of Debra at this critical time for the local and international screen production sector," he said in a statement. "Debra is a highly experienced CEO and executive director with experience gained in both private and public sectors. She is an acknowledged communications expert with a network that extends throughout the media industry and across the political spectrum.”
The rise of the Australian dollar has pushed international productions away from our shores and forced film companies to look elsewhere for cheaper locations.
Filming of current cinema release, The Green Lantern, went to Mexico instead of Sydney’s Fox Studios in late-2009 because of our strong currency amid the global financial crisis. It was estimated that the film would have created 500 local jobs. Australia also later lost the big budget production Battleship.
The value of the Aussie dollar remains high and rose slightly overnight to US 98.98c on the back of strong economic figures in Europe. It reached parity with the greenback in November last year.
To help entice big budget projects back Down Under, the Federal Government revamped its Post, Digital and Visual Effects Location rebates as part of the 2010 budget, with the threshold lowered from $5 million to $500,000.
Ausfilm is still lobbying the government to double the level of the PDV rebate to 30 per cent or peg the subsidy to currency movements.