Press release from Shac Communications
Export Finance and Insurance Corporation (EFIC), the Australian Government’s export credit agency, is working to provide its first Producer Offset loan to an Australian film and television production company.
EFIC’s loan for approximately $496,000 will be made to Rock Island Productions Pty Ltd, a production company owned by Goalpost Pictures and director Tony Tilse.
The loan follows EFIC’s launch in May 2010 of the Producer Offset loan product, a facility which supports the financing of eligible Australian film and television productions which have international distribution agreements.
EFIC’s Producer Offset loan will be provided in relation to the Australian Government’s Producer Offset initiative, which provides refundable tax rebates for producers of eligible Australian feature films, television and other projects.
Arclight’s Easternlight films holds the international distribution rights for Panic at Rock Island.
‘We’d secured commercial backing for the project, but we still faced a funding gap between the time when we will incur production costs and receive the Producer Offset through the tax system’, said Rosemary Blight, the producer of Panic at Rock Island and principal partner of Goalpost Pictures.
‘EFIC’s commitment will help us to bridge the gap by increasing our cash flow’, she said.
‘EFIC is excited to support the export of an Australian television production through our first Producer Offset loan’, said EFIC’s Executive Director, SME, Andrea Govaert,
‘The loan shows how EFIC can help successful production companies like Goalpost Pictures by complementing commercial sources of funding’, she said.
In Panic at Rock Island, a major disaster strikes a rock festival on an island in Sydney Harbour. The telemovie was written by Matt Ford and is being directed by Tony Tilse, whose recent television credits include the Underbelly series and Scorched.
For more information about the Producer Offset loan, visit www.efic.gov.au/producer_offset_loan.