Queenslanders hoping to get in on the Hollywood action will have the chance to put their properties on display to prospective film location scouts by using a new crowd-sourcing tool on their mobile phones.
The tool is a mobile app called Screen Queensland (SQ) Location Gallery, Crew & Facilities Directories, which lets users register their properties as potential film sets.
When the details of these properties are uploaded, screen industry professionals can quickly and efficiently find the most suitable locales for their productions.
Behind the scenes of this new scheme is the government’s screen agency Screen Queensland, which has initiated a partnership with the US-based developer Reel Scout to deliver on the Campbell Newman government’s election promise of “arts for all Queenslanders”.
The tool has been used by a wide variety of clients across the globe including other government screen agencies across Australia such as ScreenNSW, Gold Coast Film Office, City of Ipswitch Film Office, Screen Central and Film Broken Hill.
Queensland Minister for Arts and Innovation Ian Walker said the app showcases countless locations around the state and makes it easy for the screen industry, both locally and globally, to find their ideal location.
“The screen industry is all about location, location, location,” Mr Walker said.
He said this app helps directors to “find hidden, authentic gems when they’re hunting unusual locations” and for “everyday people to get a piece of the movie action”.
“Reel Scout is a one-stop doorway to hundreds of potential film locations ranging from a Buddhist temple, to a gothic Brisbane mansion, to the Far North Queensland rainforest,” Mr Walker said.
He said individual property owners can register their own site, so it’s an innovation that delivers the arts to all Queenslanders “with gusto”.
The benefits of the app are multi-angled as the government wants to widen the scope of the state’s global exposure, which it hopes will bolster the tourism dollar and make Queensland “a premier location for screen production”.
It’s also a handy tool for film location managers hoping to save time in the demanding and stressful process of finding suitable locations that are both appropriate and practical.
Screen Queensland has hailed the app as an “industry leading system” that has provided a portable database of filming locations, thousands of photographs, industry contact listings and local government details.
The agency’s chief executive officer Tracey Vieira said Reel Scout is a new technology that gives the state a “competitive edge” in increasing screen productivity, helping to market locations, expert crews and “world-class” facilities to filmmakers around the world.
She said there are no costs for the end user when registering on the database or downloading the app.
This story originally appeared on the Government News website