Nearly two years after it threatened to cut screen funding, the NSW Government is stepping up its investment in the sector, revealing a $380 million package of screen and digital games support as part of the 2025-26 Budget, including a $100 million capital fund towards a second Sydney studio.
Announced to coincide with the Sydney Film Festival, the package ensures the continuation of the Made in NSW fund and Post, Digital and Visual Effects, and Digital Games Rebate programs, which had been flagged for cuts in 2023 before being restored following a sharp industry response.
The government has also committed to an overhaul of regulatory framework, ranging from tripling the time filming can occur on private land without development approval and changing the Local Government Act to reduce red tape. It will also introduce a Screen and Digital Games Industries Act, backed by an advisory committee, while a Film Friendly Accreditation program will recognise and back local councils who are supporting screen production.
The $100 million capital fund comes after the government committed to developing a business case for a second major film studio in Sydney as part of its 10-year Creative Communities Cultural Policy.
Multiple locations have already been touted to house a new film and TV production facility outside of Moore Park’s Disney Studios, which has hosted Thor: Love & Thunder, Mad Max Furiosa, The Fall Guy, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, and I Know What You Did Last Summer since 2021.
Over the past four years, plans have been announced for Pacific Bay Resort Studios and Village in Coffs Harbour and Lakeside Studio in Greater Western Sydney, both of which have been delayed, with the latter forced to relocate entirely due to the government’s flooding and evacuation considerations and controls.
In March, Greenfields Development Company lodged a DA with Camden Council for a $127 million project at Oran Park in Sydney’s south west, featuring three large soundstages, production offices, working spaces for departments, and a multi-deck parking facility.
It was followed by a report in the Sydney Morning Herald that Create NSW was conducting market soundings on behalf of the government to assess the need for new sound stages and screen production facilities for the state, with a mega-complex next to the Silverwater Correctional Complex and a plan for multiple sound stages on an industrial site within five kilometres of the CBD among the proposals being considered.
On Sunday, the Herald reported that a redundant industrial site next to the Carriageworks in Eveleigh was being considered as a potential site, with a consortium of local filmmakers, architects and a construction giant understood to be behind the proposal. The proposal, said to be supported by an international studio, offers a mix of social and affordable housing, including student accommodation for the University of Sydney above soundproofed studios, as well as a hotel.
While a decision is yet to be made on the location, Arts Minister John Graham said the capital fund would pave the way for the studio’s delivery.
“NSW is the home of the screen industry in Australia,” he said.
“Our screen sector continues to wow the world with our storytelling. Their work shows the world who we are – and helps us understand who we are.
“The Minns Labor Government is backing the sector and planning for growth.
“The industry has been calling for a second studio space in Sydney to make sure local producers aren’t being squeezed out by the big overseas productions.”