EFIC helped Goalpost Pictures with a Producer Offset loan
Goalpost Pictures Australia Pty Ltd (Goalpost Pictures), one of Australia’s leading film and television production companies, had secured commercial backing for its latest telemovie production, Panic at Rock Island.
The producers will apply for the Australian Government’s Producer Offset, a refundable tax rebate for producers of Australian feature films, television and other projects.
However, Sydney-based Goalpost Pictures faced a funding gap between the time when it would incur production costs and receive the Producer Offset through the taxation system.
A Producer Offset loan to be provided by Export Finance and Insurance Corporation (EFIC), Australia’s export credit agency, has helped Goalpost Pictures to bridge that funding gap.
EFIC has provided a loan of approximately $496,000 to Rock Island Productions Pty Ltd, a special purpose vehicle production company owned by Goalpost Pictures and director Tony Tilse. EFIC’s loan is for an amount equal to 90 per cent of the provisionally assessed value of the Producer Offset.
‘EFIC’s support will help us to meet our funding needs for the production by increasing our cash flow’, said Rosemary Blight, the producer of Panic at Rock Island and principal partner of Goalpost Pictures.
EFIC’s Producer Offset loan provides financial support to eligible Australian film and television productions which have international distribution agreements. Arclight’s Easternlight Films holds the international distribution rights for Panic at Rock Island.
‘It’s a challenge to obtain commercial finance for Australian independent film and television so EFIC’s support for the industry is timely’, said Ms Blight.
In Panic at Rock Island, written by Matt Ford and directed by Tony Tilse (whose television credits include the Underbelly series), a major disaster strikes a rock festival on an island in Sydney Harbour.
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