What is the Regional Incentive?

Screen Queensland’s Regional Incentive aims to support the growth of the screen industry in regional Queensland (areas more than 150km outside of the major metropolitan hubs of Brisbane and the City of Gold Coast).

The Regional Incentive aims to:

• attract production to regional Queensland
• showcase diverse regional stories and locations across Queensland
• give the 33% of Queenslanders who live outside the major cities the opportunity to see themselves and their perspectives on screen
• create employment opportunities for creatives, cast and crew living in regional areas, and
• target Cairns and North Queensland with a view to supporting the region’s new production facility, Screen Queensland Studios Cairns.

When assessing your proposal we’ll use the below criteria.

The Regional Incentive is open for applications to anyone who is producing a screen story in regional Queensland, and will

• Spend more than $100,000 of Qualifying Regional Expenditure (QRE) in regional Queensland
• Film in a regional location for a minimum of five days.

Eligible screen stories will include: fiction feature film or series, documentary feature film or series, factual entertainment series (including reality).

Ineligible screen stories include: sports and current affairs programs, short films (less than 60 minutes), community television, student films.

The incentive will be up to 10% of Qualifying Regional Expenditure (QRE) in Queensland capped at $100,000.

Projects also applying through Screen Finance may also apply for a regional incentive of 5% of QRE capped at $100,000.

QRE is made up of:

• Fees paid to people who have been residents of the relevant regional area for at least six months prior to the application, and
• Expenditure with suppliers and businesses based in the relevant regional area.

Funding is in the form of a grant, payable after production has taken place and on delivery of a full audit of expenditure and acquittal of contracted delivery items.

Funding is competitive within a limited and highly targeted program.

Screen Queensland encourages applications from teams that will use the Screen Queensland Studios Cairns production facilities.

The program aims to deliver benefits to people from all backgrounds with a focus on diversity and inclusion to provide opportunities to all. Screen Queensland encourages applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and people from diverse backgrounds.

Successful applicants agree to register the production to The Everyone Project and, with appropriate consent, provide the names, roles and contact details of the production, cast and crew so that they may be invited to participate in voluntary, de-identified demographic surveys.

• Screen Australia A-Z Budget (or equivalent) showing itemised QRE spend as a separate column
• A schedule showing itemised shoot days in regional Queensland
• An application proposal, including:
  • One-page synopsis, including details of the project and any market interest
  • Summary of benefits to the Queensland regional area, including number of jobs created and total amount of qualifying production expenditure
  • A list of all Queensland locations to be used
  • Details of all regional Queensland creatives, crew, suppliers and businesses that will be engaged by the production
  • Details of the applicant’s track record and those of the key creative team, demonstrating the team’s ability to deliver the project
  • Outline of potential publicity opportunities that demonstrate the regional impact of the production

Applicants will also need to demonstrate they have clear rights to the story including:

• Life rights (where applicable)
• Option agreement and/or the approval of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander owners of the story
• Writers/key creative agreements
• Supporting documents for the finance plan including:
  • Provisional Certificate for projects applying for Federal Government Offsets
  • Completion guarantee (where applicable)

Apply online by clicking the link above.

Screen Queensland can only accept applications made online through the SmartyGrants system. The application form is available to preview.

Applications must be made and approved before the start of production and cannot be sought retrospectively. An application will be considered to be retrospective if production has already begun.

Within 30 minutes of submitting your application you’ll receive an automated application email confirming that it has been received. It is the responsibility of the applicant to contact Screen Queensland if you don’t receive an application receipt email.

Once you have submitted your application, it will be assessed against these guidelines. A recommendation will be made following the assessment.

Applications will be notified of the outcome as soon after a decision meeting as possible and successful applicants will be invited to enter into a formal agreement with Screen Queensland that outlines the conditions and deliverables required for payment of the incentive.

Unsuccessful applicants may contact Screen Queensland for feedback.

Submission of an application constitutes acceptance of these Guidelines and the application terms and conditions.

Your information will be used in accordance with Screen Queensland’s Privacy Policy which you hereby agree to by submitting this application.

Applicants must notify Screen Queensland in writing if they have an actual, perceived or potential conflict of interest in applying for the Funding and, if so, the manner in which they propose to deal with the conflict.

The applicant retains all intellectual property rights in its submission. The applicant grants an irrevocable, non-exclusive, royalty and fee free licence to the Screen Queensland to use, adapt and modify its intellectual property rights in its submission for the purposes of Screen Queensland analysing and evaluating the applicant’s submission.

Screen Queensland’s liability in relation to the application process is limited to $1.

Screen Queensland reserves the right to change any element of the Funding, these Guidelines or the application process at any time and in its absolute discretion.

• Terms of Trade
• QPE Definition
• Screen Queensland Strategic Plan 2023-25
• Screen Diversity and Inclusion Network Charter
• Screen Australia Pathways & Protocols