QUEENSLANDERS SPEARHEAD FILM AND TV PRODUCTION BOOM

Queensland writers, producers and directors are spearheading a production boom with another two major film productions getting the green light, Arts Minister Rod Welford said today.

Mr Welford confirmed the two new feature films would begin shooting in Queensland later this year and early next year with production finance from the State Government’s Pacific Film and Television Commission and the Film Finance Corporation.

“Film and television production is booming in Queensland at the moment with a host of local and international productions shooting or about to get underway,” Mr Welford said.

“I’m particularly pleased that the addition of these two latest films means Queensland production companies have developed and financed four feature films this year.

“It’s a significant achievement for our filmmaking talent and heralds a bright future for our local industry.”

The latest two feature films, Daybreakers and Acolytes, are in addition to the locally-produced features Unfinished Sky and Dark Island.

Daybreakers is the highly anticipated feature film from brothers Peter and Michael Spierig (Undead) with Gold Coast-based Chris Brown (The Proposition) producing. The film is due to start shooting early in 2007 and is set in the near future when a virulent plague transforms the majority of the world's population into vampires.

Queenslanders Penny Wall and Richard Stewart will produce their first feature film together, Acolytes, with a script from local writers Shane Krause and Shayne Armstrong.

Acolytes is a thriller about three high-schoolers who try to find the killer of a woman’s body that has been buried in the bush behind the retaining walls of an amusement park.

International production also continues to flourish with The Starter Wife currently in pre-production on the Gold Coast, starring Debra Messing (Will and Grace) in the lead role.

The mini-series will be filmed mainly on the Gold Coast from early November to February 2007 and is estimated to spend $10 million in Queensland.

The multi-million dollar feature film Fool’s Gold, starring Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey, is slated to begin shooting from late October, while the international TV series Monarch Cove is currently shooting on the Gold Coast.

Australian TV series Sea Patrol and the second series of H2O – Just Add Water are also about to go into production.

Media contact: Marnie Stitz on 3237 1000 or 0419 734 985