2023 Wrap Up
2023 has shaped up to be an impressive year for WA feature films, TV series, documentary projects, digital games and festivals.
2023 has been a fantastic year for production across the scripted, documentary and digital games sectors, with audiences having the opportunity to engage with WA made content at festivals. Local production has ramped up, with a diverse pipeline of screen projects gearing up to be produced in the new year. We’ve also welcomed two major productions to our State this year, which have provided our industry with significant employment and professional development opportunities.
Screenwest would like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to all the Western Australian creatives, crew, cast, developers, production, post, games, festival and screen services companies who work together to bring WA screen stories to life for local, national and global audiences.
Looking ahead, we are incredibly excited for 2024, which is set to be a bumper year as the volume of screen production continues to build and projects like The Twelve Season 2, He Ain’t Heavy and Maggie Beer’s Big Mission hit screens big and small. We look forward to seeing the progression of the Malaga screen production facility works and the State Screen Industry Strategy.
Our industry is poised for significant growth over the next few years and we can’t wait to see it continue to flourish.
2023 HIGHLIGHTS
Below are some of the announcements, productions and releases that occurred over the last 12 months:
- We’ve welcomed two major productions to our State – The Surfer, starring Academy-Award winning actor Nicolas Cage, and The Twelve Season 2 starring Sam Neill and Frances O’Connor.
Clockwise from top left: Every Family Has a Secret S4; Sweet As; Outback Farm; Blueback
- WA filmmaker Zak Hilditch’s new feature We Bury the Dead has been greenlit for production in February in WA’s Great Southern region, with Daisy Ridley (Star Wars sequel trilogy) starring.
- Drama series Invisible Boys was greenlit for production by Stan, with filming set to kick off in the new year in Perth and Geraldton.
- Bremer Bay-produced feature Blueback premiered in cinemas on New Year’s Day before screening at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival.
- Family-friendly feature film Runt, adapted from WA author Craig Silvey’s bestseller, kicked off production in Perth and York in October.
- Jub Clerc’s debut feature Sweet As hit cinema screens in May, following an impressive festival run with awards won at Melbourne, Berlin and Toronto International Film Festivals.
- Two animated children’s series, Kangaroo Beach and Tales from Outer Suburbia, were greenlit by the ABC. Production is taking place in Western Australia at production company and post-house Siamese, who also co-produced animated series 100% Wolf: Book of Hath, released on ABC in May.
- Several Western Australian documentaries and documentary series went into production or premiered this year, including: Ningaloo Nyinggulu, Our Law Series 1 and 2, The Way We Wore, The Hospital: In the Deep End, Outback Farm, Maggie Beer’s Big Mission, Junior Doctors Down Under, New Leash on Life, Aussie Gold Hunters Season 9, Revealed: Renee Gracie, Every Family has a Secret Series 4 and Keeping Hope.
- Screenwest ran two rounds of the Digital Games Production Fund, with 24 WA games supported for their pre-production, production or post-production stages of game development. We also welcomed WA Games Week to Perth.
-
Clockwise from top left: We Bury the Dead star Daisy Ridley and writer/director Zak Hilditch; Invisible Boys producer Tania Chambers and creator/director Nick Verso; Tales From Outer Suburbia; The Hospital: In the Deep End; Proclivitas writer/director Miley Tunnecliffe and producer Kate Separovich
WA First Nations screen practitioners continue to shine on a national level. In addition to features and TV series, five WA First Nations filmmaking teams out of six nationwide were selected to receive production funding for short documentaries through Screen Australia and Network 10’s First Facts: First Nations Factual Showcase initiative.
- West Coast Visions continues to put WA practitioners on the map. Miley Tunnecliffe and Kate Separovich were named as this year’s recipients for their horror Proclivitas, 2022 recipient Zoe Pepper’s dark comedy Birthright is heading into production this summer, and 2021 recipient David Vincent Smith’s drama He Ain’t Heavy set to premiere in 2024. We also saw Screen Australia commit $500K equity to West Coast Visions-supported projects from 2023 onwards.
Contact Screenwest
T: +61 8 6169 2100
E: info@screenwest.com.au
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube and subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date with Screenwest.