NSW continues to lead the Australian screen industry

The eighth Film, Television and Digital Games Survey released on Friday, June 23 provides a detailed snapshot of how the Australian industry has changed since 2015/16.

Head of Screen NSW, Kyas Hepworth said the 2021/22 figures show NSW production, post-production and digital games businesses now employed about 15,600 people, up 60%, and contributed almost $3.5 billion to the state economy, more than double since the last survey.

“The results are further proof of the massive financial contribution our screen and content creation industry have on NSW, and improving the rich cultural life enjoyed across the state,” Ms Hepworth said.

“This data gives us clear direction for where we need to offer greater support and will help guide all our program and funding decisions going forward.”

The survey found NSW is home to about 47% of Australia’s production businesses (2105 out of 4106 employers) with 13,200 staff, up from 8,200.

Wages and salaries increased from $365.1m to $913.5m, generating $3.05b in income.

Almost half (49%) of Australia’s post-production facilities are in NSW (284 out of 575 businesses), employing 1755 out of 3405 people and contributing $308.5m to the state’s economy.

More work needs to be done in digital games despite an increase in the number of NSW developers from 13 to 32 (17% of 188, an increase of less than 1%).

However, the NSW sector over performs when it comes to income, contributing $136.1m (30% of the national total) to the NSW economy.

The survey also shows the main challenge facing the entire Australian industry is rising production costs which have increased by 104%.

Read the full ABS survey here.

Caption: North Shore filming in Sydney. Photo by Daniel Asher Smith. Courtesy of Beach Road Pictures.