A Few Best Men starring Olivia Newton-John was shot at Fox Studios in early 2011
Excerpt of a report by Georgina Pearson on the Encore Magazine website
Sydney
As Australia’s largest production facility, Sydney’s Fox Studios is spread over a 32-acre site with 155,000m2 of sound stages (eight) supported by 35,000m2 of offices and133,000m2 of workshops, construction space and art departments.
Nancy Romano, chief executive of Fox Studios told Encore that for Fox, it’s all about bringing in the big productions.
“We have three of the largest sound stages in the southern hemisphere and hence, we really lend ourselves to features that have large sets. For instance currently we are shooting The Great Gatsby and in the past have shot features such as The Matrix Trilogy, Mission Impossible II, Moulin Rouge, Australia and Wolverine.”
However, where the studio really shines is in its wider cinematic scope – Housing over 50 television and film related businesses, the studio is also neighbouring (AFTRS), the Australian Film, Television and Radio School and the Brent Street Dance School – which Romano sees as a point of difference – positioning Fox as a truly creative campus.
Romano also told Encore that its lighting department is one of a kind.
“We are the only studio that offers our industry a “one stop shop” – particularly since we recently launched “Fox Lighting” which, in itself, gives us a competitive advantage as we are now Australia’s largest studio and leading supplier of lighting equipment.”
Alongside the big budget films, Fox has been home to massive domestic TV productions such as Australian Idol and the X Factor, and is presently filming
Good News World, Celebrity Apprentice and Kitchen Whiz.
When touting for new productions Romano said it is important to use incentives that will benefit the local industry.
“We use everything at our disposal as we understand the benefits to NSW and the local industry – this includes both federal incentives and state incentives.”
With such a huge complex to fill, it would seem that Fox must sit empty for half the year in between big shoots. Romano explains that while recent dollar strength has found international productions slightly lacking, the complex is almost always buzzing.
“There are many factors which determine when and if productions come to Australia. Currently the lack of international productions is predominantly due to our rising dollar coupled with a Location Offset that is not competitive enough with other countries and certain US states, which makes life a real challenge to keep the studio busy all of the time. And Fox Studios Australia is never really completely empty. Whether it’s a feature, a television production, commercials, music videos, a fashion show or a launch, there is always something happening.”
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