Tasmania Film & Photography Production Services & Camera Crews
Are you a media company, brand, ad agency or production company looking for film / photography production support or shooting crew in Tasmania? Contact us for trusted fixers, producers, directors, DoPs, videographers, photographers, and full shooting crews tailored for the specific needs of your project.
Filming in Tasmania
For an introduction to shooting in Tasmania see below notes on film locations, permits, when to shoot, unique local stories, costs, tax incentives, crews, talent, premiums, fringes, equipment, communications, art department, studios, post facilities, visas and work permits for filming, transport, film-friendly accommodation, and safety advice.
Tasmania Film Locations
Tasmania, The Apple Isle, is an island state located in Australia’s south east. Film locations include Georgian and Victorian architecture, museums, churches, convict-era buildings, gardens, wineries, lighthouses, beaches, mountains, forests, rivers, lakes, waterfalls, and otherworldly national parks.
Agricultural film locations include farms that produce cattle, dairy products, sheep, salmon, abalone, crayfish, wine grapes, cherries, apples, apricots, plums, peaches, lavender, peppermint, wheat, barley, and timber. Tasmania mines iron ore, lead, zinc, silver, gold, copper, and tin. Energy locations include hydroelectric dams, thermal powered stations, and wind farms.
Lion (2016), The Light Between Oceans (2016), and The Hunter (2011) filmed in Tasmania.
Tasmania film locations can be divided into the following regions:
Hobart
Hobart is the state capital. Located on the River Derwent, Hobart is a port city known for its Georgian and Victorian architecture. Mount Wellington overlooks the city.
Salamanca Place is known for its rows of sandstone buildings.
Government buildings include Parliament House, Government House, and Hobart Town Hall.
Museums of note include the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart Convict Penitentiary, and Maritime Museum of Tasmania.
Churches of note include St David’s Cathedral, Scots Church, St George’s Anglican Church, and St Mary’s Catholic Cathedral.
Entertainment venues include Theatre Royal, Federation Concert Hall, and Bellerive Oval.
Parks of note include the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens.
Cascade Brewery is located on the outskirts of the city.
Hobart area wineries include Derwent Estate, Frogmore Creek, Puddleduck Vineyard, and Pooley Wines.
East Coast
Freycinet National Park has a rugged coastal landscape known for its beautiful beaches, and granite formations. Locations of note include Wineglass Bay, and The Hazards. Wildlife includes possums, wallabies, echidnas, sugar gliders, wombats, Tasmanian devils, and a diversity of lizards, skinks, snakes, frogs, and birdlife. Aquatic life includes southern right whales, humpback whales, and bottlenose dolphins.
Tasman National Park has a rugged coastal landscape. Film locations include the Dolerite Sea Columns that tower 300m (980ft) above the sea, as well as Tasman Arch, Blowhole, Remarkable Cave, Waterfall Bay, Devil’s Kitchen, and Tasman Island Lighthouse. Three Capes Track passes through the park. Wildlife includes seals, penguins, and a diversity of sea bird life.
South Bruny National Park, located on Bruny Island, has a landscape of towering coastal dolerite cliffs, bays, beaches, islands, eucalypt forests, and heaths. Cape Bruny Lighthouse is located in the park. Wildlife includes wallabies, quolls, wombats, Tasmanian devils, penguins, seals, and a diversity of seabird life including white-bellied sea eagles.
Maria Island National Park is known for the Painted Cliffs, beautiful beaches, and convict-era buildings. The park is home to a diversity of birdlife including swift parrots.
Hartz Mountains National Park has a landscape of dolerite mountains, and alpine lakes. Wildlife includes wallabies, possums, echidnas, platypus’, and a diversity of birdlife.
Ben Lomond National Park has an alpine plateau landscape popular with cross country skiers.
Mount William National Park is known for its beautiful beaches. Wildlife includes kangaroos, Tasmanian pademelons, wombats, wallabies, echidnas, possums, Tasmanian devils, and a diversity of birdlife.
Giant Kelp Marine Forests can be found from Eddystone Point in the north east of the state all along the eastern coastline and around the southern coast as far as Port Davey.
Port Arthur is an Australian Convict Site.
Richmond Bridge is a heritage-listed arch bridge.
West Coast
Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park is known for the Overland Trail, which connects Cradle Mountain to Lake Sinclair. It is considered to be one of the most beautiful hikes on earth. Wildlife of note includes Tasmanian pademelons, Bennett’s wallabies, quolls, Tasmanian devils, short-beaked echidnas, platypuses, common wombats, possums, and a diversity of birdlife including forest ravens, and currawongs.
Mount Field National Park has a landscape of eucalyptus temperate rainforest, waterfalls, and alpine moorland. Wildlife includes wombats, platypuses, eastern barred bandicoots, echidnas, and the Tasmanian devil. Mount Field National Park is also home to an enormous diversity of fungi. Waterfalls of note include Russell Falls, Horseshoe Falls, and Lady Barron Falls.
Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park is a landscape of mountains, deep river gorges, and temperate rainforest. Locations of note include Frenchmans Cap, and Nelson Falls.
The Gordon River Dam is the largest in the state.
Southwest National Park is Tasmania’s largest national park. It has a landscape of mountain ranges, eucalyptus forests, lakes, buttongrass plains, rocky coastline, windswept beaches, and deep harbours. The South Coast Track, and Western Arthurs Traverse are located in the park. Southwest National Park is home to a diversity of birdlfe including the orange-bellied parrot.
North Coast
Launceston film locations include Albert Hall, Launceston Town Hall, Launceston Post Office, Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, National Automobile Museum of Tasmania, Princess Theatre, Star Theatre, James Boag Brewery, City Park, and Cataract Gorge.
Narawntapu National Park has a landscape of beaches, coastal heathlands, grasslands, and wetlands. Wildlife includes kangaroos, wallabies, and pademelons.
The North Coast region is home to several vineyards of note including Tamar Ridge, Josef Chromy, Swinging Gate, and Jansz Tasmania.
Tasmania Film Location Permits
Location Permits. Saturday afternoon and Sunday are the best times to film in Hobart’s downtown business district. All other times are much more restricted. Most inner city locations requiring exclusive use of public space require at least 7 days to process permits. Tracking shots and road closures require up to 10 days. Locations outside of major cities are easier to permit. Please contact us for location specific information.
Insurance. It’s also important to note that most locations require proof of public liability insurance of at least $20 million.
When To Shoot?
Tasmania has a sub-tropical humid climate with a rainy humid season in summer from October to May, and a mild dry winter season from June and August.
For monthly weather statistics please see here.
Events of interest to filmmakers and photographers include:
• Hamilton Island Race Week in August.
• Ekka takes place in Brisbane in August.
• Woodford Folk Festival in December / January.
Public holidays may affect timing, availability and costs. See here for public holiday dates in Australia.
Unique Local Stories
Brands are looking for local stories that match their brand narrative. Our local teams are a great lead for sourcing those unique stories and characters.
If you are looking for stories for your next shoot, send us your brief and we will pitch you ideas.
If you have a unique story you would like to pitch to a brand anywhere in the world, pitch us your idea. We have well-established processes to ensure that your ideas are properly seen and protected.
Costs & Tax Incentives
Costs. Recent devaluations in the Australian dollar have made filming in Australia a more cost competitive option. Distance is a major expense. Both in terms of getting to Australia as well as getting around Australia (the country is roughly the size of the US Lower 48). Australia is a very well established and sophisticated production centre so factors of production cost accordingly. Post production is one area that remains a cost saving attraction with high quality post 30-40% less expensive than in the US. Ultimately, whatever the project, our locally based fixers and service producers will negotiate deals and provide the appropriate level of production support to match every budget.
Tax Incentives. Australia offers qualifying co-productions a Producer Offset 40% tax rebate for feature films, and a Producer Offset 30% tax rebate for documentaries, TV series, telemovies, and short form animation. Some states may offer additional production incentives. For more information visit AUSFILM. There are no tax incentives for commercials.
Film Crew & Talent
Crews. Hobart has a very good experienced pool of directors, directors of photography and stills photographers, several being of the highest international standard. Professional and technical crews have had decades of experience servicing long and short-form projects from all over the world. The result is a very deep pool of well trained crew with a great attitude and a world-class reputation.
Contact us if you are looking for a director, DoP / cinematographer, videographer / camera operator, stills photographer, or any other film crew for your shoot in Hobart, Australia.
If you are an exceptionally talented Melbourne based director, DoP / cinematographer, videographer / camera operator, or stills photographer, introduce yourself here.
Talent is union and non-union. Talent buyouts are negotiable since the Offshore Agreement expired. For more information about the talent union please visit MEAA.
English is the official language but given Australia’s culturally diverse population, hundreds of other languages are also spoken.
Australia boasts a very large and experienced pool of multicultural talent. The majority of Australians are of European decent. The country’s large population of Asian actors and models makes it a popular destination for visiting productions from Japan, Korea, China and India. Australia also has talent minorities of Pacific Islander and African decent.
Heading outside of the cities, filmmakers and photographers can find a wealth of aboriginal cultures.
Australia also offers unique animals for filming including kangaroos, crocodiles, koalas, wombats, emus, and a wide variety of birds, bugs, and reptiles.
Fringes. Crew are either Company or Pay As You Go (PAYG). If the crew member is Company then they take care of their own superannuation and in some cases, workers compensation. Some crew members with Australian Business Numbers require workers compensation to be paid for them. If crew is PAYG then we must pay an additional 9% superannuation and 3% workers compensation. There is a 6% payroll tax.
Premiums. Australia has an eight hour shooting day, time and a half for the next two hours and double time after that. Shooting after 8:00pm is a 25% loading. Sunday is a 100% loading. The industry is currently campaigning for a 10 hour day.
Tasmania Film Equipment
Equipment. Australia offers both Panavision and Arri equipment as well as many boutique equipment companies. There is a great depth of standard and more specialised camera gear including digital cameras (Alexa, RED, Sony, Canon), film cameras (16mm and 35mm), high speed cameras (Phantom), Three-axis stabilized heads (Scorpio, Libra), Motion Control, and much more.
Unlike the US system most gear is provided by individual crew. Grip and lighting trucks are privately owned by crew who accompany them to set. Anything required in addition to this is outsourced. Crew charge a rate for the truck and then individually for lights and gripping gear, burn time and labour rates. Australia offers a great variety of standard and specialised grip and lighting gear including cranes (Technocrane, Phoenix, Giraffe), 3D camera rigs, car rigs, tracking vehicles, sea rigs, helicopter mounts, and underwater housing. Companies of note include Panavision, Red Apple, Brownie Grips, and Big Toys.
For productions looking to bring in film equipment, Australia is an ATA carnet country.
Communications. Communication is key. Our agility and global experience allows us to customise the right communications systems for every shoot.
Web posted casting, scouting, and videoconferencing.
For clients that are unable to attend set we offer a virtual video village solution. This dedicated and secure high-resolution video streaming platform allows clients from one or multiple timezones to view setups without compromise and to participate in real-time with the team on set. Separate systems can be set up for the discrete conversations that are required to make a job run right. Working remotely with our local teams reduces your content production costs, turnaround times, carbon footprint, and risks associated with unpredictable global events.
Art Department, Studios, Backlots, & Post Production
Art department and set construction facilities are limited.
Studios facilities are limited.
Post Production facilities are limited.
Visas & Work Permits
Short stay visa for visits under three months or business visas (meetings) are the most expedient way of gaining entry to Australia. Please note that you cannot attend meetings through the Tourist stream and may be turned around at the airport if there is suspicion in relation to your motives whilst in Australia. In addition, the business holiday visa can only be to attend meetings, sign contracts or undertake (limited) training. Any activity that would normally attract remuneration would need a work visa.
Productions that intend to stay longer than 3 months require Entertainment Visas, unless the production is not being shown in Australia, then a subclass 400 visa will be required.
For international crew to enter into Australia for work purposes, they must be covered by a subclass 408, Entertainment Visa. The local service company sponsors each visitor. For a 408 application the service company also needs to get approval from MEAA, the local Entertainment Union. To process the sponsorship visas, MEAA requires to see the deal memos between the overseas production company and each crew personnel. A similar thing has to be done with the cast’s deal memos as well.
Western passport holders travelling as tourists can an obtain an Electronic Travel Authority prior to departure. Passport holders of EU nations can enter under the E-visa program. Both allow stays of up to 90 days. Given recent changes to Australian immigration policy we would only advise travelling to Australia as a tourist if you intend to only undertake genuine tourist visa activities. Anyone found working on the wrong visa will be deported from Australia and face an immediate three-year ban from applying for temporary Australian visas.
Our local service producer / fixer can assist with organising Australian visas, including turning around last-minute applications.
Transport & Accommodation
Transportation Infrastructure. Major roads are up to international standards. Some outback roads require 4WD transport. Australia is serviced by most major international carriers and several domestic airlines.
Accommodation. See here for recommended film friendly hotels in Hobart.
Final Notes
Safety. Tasmania is a very safe and reliable filming centre. Strict work place procedures also ensure safety on set. See here for up to date travel advice.
Down Time. Explore the spectacular Overland Trail.
Projects. For an example of TV commercials, stills campaigns, online content, corporate videos, virtual reality 360 content, feature films, TV series and documentaries shot in Tasmania, please see below:
Hire Tasmania Production Support & Shooting Crew
If you are looking for a film or photographic production service company, line producer or fixer for your shoot in Tasmania, please contact us.
If you are looking for a shooting crew for your shoot in Tasmania, such as a director, DoP, photographer, videographer (cameraman / camera operator), camera assistant (focus puller), sound operator, grip, gaffer, stylist, hair and makeup, PA / runner, production driver, please contact us.
We are able to provide you with answers, references and bids quickly.
