Western Australia 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 Western Australia? Contact us for trusted fixers, producers, directors, DoPs, videographers, photographers, and full shooting crews tailored for the specific needs of your project.

Filming in Western Australia

For an introduction to shooting in Western Australia 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.

Western Australia Film Locations 

The Golden State. Located in the west of the country, Western Australia is Australia’s largest state taking up one third of the country’s landmass. It boasts over 12,500 km (7,800 mi) of coastline. The southwest corner is green but much of the rest of the state is uninhabited desert. Film locations include the cities of Perth and Fremantle, white sand beaches, turquoise waters, coral reefs, sand dunes, sea cliffs, rocky outcrops, lighthouses, caves, canyons, unique rock formations, deserts, salt lakes, rivers, waterfalls, dense forests, and bushland.

Agricultural film locations include farms that produce wheat, barley, peas, wool, sheep, and cattle. The Margaret River area is famous for its vineyards. Fishing trawlers are available for filming. Western Australia mines iron-ore, alumina, oil, natural gas, nickel, gold, copper, lithium, ammonia, diamonds, and coal. Energy locations include coal and gas fired power plants, as well as wind and solar energy plants.

Productions that have filmed in Western Australia include Extraction (2020), Breath (2017), Red Dog (2011), Australia (2008), and Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002).

Film locations can be divided into the following regions:

Perth

Located in the verdant southwest of the state, Perth is the largest city, the state capital, as well as the main production centre and main entry point by air.

The city has a small, modern central business district. The South Perth foreshore offers great city skyline shots over the Swan River.

Government buildings include Parliament House, Government House, Perth Town Hall, and Perth Mint.

Cultural locations include the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Western Australian Museum, and Perth Cultural Centre.

Universities of note include the University of Western Australia, Curtin University, Edith Cowan University, and Murdoch University.

Beaches of note include Cottesloe Beach, City Beach Port Beach, Swanbourne Beach, and Scarborough Beach.

Parks of note include Kings Park, and The Western Australian Botanic Garden.

Entertainment venues include the Perth Concert Hall, Perth Stadium, Perth Oval, and Perth Arena.

Perth transport locations include Perth Railway Station, Perth Airport, and Jandakot Airport.

Fremantle is known for Fremantle Harbour, Fremantle Markets, Fremantle Prison, The Round House, WA Shipwrecks Museum, WA Maritime Museum, Army Museum of Western Australia, Fremantle Arts Centre, National Hotel, Fremantle Town Hall, Fremantle Railway Station, Bathers Beach, and Esplanade Park.

Rottnest Island is known for its white sand beaches, turquoise waters, reefs, and surf breaks. Wadjemup Lighthouse is a beautiful film location. Wildlife includes quokkas, bottlenose dolphins, humpbacks whales, southern right whales, blue wales, sea lions, and a diversity of sea birds.

Yanchep National Park is known for its caves, and bushland. Wildlife includes koalas, southern brown bandicoots, western grey kangaroos, and black-glove wallabies.

Southwest (Great Southern, South West, Peel, and Wheat Belt)

The Great Southern, South West, Peel, and Wheat Belt regions are located in the southwest of the state.

Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park has a landscape of pristine surf beaches, sand dunes, sea cliffs, rocky outcrops, caves, dense forests, bushland, and wildflowers. The Margaret River area is known for its vineyards. The Cape to Cape Track is a 123 km (76 mi) hiking trail that runs through the park. locations of note include Boranup karri forest, Quininup Falls, and the Wilyabrup sea cliffs. Caves of note include Mammoth Cave, Giants Cave, Lake Cave, and Jewel Cave. Wildlife of note includes southern brown bandicoots, western grey kangaroos, western ringtail possums, brush wallabies, and a diversity of sea bird life.

William Bay National Park is a coastal landscape of scrub, dense heathland, karri forest, large granite outcrops, sheltered bays, and white sand beaches with turquoise waters. Wildlife includes a diversity of sea bird life.

Nambung National Park is located in the Wheat Belt region. The park is known for the Pinnacles Desert which is an area with thousands of limestone formations, as well as beaches and coastal dunes. Wildlife includes western grey kangaroo, red kangaroo, dingo, honey possum, and a diversity of birdlife.

Torndirrup National Park is known for its coastal rock formations and beaches. Film locations of note include Misery Beach, and The Gap and Natural Beach. Wildlife of note includes kangaroos, bush rats, pygmy possums, short-nosed bandicoots, and a diversity of birdlife and sea life.

Wave Rock is a natural rock formation that is shaped like a tall breaking ocean wave. Wave Rock has cultural significance to Ballardong people.

New Norcia is the only monastic town in Australia. Located in the Wheat Belt region, film locations include the New Norcia Benedictine monastery, New Norcia Hotel, St Ildephonsus’ Boys’ School, St Gertrude’s College, New Norcia Museum and Art Gallery, and New Norcia Deep Space Ground Station.

Bibbulmun Track is a 1000 km (623 mi) hiking trail running from Kalamunda to Albany.

Lancelin Sand Dunes are beautiful white sand dunes.

Gloucester National Park is known for the Gloucester karri tree.

Busselton Jetty is a 1,841 metres (6,040 ft) long wooden jetty.

Lighthouses of note include Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse, Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse, Guilderton Lighthouse, and Bunbury Lighthouse.

Mid-West-Gascoyne

The Mid-West-Gascoyne regions are located in the central-western part of the state.

Kalbarri National Park protects the Murchison River gorge, and spectacular coastal cliffs and rock formations. Nature’s Window is a unique location. Wildflowers bloom from August and September including the spider orchid, and the hammer orchid. Wildlife includes tammar wallabies, western grey kangaroos, short-beaked echidnas, spinifex hopping mice, Finlayson’s cave bats, thorny devils, and western bearded dragons.

Cape Range National Park is a landscape of white sand beaches, rugged red gorges, hundreds of caves, and including the bird flower and the desert sturt pea. Wildlife includes rock wallabies, red kangaroos, emus, wallaroos, and a diversity of birdlife.

Ningaloo Reef is a spectacular 260 km (160 mi) long coral reef. Wildlife includes whale sharks, dolphins, dugongs, manta rays, humpback whales, loggerhead turtles, green turtles, hawksbill turtles, and short-nosed sea snakes.

Shark Bay protected areas include Shark Bay Marine Park, Francois Peron National Park, Hamelin Pool Marine Nature Reserve, Zuytdorp Nature Reserve, and numerous protected islands. Shark Bay is best known for its seagrass meadows that cover an area of 200 km sq (77 miles sq), making it the largest known plant in the world. Wildlife includes dugongs, dolphins, humpback whales, southern right whales, whale sharks, and green turtles, and loggerhead sea turtles. Monkey Mia is known for its dolphins.

Hutt Lagoon Pink Lake is located in Yallabatharra.

Goldfields-Esperance

The Goldfields-Esperance region is located in the southeast of the state.

Cape Le Grand National Park is a landscape of granite outcrops, freshwater pools, and beautiful white sandy beaches such Lucky Bay where kangaroos can be photographed on the beach. Frenchman’s Peak and Mount Le Grand are popular with rock climbers. Wildlife of note includes bandicoots, pygmy honey possums, ring tailed possums, and western grey kangaroos.

Lake Hillier is a spectacular pink saline lake located on the edge of Middle Island.

Much of the Gibson Desert and Great Victoria Desert are located in this region.

Lake Lefroy is a large salt lake.

Rawlinna is a large cattle station.

Pilbara

The Pilbara is a large, red earth desert region, located in the north of the state.

Karijini National Park is known for its many gorges containing slot canyons, waterfalls, and water holes. Wildlife includes red kangaroos, wallaroos, rock wallabies, echidnas, geckos, goannas, bats, legless lizards, and a large variety of birds and snakes.

Karlamilyi National Park is the largest and most remote national park in Western Australia.

De Grey Station is a large cattle station.

Much of the Great Sandy Desert, and Little Sandy Desert are located in this region.

The Montebello Islands were the site of British atmospheric nuclear weapons tests in the 1950’s.

Red Dog (2011), and Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002) filmed in the Pilbara region.

Kimberley

The Kimberley is the northernmost region.

Broome is the largest town in the Kimberly region. Film locations of note include Cable Beach, Gantheaume Point, Japanese Cemetery, Willie Creek Pearl Farm, and Malcolm Douglas Crocodile Park.

Purnululu National Park is known for the spectacular geological formations of the Bungle Bungle Ranges.

Bandiln͟gan (Windjana Gorge) National park is an important spiritual place for the Bunuba people.

Cape Leveque, located on the Dampier Peninsula, is know for its wild beaches, and vermilion-hued cliffs. The area is an important breeding ground for humpback whales.

Carlton Hill Station in Kununurra was filmed for Australia (2008). 

Home Valley is the largest cattle station in Western Australia.

Wolfe Creek Crater is a well-preserved meteorite impact crater.

Waterfalls of note in the Kimberly region include Horizontal Falls, Mitchell Falls, and King George Falls.

Western Australia Film Location Permits 

Location Permits. Saturday afternoon and Sunday are the best times to film in Perth’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?

The southern part of the state has a Mediterranean climate with with short mild wet winters and long hot dry summers. Perth is one of the windiest cities in the world. The northern part of the state is tropical, with summer rainfall.

For monthly weather statistics please see here.

Events of interest to filmmakers and photographers include:

• Rottnest Channel Swim is a long-distance swimming event from Cottesloe Beach to Rottnest Island. held in February.
• Fairbridge Festival held in Pinjarra in April.
• WA Day Festival held in Perth in June.

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. Perth has a small but 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 Perth, Australia.

If you are an exceptionally talented Perth 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.

Western Australia 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 Perth.

Final Notes

Safety. Western Australia 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 Bungle Bungle Ranges.

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 Western Australia, please see below:

Hire Western Australia Production Support & Shooting Crew

If you are looking for a film or photographic production service company, line producer or fixer for your shoot in Western Australia, please contact us.

If you are looking for a shooting crew for your shoot in Western Australia, 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.