Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has welcomed the recent announcement that the ABC KIDS animated hit series Bluey, which has had over 75 million plays, will be back for a second season.
“Australian families have well and truly welcomed the fun-loving Blue Heeler family into their homes,” The Premier commented “The show which is entirely created, written, animated and post produced in Brisbane is created by Joe Brumm and produced by the Emmy® award-winning Ludo Studio. I’m pleased to say my government has helped facilitate the show’s success and today I’m announcing further support with an exciting new grant.”
The Premier also announced the first recipients of the new Post, Digital and Visual effects (PDV) Attraction Grant including for hit series Bluey.
The four projects are:
• The second season of children’s animated program Bluey, with an estimated $5.8 million in PDV work to be delivered by Ludo Studio, supporting 40 jobs
• Feature film Heavens: The Boy and His Robot, with an estimated $8 million in PDV work to be delivered by The Post Lounge (post-production) and Resin (visual effects), in their new Queensland studio, supporting 40 jobs
• Horror feature film Two Heads Creek (working title), with an estimated $550,000 of PDV work to be completed by The Empire Post supporting 20 jobs
• Comedy feature film Never Too Late, with an estimated $850,000 of PDV work to be delivered by The Post Lounge, supporting 10 jobs.
“The first recipients will bring an estimated $15.2 million in work and 110 jobs to Queensland,” the Premier commented “The grant is vital to securing Queensland’s position in a rapidly expanding global sector valued at US$8 billion in 2017 and estimated to reach almost US$20 billion by 2024. We have built a worldwide reputation for filming and physical production with blockbusters such as Aquaman and Dora the Explorer and now we are expanding on this solid foundation to attract high-end PDV projects to Queensland.”
Premier Palaszczuk said that Queensland is home to world-class creative talents across animation, visual effects and post-production and this new grant will help capitalise on a growth sector that is also building skills transferable across the games development and virtual reality sectors.
Tracey Vieira, CEO of Screen Queensland, said the PDV grant provided a 10 per cent rebate to projects with a minimum spend of $500,000 on Queensland PDV work.
“This puts Queensland businesses in a strong position against national and international competitors,” Ms Vieira commented “The Post Lounge and The Empire Post were able to leverage their expertise and the PDV grant to beat rivals in Victoria, New South Wales and Singapore and secure these major PDV projects to Queensland. The PDV grant also allows Ludo Studio to continue to grow their business in Queensland by attracting and retaining PDV talent to create a second series of their hugely popular children’s animation Bluey right here in Brisbane.”
Vieira explained that the Queensland PDV Attraction Grant is a key deliverable from the Palaszczuk Government’s Advance Queensland Screen Industry 10-year Roadmap and Action Plan, and combined with the successful $50 million Production Attraction Strategy, will help establish Queensland as a one-stop shop for high-end screen projects from pre-production through to post-production.