Togra for Australian producers

The producer's journey

1. An Australian company

   The company profile asks for the ACN, the registered office, an Australian bank and the ABN with its GST registration. Australia as the home territory sets the credit, the funders and the terms used across the slate.

   

2. The company calendar

   Cúram's Australian starter pack lays out the year an Australian Pty Ltd keeps: the ASIC annual review fee and statement with the directors' solvency resolution, the quarterly BAS on 28 October, 28 February, 28 April and 28 July, PAYG withholding, super paid with each pay under Payday Super, STP finalisation by 14 July, the FBT return on 21 May, the company tax return and the 1 December tax payment, and a check of the state's payroll tax and workers' compensation rules.

   

3. The Producer Offset

   The Producer Offset worksheet takes the format, who the film is made for and the applicant company, and sets the rate: 40% of QAPE for a feature made for commercial exhibition in cinemas, 30% for other eligible projects. It checks the minimum QAPE for the format, A$500,000 for a feature, and walks the significant Australian content test question by question with the evidence for each. Screen Australia judges the test as a whole, so the worksheet records the answers and gives no score. Where a film does not qualify, the Location Offset or the PDV Offset, 30% each, may apply instead.

   A$5,200,000

   Estimated QAPE for the demo feature, above the A$500,000 minimum.

   A$2,080,000

   The Producer Offset at 40%, carried to the finance plan as a pending line.

   

   Below the test, the worksheet tracks the Offset to the refund. The provisional certificate is optional; the fee follows the budget, A$1,682 for the demo's A$6.5M, and the expected decision window follows the date applied. Once the project is complete, the final certificate needs an audit by a registered company auditor and six documents, checked off one by one. The Offset is claimed in the company tax return for the year the project is completed, at label E (Refundable tax offsets). A project Screen Australia funds is reminded to contribute at least 90% of the projected Offset to the budget, 85% for a documentary.

   

   A production that takes the Location Offset or the PDV Offset works it on the same page, from the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997, Division 376: 30% of QAPE, at least A$20 million of QAPE (A$1.5 million an hour for a series) for the Location Offset and A$500,000 for the PDV Offset, the PDV contract with an Australian provider, and training spend of the lesser of A$500,000 and 1% of QAPE for productions from 1 July 2025. Either offset needs an Australian resident applicant, or a foreign resident with an Australian permanent establishment and an active ABN. For the PDV Offset the worksheet also follows the July 2026 guidelines: documentary features are out (documentary series are in), the offsets are exclusive only once a final certificate issues, and it sets out the process, about 10 weeks for a provisional certificate and 20 for the final, through the Film Certification Advisory Board.

   A$9,600,000

   Location Offset at 30% on an example A$32M of QAPE.

   A$320,000

   The training spend it requires, 1% of QAPE; A$200,000 entered, so the check stays open.

   

4. Screen Australia and state applications

   Funder applications open on an Australia tab: Screen Australia's Narrative Content Production, Documentary Production, direct-to-audience drama, International Finance Attraction and First Nations production, and a bundle for each state and territory agency's production fund: Screen NSW, VicScreen, Screen Queensland, SAFC, Screenwest, Screen Tasmania, Screen Territory and Screen Canberra. Each state bundle fills the project and company and sets out, from the agency's current guidelines, its share of local spend and cap, whether it is a grant or equity, the eligibility rules, the documents it asks for and its assessment criteria. The amount sought is left for the producer.

   

5. The funder calendar

   One click loads Screen Australia and the eight state and territory agencies under their current program names, with the published round dates. Among the rounds matching the demo feature, Screen Queensland's Screen Finance Fund closes on 28 October for the December board, Screen NSW's Production Fund runs 19 October to 23 November, and Screen Canberra's round 2 closes on 19 March 2027.

   

6. Screen Australia's recoupment terms

   An empty waterfall can start from Screen Australia's Terms of Trade, filled from the active finance plan: a collection account manager unrelated to the producer, sales fees and capped expenses, the distribution advance, then Screen Australia's equity, the producer's equity and the other investors recouping pro rata and pari passu. Funding of A$500,000 or less is treated as a grant and counted as producer equity alongside the Producer Offset contributed. Once equity is repaid, profit splits 50:50 between the producer and the equity investors.

   

7. The BAS

   The return helper drafts the GST labels of the BAS from the company's transactions, once each account has a GST treatment. The G labels carry the GST-inclusive amounts, with exports at G2 inside G1 and capital purchases at G10; 1A and 1B carry the GST. Wages sit outside the GST. PAYG withholding comes from payroll and is entered at lodgment.

   A$128,000

   G1, total sales including the A$40,000 export at G2.

   A$3,300

   GST payable: A$8,000 at 1A less A$4,700 at 1B.

   

8. Residuals

   Each beneficiary carries an obligation under its guild agreement: MEAA Equity for cast, the ADG for the director, the AWG for the writer, and APRA AMCOS for the score, with a rate-card lookup to prefill from the agreements. Payments are logged against each obligation.