The Walkley Foundation an Alliance Initiative

The premiere of The Hunter, starring Sam Neill and Willem Dafoe, marked a milestone for Media Super.

It’s the first of five Australian film and TV productions financially supported by the fund.
Finance for the full-length feature was in part provided via the super contributions of fund members through a $20 million revolving loan facility channelled to Fulcrum
Media Finance. Fulcrum uses this facility to provide loans to local television and film productions of an amount equal to the Producer Offset tax rebate.

Launched in June 2010, the debt financing facility was initially used to support production of The Hunter, which was shot mostly in Tasmania.

Alternative investments are nothing new in the superannuation investment landscape, and the decision by Media Super to commit an initial $20 million to Fulcrum attracted
the support of both the Media Alliance and the Screen Producers Guild of Australia. The loan facility added to Fulcrum’s funding capability, which now totals more than $50 million,deepening the existing finance pool available to support local productions and complementing the funds provided by institutional and private investors.

The industry knowledge available to the fund via its stakeholders was invaluable to the initial scoping and extensive due diligence required for this new direction in alternative investments.

Media Super chair Gerard Noonan noted when announcing the funding decision:
“The new film fund should be a shot in the arm for the industry as well as providing our members with a sound financial return. It also means that Media Super is engaging, for the first time, in a facility that directly benefits its members, local film and television producers, as well as participating employers.”

More than $8.5 million has been advanced to date for the first five projects approved by Media Super. A further $7.4 million of loan commitments is currently under advanced negotiation, expecting to close in the next few months.

Aside from The Hunter, other funded productions include: Wish You Were Here, a psychological thriller starring Joel Edgerton that will premiere in 2012; Drift, a more than your usual boardshorts and bikinis surf movie starring Sam Worthington; Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, a TV series based on Kerry Greenwood’s crime thriller novels commencing Feb 24 on the ABC; and Not Suitable for Children, starring Ryan Kwanten, currently in production for TV.