This Week’s Top Stories
- Dramatic new details about 2K Australia’s poor treatment have emerged The Australian game studio behind Bioshock 2 and The Bureau: XCOM Declassified has had its tumultuous history uncovered in a new book.
- Amazon Prime Video greenlights seven new Australian productions Amazon Prime Video had added seven new Australian Amazon Original productions to its slate. This brings the production company’s local investment to $150 million since 2019.
- Emerging Writers’ Incubator calls for applications Diverse TV drama writers are invited to apply for this joint initiative from SBS, Screen Australia, the Writers’ Guild and state agencies.
- Disney and ACMI bring the magic back to winter ACMI’s first major exhibition since reopening is a crowd-pleasing blend of history, art and technology, says CEO Katrina Sedgwick about ‘Disney: The Magic of Animation’.
- St Kilda Film Festival offers 100 short films online for free As Melbourne sinks into winter, the adepts of the short film gather to awaken the spirits of St Kilda.
Just in case winter wasn’t cold enough. Photo: Phoebe Powell
Career & Opportunities
- Making Magic: Behind the VFX that empowers the players of Hearthstone VFX artists aren’t just vital to the film and TV industry, but the videogame one too. Learn how artists at Blizzard Entertainment help bring their Warcraft card game to life.
- Building Strengths versus Improving Weaknesses Setting an ambitious artistic career goal? Tahlia Norrish shares two prompts from the world of elite sports that will get you right on track.
- Emerging Writers’ Incubator calls for applications Diverse TV drama writers are invited to apply for this joint initiative from SBS, Screen Australia, the Writers’ Guild and state agencies.
- Australia’s videogame tax offset is not a silver bullet Foreign companies provide massive job boosts and up-skilling, and have all sorts of knock-on positive effects. But they have no interest in telling local stories, and they almost inevitably leave again, writes Brendan Keogh.
- The movement to build a better games industry in Australia Unionisation continues to be a pointed topic in the videogame industry. In this op-ed, Tim Colwill from Game Workers Unite explains the current situation worldwide, and how the group hopes to bolster the Australian sector.
The recently-announced tax offset for game development is welcome, but the industry should be wary. Image: Shooty Skies Overdrive by Mighty Games
- Box office – June Again does modest but satisfying business While the Australian exhibition market potters along, the US streaming companies are consolidating even further.
- Dramatic new details about 2K Australia’s poor treatment have emerged The Australian studio behind Bioshock 2 and The Bureau: XCOM Declassified has had its tumultuous history uncovered in a new book.
- The Sapphires’ Tony Briggs options Miles Franklin winning novel ‘The Yield’ Tara June Winch’s The Yield is complex, crackling with words, a meditation on the power of Indigenous language. Tony Briggs takes up the challenge.
- Disco Elysium videogame ban overturned following Classification Board review The game was refused classification in March 2021, but the decision was successfully challenged by Estonian developer ZA/UM.
- Stan and Network 10 shows among recipients of Screen Australia’s latest $5.6m funding Stan’s ‘Bump’ and a follow-up to ‘Mary and Max’ are among the recipients of a $5.6 million funding round from Screen Australia.
- Australian anti-fascist photography game ‘Umurangi Generation’ coming to Nintendo Switch The award-winning Maori sci-fi game will make its way to Nintendo’s popular Switch console in June, with a new creative mode.
- Amazon Prime Video greenlights seven new Australian productions Amazon Prime Video had added seven new Australian Amazon Original productions to its slate. This brings the production company’s local investment to $150 million since 2019.
