A $290 million state-funded film studio rising from farmland on Perth's outskirts represents one of Western Australia's largest public bets in recent memory. The accountability question is straightforward: Will taxpayers see a return?
The Perth Film Studios project consumed $233.5 million in construction costs and commits another $57 million in operational subsidies over the next decade. State government officials promised to lift Western Australia's share of scripted screen production from 1% to 10% within 10 years — the measure against which this investment should be judged.
When visiting the 16-hectare site in Whiteman, chief executive Tom Avison was in full recruitment mode, recently returned from meetings with Netflix, Universal, Warner Bros and Disney. He pitched the facility's "untapped" geography and tax incentives. The transformed former cattle paddock features four sound stages, production offices and a backlot larger than Perth's Optus Stadium. A British-Australian co-production, "Two Birds," starring Judy Davis and Sheridan Smith, was already in production and expected to pump $17 million into the local economy.
But the fine print reveals substantial gaps.
Screenwest and studio leadership acknowledge scarce local workforce expertise in stunts, special effects, construction, rigging and lighting. For "Two Birds," producers supplemented the majority Western Australian crew with practitioners from the east coast and United Kingdom, including a line producer, best boy/rigging gaffer and key grip. That's a workaround, not a sustainable industry model.
The studio is betting on a training pipeline to remedy this. Matthew Deaner, chief executive of Screen Producers Australia, said the real measure is "not simply the productions attracted, but the capability left behind."
That distinction separates genuine economic development from expensive facility rental. A studio can sit idle. A skilled workforce sustains itself.
Avison's timeline provides perspective. Melbourne's had a studio for 20 years, Sydney for 30, Queensland for 40. Perth is four months in. His comment that "we want to stretch the muscle. We don't want to tear it" suggests measured caution about capacity constraints.
Another risk layer deserves scrutiny. Analysis commissioned this year by Screen Australia found that while Australia is globally trusted as a production hub, the sector "remains constrained by feast and famine cycles." Production peaks stretch limited experienced crew, driving up costs and creating scheduling conflicts. Western Australia starts from an even thinner baseline than the east coast.
If Perth Film Studios lands multiple major productions simultaneously before the training pipeline produces results, the facility could become a bidding war for scarce interstate talent — inflating costs, undermining the financial case for WA production and potentially stranding the facility between projects.
The studio enters a market experiencing genuine disruption. Los Angeles' share of worldwide production has fallen for years as California competes against jurisdictions offering lower costs and better incentives. The share of U.S. scripted series made in Los Angeles fell from 40% in 2019 to less than 25% in early 2026, according to Luminate. California's governor has called the entertainment industry "on life support." This is the pool Perth is trying to fish from — a displaced production base, yes, but also an industry in structural contraction.
The first real test comes with "Breakers," a Netflix series shooting in Busselton and the south-west coast — the largest concurrent production ever attempted in Western Australia, according to Avison. It's not technically a Perth Film Studios production, but it arrives alongside "Two Birds" in what may be the state's most consequential production window.
Both projects will either demonstrate that Western Australia can deliver on international production standards or expose critical gaps that make the studio a white elephant subsidized by state taxpayers.
WA producer Kate Separovich, co-founder of Lake Martin Films, offered cautious optimism paired with hard questions about whether infrastructure alone can sustain an industry. She's right to hedge. Infrastructure is necessary but not sufficient. Training pipelines take years to mature. Market demand is volatile. And the $290 million commitment is irretrievable — money already spent, whether or not the 10% target is met.
Public officials should track, with forensic attention, whether the studio generates documented outcomes it promised. Not feel-good stories about productions arriving. Not economic impact estimates from studios with obvious incentives to inflate numbers. But actual crew training completion rates, documented wage expenditure, retention of trained personnel and progress toward the 10% production share target. Annual reporting should be public and independently audited.
Regional production hubs can work. But they require sustained public investment, clear accountability metrics and honest acknowledgment of gaps between promotional narratives and operational reality. The studio is four months old with a modest track record. The real verdict comes when the training pipeline fills, the next production cycle arrives and Western Australia either sustains momentum or discovers it built an expensive facility without the workforce to use it.
