The soundstage in Nunawading that used to be the home of Neighbours has spent this year doing something rather different. A Hollywood feature called Skeletons, starring Brie Larson, is in the final stages of production there — a sentence that would have seemed unlikely to anyone who drove past the place a few years ago.
The film comes from producer J.J. Abrams and director JT Mollner, and the state government's account of it describes a story that "follows a young boy who begins to discover that his parents are hiding a disturbing secret about his mother's true nature". The cast around Larson includes Kyle Gallner, Daithí Ó hAragáin, John Goodman, Keith Carradine, Ione Skye and Willa Fitzgerald.
What it brought with it
On the government's figures, the production created around 635 jobs and put more than $21.5 million into the state's economy. It engaged about 300 local businesses along the way — not only the obvious screen suppliers but accommodation providers, caterers, transport operators and medical facilities, which is a fair description of what a film crew actually consumes while it is in town.
Among the producers are two Victorians, Paul Currie and Mario Biancacci, whose credits include Ricky Stanicky, Better Man and I Play Rocky. "We love filming in Melbourne, so we're thrilled to bring this major production to Victoria," Biancacci said.
Beyond the studio, the shoot has ranged across the Yarra Valley, the Dandenong Ranges, the Mornington Peninsula and Werribee.
The part that outlasts the shoot
Film productions are, by nature, temporary. The more durable detail in this announcement is that post-production and visual effects work will stay in Victoria, and that the project is establishing the Chroma Film Lab — a new film development laboratory in Brunswick East.
A crew leaves when the shoot ends. A lab does not, and it is the kind of thing that determines whether the next production has a reason to come.
What is not in the announcement
The cost to the public. The government describes itself as "supporting" the production, and Ausfilm CEO Kate Marks refers to "the combined support of the Australian and Victorian Governments" — but no incentive, rebate or dollar figure of public money appears anywhere in the release. On a story whose headline number is $21.5 million of economic benefit, the amount spent to secure it is the missing half of the equation.
"Skeletons is proof that when Hollywood comes knocking, Victoria delivers," said Vicki Ward, the Minister for Creative Industries. VicScreen CEO Caroline Pitcher made the pitch in similar terms, calling the state "a global screen powerhouse". Mollner, the director, was more specific: "The local crew in Victoria has exceeded every expectation."
Skeletons joins a run of recent Victorian projects including Fog City, Written in the Stars, Hotel Hotel Hotel Hotel and the television series Wentworth: Halfway Home. Whether the old Neighbours lot becomes a habit rather than a novelty is the thing worth watching — and on that, the lab in Brunswick East may end up mattering more than any single film.
