Upcoming romantic comedy Ticket to Paradise, starring Academy Award® winners Julia Roberts and George Clooney, is the latest international feature film to be drawn to Australia with a $6.4 million grant as part of the Morrison Government’s $540 million Location Incentive Program.
Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts, the Hon Paul Fletcher MP, said the production is expected to inject $47 million in expenditure into the Australian economy and create more than 270 jobs for local cast and crew.
“I’m so pleased to support Ticket to Paradise with a $6.4 million grant as part of our highly successful Location Incentive Program,” Minister Fletcher said.
“To date, we have distributed more than $216 million under the Location Incentive to attract 22 productions to Australia, providing more than 12,700 employment opportunities for local cast and crew, and generating work for over 13,500 businesses that support these big productions.”
Directed by Ol Parker (Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again) and produced by Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner of Working Title, alongside Sarah Harvey and Deborah Balderstone, Ticket to Paradise is set to film in The Whitsundays and Southern Queensland in November.
George Clooney and Grant Heslov will also produce the original screenplay for Smokehouse Pictures, alongside Red Om Films’ Julia Roberts, Lisa Gillan, and Marisa Yeres Gill. Senior Executive Vice President of Production Erik Baiers and Director of Development Lexi Barta will oversee the project on behalf of Universal. It is an original screenplay by Ol Parker and Daniel Pipski.
Tim Bevan from Working Title said that he was thrilled to be bringing Ticket to Paradise to Australia.
“We have worked in Australia before and found the local crews to be extremely professional. We are looking forward to collaborating once again on this exciting project,” Mr Bevan said.
The Location Incentive Program is expected to attract an estimated $3 billion in foreign expenditure and create 8,000 new employment opportunities for Australians each year. This complements projects already supported through the existing screen incentive.
