Perth Voice Interactive

THE Film and Television Institute is offering a lifeline to WA games developers following the disappearance of state and federal funding.

The FTI will allow gamers to apply for funding of up to $10,000 through its members’ production fund: previously the cash was available only to film-makers.

WA developers were left high and dry this year when Screen Australia shut its $20 million interactive games fund following Abbott government cuts.

FTI CEO Paul Bodlovich says plans to create a dedicated fund for games developers were abandoned when $240,000 in Screen Australia funding—around 15 per cent of FTI’s total budget—was slashed.

“To make up for the loss in core funding we will need to generate between $1.5 and $2.5 million extra in revenue, and effectively double in size,” he says.

“We’re still working out how to bridge the core funding gap without having to make cuts.

“But we would like to expand the games developers’ fund in the future.”

Perth Games Festival director Anthony Sweet says the fund is a step in the right direction.

“The FTI are very supportive of local developers and have held one-day workshops and various other events to support us,” he says.

Recently the FTI appointed Dr Kate Raynes-Goldie as its games interactive director.

“The global games market reached $93 billion in 2013 and continues to grow,” she says. “We want WA to tap into that market.”

A recent survey by the FTI reveals 16 per cent of game developers in Perth are female. Although small it’s more than the 10 per cent national and global average.

The Perth Games Festival last weekend attracted more than 1600 attendees, nearly triple the expected turnout of 600.

Meanwhile, the FTI has relocated from Fremantle to the second floor of the state library in the Perth Cultural Centre.

FTI was forced to move from its 1870s Fremantle building so structural repairs could be carried out and Mr Bodlovich doesn’t anticipate moving back.

“The extensive repairs could take up to three years and we have first right of refusal on the the lease, but we are much closer to our practitioners and our government and corporate partners up here,” he says.

“Our staff used to spend several hours driving from Fremantle to Perth every week for meetings.

“Plus, the peppercorn rent on the Fremantle premises ran out this year.”

At the library, FTI has around 200sqm of office space, a video editing suite and access to a screening theatre and training area.

Mr Bodlovich adds FTI pays a “cheap commercial rent” to the library.

He anticipates it will eventually move to a larger, permanent space in Perth.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK