The finest travel documentaries tell stories that trigger emotions. While the audience looks at the final wrap-up, behind the scenes, tens of production experts spend hundreds of hours putting the pieces together. Australia takes your breath away from every angle. It’s vast, wild, and secluded, but at the same time, it has its fair share of modern vibes. It all depends on the locations selected for filming. Media company Boomslang Films traveled to Uluru and the Northern Territory of Australia to film a travel documentary with well-known biologist.
Project brief
For private use, videos filmed in Uluru and the Northern Territory don’t require a permit. However, for a travel documentary meant for public use, filming permits are mandatory. So if you are wondering what does a production fixer do in Australia, these are the services our team provided:
- Fixer services
- Transport & accommodation support
- Aerial filming support via drones
- Equipment rental
Do you need filming permits in Australia?
The main challenge associated with the project was securing access to film with a drone above the region of Uluru. The EPCB Act forbids aerial shooting because of the nature of the location. As a protected UNESCO World Heritage Site, the authorities have issued laws to preserve Uluru’s cultural values and natural habitat. Furthermore, the ancestral heritage makes it sacred land, and there are sites where photography is completely forbidden.
Despite the near-total ban, our team leveraged local connections to secure a permit. It was expensive indeed, but it provided the client with superb shots of Uluru and the surrounding areas for its documentary. Alice Springs Desert Park, in the Northern Territory, is restrictive as well, but more permissive than Uluru. Fees are a bit lower for shooting with a drone, but the regulation in place also demands liability insurance, for safety reasons.
How can international productions obtain filming permits in Australia?
Our local team has been supporting the vision of global clients for years. We’ve traveled many regions and locations across Australia, from the most secluded and wild to the most crowded. In terms of expertise, we offer full support for different types of production projects. Whether it’s location scouting, transport, permits, crew management, equipment rental, or accommodation, our teams combine local expertise with an international approach in filmmaking to deliver impactful results.
In terms of video types, we can assist with commercials, docu-series, sports content, influencer video marketing, and more. There’s a certain level of complexity to every type of project. Our leverage is access to trusted local fixers and industry professionals. We can help streamline communication with land councils for securing permits, manage safety planning and insurance, and handle cross-team filming for multi-location production types.