Hollywood's film school of choice opens at QUT

The New York Film Academy will be based in Brisbane at Creative Enterprise Australia's Screen and New Media Hub, located at QUT's Creative Industries Precinct in Kelvin Grove, and a soon-to-be announced location on the Gold Coast.

The Queensland Government, Gold Coast City Council, Creative Enterprise Australia and QUT have worked with the New York Film Academy to expand into Australia, initially providing 15 jobs for locally employed specialists and technicians.

New York Film Academy founder Jerry Sherlock said the school would offer domestic and international students the chance to enrol in short courses and sub-degree programs which act as alternative pathways into QUT programs.

He said the academy would soon deliver short-course filmmaking programs to the broader community.

"We are excited at the opportunity to offer our programs in Australia working in partnership with QUT," Mr Sherlock said.

"We consider QUT to be at the forefront of film and television education in Australia. Our institutional partnership will benefit a new generation of filmmakers in the region and beyond."

Creative Industries Executive Dean Professor Rod Wissler said the partnership would benefit students.

"This alliance between QUT and the New York Film Academy is built on a genuine desire to bring cutting-edge learning to our students through exposure to real world expertise, new technologies and new ways of connecting with global audiences," he said.

"We are really looking forward to partnering with the New York Film Academy to advance our real world positioning in the screen industry."

Associate Professor Geoff Portman, head of QUT's film and television discipline, said the film academy would give students the chance to participate in streamed conferences from New York, which had previously featured stars such as Kevin Spacey and Ron Howard.

"This is a really exciting opportunity for our students to broaden their horizons and gain an international perspective," he said.

The New York Film Academy's Australia campus president Simon Hunter said the industry had changed globally due to technology and distribution.

"At the NYFA, our focus is on training entrepreneurial filmmakers who want to produce culturally relevant films that attract global audiences," he said.

"With the outstanding track record of international production in Brisbane and the Gold Coast, Queensland is the logical place to develop this type of filmmaker."

Creative Enterprise Australia CEO Anna Rooke said the alliance was a coup for the Australian screen industry and would raise the state's prestige as a production location.

Screen Australia figures showed Queensland attracted about $234 million, or 31 per cent, of total expenditure from Australian and foreign drama productions in the last financial year.

"The New York Film Academy is incredibly well-known. The who's who of Hollywood send their sons and daughters to train there," she said.

"For the academy to be located in Brisbane will boost our reputation as a dynamic place for film and television industries."

Ms Rooke said the academy would provide additional international connections for Creative Enterprise Australia's Screen and New Media Hub, which opened at QUT last year.

Other production companies located at the hub include Carbon Media, which recently finished production for the children's game show Go Lingo! for ABC3 and Virgo Productions, which is working on a 3D action movie-documentary to save orangutans in Borneo.

National Indigenous Television is also located at the hub, which provides a supportive environment for screen and new media businesses.

New York Film Academy is a fully-accredited film production and screen acting and writing college, which has campuses in New York, Universal Studios Hollywood and UAE, attracting about 6500 students each year.

Interested in enrolling? Visit the NYFA website.

Media contact: Stephanie Harrington, QUT media officer, 07 3138 1150, or stephanie.harrington@qut.edu.au