EFIC will help film and television companies increase their cash flow, unveiling its plans to provide its first Producer Offset loan to Rock Island Productions. 
Export Finance and Insurance Corporation (EFIC), the Australian Government’s export credit agency, will provide a loan worth nearly half a million dollars to Rock Island Productions, a production company owned by Goalpost Pictures and director Tony Tilse to help fund the film Panic at Rock Island.
The loan is the first EFIC Producer Offset loan product, a facility which supports the financing of eligible Australian film and television productions which have international distribution agreements. Arclight’s Easternlight films, an international sales, production and distribution company, holds the international distribution rights for Panic at Rock Island.
EFIC’s Producer Offset loan will be provided in relation to the Australian Government’s Producer Offset initiative, which provides refundable tax rebates for producers of eligible Australian feature films, television and other projects.
The funding will remove some of the production restrictions and help the company expand its business overseas, according to the producer of Panic at Rock Island and principal partner of Goalpost Pictures Rosemary Blight.
“We’d secured commercial backing for the project, but we still faced a funding gap between the time when we will incur production costs and receive the Producer Offset through the tax system,” said Ms Blight.
“EFIC’s commitment will help us to bridge the gap by increasing our cash flow,” Ms Blight added.
The Producer Offset loan will help support the export of successful Australian television production, says EFIC’s Executive Director, SME Andrea Govaert.
‘The loan shows how EFIC can help successful production companies like Goalpost Pictures by complementing commercial sources of funding’, Ms Govaert said.
In Panic at Rock Island, a major disaster strikes a rock festival on an island in Sydney Harbour. The telemovie was written by Matt Ford and is being directed by Tony Tilse, whose recent television credits include the Underbelly series and Scorched.