There was an injection of star power into the Western Australian election this year when the state’s showbiz royalty – Tim Minchin, Ben Elton and Kate Walsh (of Grey’s Anatomy) – stood beside the Labor leader, Mark McGowan, on Fremantle’s historic harbourfront as he announced that Victoria Quay would be the site of a new $100m state-of-the-art movie studio.

It is a longstanding dream of the WA screen industry to have a film-making facility to match those in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and the Gold Coast, which are all experiencing unprecedented levels of demand due to the global content boom and Hollywood’s Covid retreat down under. WA wants its part in the gold rush too.

The studio will consist of four soundstages, offices, construction space, parking, set storage and other amenities. What stunned the film community and surprised the port city was where the government and its commercial partner, Home Fire Creative Industries, chose to locate it: not on the fringes of the metropolitan area, where such facilities tend to be found, but smack in the middle of a working port and a cherished heritage precinct.

If all goes to plan (no dates have been announced but it’s understood the government wants the studio up and running in two years) Hollywood stars will be soon sharing the space with cruise and cargo ships trading in passengers, motor vehicles and boatloads of sheep.

“What is the mad film starry-eyed rush to hand over a substantial part of the tourist and heritage precinct to private developers so that they can build German bunker-style windowless concrete monstrosities that will stop the sightlines to the port from Market and Queen streets?” wrote heritage activist Roel Loopers in an angry letter to the Fremantle Herald.

While many in the industry are privately wondering about the wisdom of locating a film studio cheek by jowl with the maritime industry, they’ve generally fallen in behind a plan which will deliver the most important piece of film infrastructure in the state’s history. As Dirt Music producer Kate Separovich put it: “Everyone is supportive, even if questionable decisions are being made.”

‘This is the privatisation of public space’

Leading the charge against the studio is John Dowson, president of the Fremantle Society, a group that in the 1970s successfully stopped the construction of a four-lane highway along Marine Terrace and saved the Victorian and Edwardian-era buildings that gives the city its character.

“They are planning to build large concrete boxes with high fences around them on the most valuable waterfront land in Fremantle,” Dowson says. The area contains significant historical artefacts, including the immigration building and wharfies cafeteria, which was built by John Curtin during the second world war. “This is the privatisation of public space. It will also radically change the character of the port, which is a fundamental part of the city,” says Dowson.

“We are not against development. We want money spent here because it’s the best way to preserve the city. There are 3,000 heritage-listed buildings in Fremantle, which is more than any other town in Australia. But we want development on the waterfront to be in keeping with the rest of the city.”

Acting Fremantle mayor Andrew Sullivan believes if Fremantle is to thrive it needs to be more than just a sleepy heritage area. He says those who want to keep the port as is have a romantic view of such spaces. “It is an industrial landscape. Having another type of industry in that area is more appropriate than, for example, residential or retail,” he adds.

Sullivan believes heritage activists’ other worry – over the size of the soundstages – is misplaced. “It is bizarre to be so concerned about scale when you can have a ship the height of an eight-storey building next to the wharf, yet you can’t have a structure that won’t be anywhere close to that height?”

‘A terrible idea’

While the local screen industry is pleased with the government spend – $100m for the studio and an extra $20m to lure Hollywood productions – many are concerned the location just won’t work.

Production designer Herbert Pinter begins our walk around the designated area complaining that he almost didn’t make it due to traffic: “[When you work in film] you have to be able to get here on time,” he says.

“A movie studio is not simply a soundstage. You need space. Often you have to build something outside of the soundstage because the scene calls for natural light. You couldn’t do it in [this] area.”

Pinter, who is best known for his films with Bruce Beresford and who has worked in studios around the world, believes the Home Fire team can make the area work. “But will it be the world-class facility that you need to attract American film-makers? Will they be willing to travel that extra distance to work in a studio that does not give them everything they need? If we are going to spend all this money we should do it right, and not because it is in a pretty location.”

Pinter’s concerns are echoed by an international expert in studio construction and management, who consults to Netflix and didn’t want to be named for this story. “It is a terrible idea,” they say. “You cannot build a studio so close to where ships dock and where there is so much traffic and a train line nearby. The vibrations and the noise will make filming there a nightmare.

“And that is apart from the commercial considerations. The mantra ‘build it and they will come’ does not hold water. The Covid surge will not continue and you will struggle to get Hollywood to fly another five hours on to Perth from the east coast. You need to start small and develop the industry before embarking on a studio of this scale.”

‘We need it right now’

Neither the government nor Home Fire Creative Industries would comment directly on these criticisms of the plan, which is still in its proposal stage. Once it reaches development, it will be referred to the key stakeholders, including the Heritage Council of WA, Fremantle Port Authority and the City of Fremantle.

“All feedback received will be reviewed, in conjunction with the local relevant planning framework and state planning policies, to inform a recommendation for consideration and final determination,” says WA’s minister for culture and the arts, David Templeman.

Local producer Amanda Morrison – whose company Komixx Entertainment was responsible for Netflix hit The Kissing Booth – has every confidence in the project, and is anxious for the studio to be completed.

“The global market has significantly changed over a short period of time. Western Australians are missing out,” she says.

“Unless we have infrastructure to be able to compete we will not be able to continue growing the industry in this state. We have a number of projects on our slate that we could have shot in Western Australia but without a studio we’ve had to them send them overseas. We need a studio – and we need it right now.”