Producing Smarter: Creativity and Commerce in Screen

As seen in IF.

Five years on from Covid, we can safely say the ‘digital production office’ wasn’t just a pandemic adaptation, it has become the backbone of modern production. What began as necessity has evolved into advantage. Productions today aren’t just digitised; they’re intelligent.

For Entertainment Partners, Australia and New Zealand represent a vital hub for production and future growth. A region that’s not only producing world-class stories, but also pioneering smarter, more connected ways to make them. Scaling capability here isn’t just about efficiency; it’s about embedding ANZ into the global production ecosystem.

Entertainment Partners’ suite of solutions, from payroll, accounting and incentives services to digital production tools like Movie Magic Budgeting and scheduling, Scenchronize and SyncOnSet ensure seamless communication and collaboration at every phase of production. 

Whether a crew is on location in Far North Queensland, posting from Auckland, or reconciling from a kitchen table in Brunswick, EP’s tools are designed to connect, protect, and empower creative teams. Technology is reshaping the way we work both on and off set. Hybrid teams, remote staff, and smarter digital workflows aren’t stopgaps, they’re the new winning format. And with multi-factor authentication across all platforms, production finance has never been more protected or more efficient.

And efficiency is just the start. Analytics tools, like EP’s Insight Solutions, are now surfacing insights on where and how budgets are spent, enabling producers to make smarter, faster decisions that fuel creativity rather than stifle it. Real-time costs and estimates are critical as we see budgets being squeezed with increased costs and reduced funding. The digital purchase order is king and has been fully embraced across production, allowing for faster approvals to ensure no costs are overlooked. The best tech gives certainty and opportunity to the storytellers. That means seeing more money on the screen.

We’re standing at a fascinating intersection where creativity, technology and global economics are all reshaping how stories get made and shared. When we back creativity with smart commercial thinking, the very space technology thrives, we don’t just make better content; we build stronger industries.

As we look to the future of filmmaking, every producer must ask these four questions:

1. Are my production workflows giving me insight or just information?
2. Can my finance processes flex for hybrid teams without risking security or accuracy?
3. How am I using technology to reduce admin and increase creativity?
4. How can I connect global best practice to local production realities?

Australia and New Zealand have always punched above their weight creatively. The opportunity now is to ensure we are a world-class destination for global productions, and a thriving, self-sustaining creative economy in our own right. ANZ is a heady cocktail of people, policy, and technology. The next generation of great stories won’t just be beautifully told; they’ll be intelligently made.