“We always knew at some point the world would open up”

There are fears the boom in production which was triggered by Australia’s early handling of the pandemic may be subsiding.

While NSW and Victoria have been hard hit in 2021, vaccines have helped production to resume in the USA and international territories.

Lockdowns and tight border restrictions have been blamed for cancellations, postponements and even some major projects, such as Chris Hemsworth’s Extraction 2 that was supposed to be shot in New South Wales, heading back overseas.

Producer Georgina Marquis, shooting Netflix film True Spirit, argued it was getting harder to lure big name cast and crew away from the United States.

“I feel like it’s already starting to peter out a little bit,” she told ABC.

“I’ve been back for 14 months now and I’ve been fortunate enough to work solidly but it feels like things are starting to die out.

“I think that’s mostly because of the restrictions that we have with borders and getting people into the country.

“It just makes it really difficult. We’re really isolated here.”

Screen Australia boss Graeme Mason has conceded border restrictions are making filmmaking more difficult in Australia .

“We’ve got great incentives and it’s up to us to remain as attractive as we can, but I do think there’s a bigger slice of global business coming,” he said.

Kate Marks, the CEO of AusFilm, added,”We always knew at some point the world would open up and we’d be back to that pre-COVID very competitive environment,” she said.

“But Australia really does have an incredibly attractive offer for these international film-makers from locations to crew facilities, we’ve got a strong track record over many many years.”

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