Home and Away joins list of Canberra productions

Home and Away is the latest crew to head to the region, with the Australian soap opera wrapping up a seven-day shoot in Yass on Friday.

While the Australian soap opera is keeping tight-lipped about what has brought the cast and crew to the region - in a bid to avoid spoilers for the episodes set to air in about three months - it has joined the growing list of productions setting up shop in the region. What's more, it's the latest addition to the list of productions that has nothing to do with politics.

In January, Canberra played host to the US production of Blacklight - a thriller starring Liam Neeson - when the crew filmed multiple car chases in the city centre. Horror film Sissy, starring Aisha Dee from The Bold Type, also filmed in the capital late last year and it wasn't that long ago that Canberra caught the fab five fever when Queer Eye filmed in Yass.

According to Screen Canberra chief executive Monica Penders, Canberra film shoots are here to stay.

COVID has seen an increase in US films coming to Australia. Brisbane and Sydney's studios are booked out for the next five years with productions for Marvel and Disney films. Canberra is hoping to take some of the overflow from these productions.

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"We are currently looking at what infrastructure we need to have," Ms Penders said.

"We're not going to be building a 2000 square metre stage, but can we get a warehouse that we can use? You do need to soundproof them as much as possible but, a warehouse space will be really helpful.

"It might be that we can take a piece of a Marvel film, just like we did with Blacklight. The whole thing here? No, we don't have the facilities. But we could do certain pieces of the big films that are happening in Sydney, and Melbourne and Brisbane."

And then there are the Australian productions that have been pushed out of the studios by the international companies. Ms Penders said she's hoping Canberra will become an option for these productions.

The trick is convincing people that Canberra is more than just politics.

The capital is no stranger to film and television crews with political dramas, such as ABC's Total Control, being shot here. However, Ms Penders said a political setting was just the beginning of what the capital could offer film crews.

"What we're doing is looking at all the possible stories we have to offer," she said.

"People don't realise that we have a big space station 40 minutes away, for example. So we're working to bring a bunch of top location managers from around the country to Canberra and do a recce with them.

"But we also need to be making content in Australia that travels well overseas.

"We're watching so much content from so many different places that I think we can get into that global market on the streamers. It's just about finding the right content."

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