Two Netflix titles — Escape from Spiderhead, a film starring Chris Hemsworth, and Pieces of Her, an eight-part series fronted by Toni Collette — are currently filming here, with a combined $21.6 million in federal government assistance.

The action film Blacklight, starring Liam Neeson and shot in Melbourne and Canberra late last year, also received funding from the government. A Ron Howard film based on the Thai cave rescue will film soon in Queensland, as will three Matchbox Pictures/NBC Universal series.

Screen Australia boss Graeme Mason told the inquiry that while the productions might be foreign, many roles were often filled by local crew.

"Whether they be the set dresser or the grip, or whatever they are, on the whole they're Australians, and this is providing incredible employment and skills for those people," he said.

The federal government said the two Netflix productions would create 770 jobs and inject about $160 million into the economy.

Nineteen new productions have been announced since the Government introduced a location incentive to attract foreign projects, a spokesperson for Communications Minister Paul Fletcher said.

"These productions are expected to generate around $1.47 billion of expenditure in Australia and provide more than 11,800 jobs for Australian cast and crew, use the services of over 11,700 Australian businesses and employ over 26,000 Australian extras."

But Nick Murray, managing director of CJZ, the Australian company behind Gruen, Enough Rope and other titles, said foreign productions did not provide a great benefit to the local industry, outside of those few short-term jobs.

"It's lovely that Zac Efron's been here, that Matt Damon and all those people [are here], that's terrific," said Mr Murray, whose company employs about 350 full-time-equivalent staff.

"But in a year's time, they're not going to be here. And we are going to be here. And we are providing significant employment.

He said the writers, directors and producers who were the "engine room" of the local screen industry, creating Australian-owned content that could be sold globally, could be disadvantaged by the foreign boom.

"We had a production once that was booked into one of the studios and got kicked out because some big Warner Bros show came here," he said.

"They were using the studio that we booked to show their daily rushes to their crew. They had a screen and 20 chairs sitting in the middle of a TV studio.

"What's that about? The local industry in those kinds of situations loses out."

'The disparity is massive'

There have long been periodic booms in foreign production in Australia, often driven by a favourable exchange rate.

Foreign productions shooting in Australia are eligible for a 16.5 per cent tax rebate. However, as part of its COVID-19 film recovery package, the government added a 13.5 per cent location incentive.

States competing for big-name productions will often tip in roughly 10 per cent on top of that, raising the overall taxpayer contribution to about 40 per cent.

"So, you've got $100 million budget, and they're getting 30 or $40 million," Mr Murray said of some large foreign film productions.

"We're making the same amount of content for $10 million. And therefore, on the same level of subsidy, it's $3 million.

"[They can] afford to poach people out of your show by throwing the money around that they've got, which is, to a large extent, coming from the taxpayer."

Mr Murray said the screen sector seemed to be one of the only industries where "our international competitors are being subsidised to the same or greater extent than local companies".

Australian projects receiving a federal government production offset are subject to a cap on "above-the-line" costs — a limit on how much of the overall budget can be spent on fees for key talent, like actors and the director.

Foreign projects receiving a location incentive don't face similar rules.

A spokesperson for Mr Fletcher said the eligibility requirements for the three film tax offsets were different, reflecting the government's objectives for each one.

The expansion of the location incentive to 2027 will create 8,000 new roles directly within the screen industry, the federal government estimates.

Lisa Scott, a producer and the director of Highview Productions, said in order to get large projects financed, big names had to be attached, and that meant significant salaries.

"If we put a cap on those foreign productions, that would be a big disincentive ... and therefore we wouldn't have the boom we are having right now."

Weighing up benefits with long-term costs

At the inquiry, Ausfilm argued the foreign productions coming here boosted the skills base in the industry, benefiting local productions.

Ms Scott, who is currently producing The Tourist for Stan, said the local industry had benefited from the earliest foreign booms back in the late 1980s.

"Without those productions coming to Australia, then we wouldn't have been able to skill up the crew which has now made it possible for some of these people to have big international careers," she said.

Ms Scott also said that while some small-budget Australian productions might be struggling now to find crew, the boom could accelerate careers.

"I know that somebody couldn't put a location management team together, so they are crewing with more junior staff. That means that these people will get their skills up so they can step up the ladder."

But she emphasised that any policy approach needed to "set a balance between international productions and Australian-owned IP [intellectual property]".

Matthew Deaner, chief executive of Screen Producers Australia, said nobody wanted to see the opportunity that came from international work diminish, and some Australian businesses, like animation studios, got extra work when foreign productions arrived.

But Mr Deaner said international projects should not be allowed to "cannibalise" local production.

"And the thing that happens when you get great strategies for investing in local stuff, local content, is that you are creating jobs for people, creating intellectual property that continues to keep businesses functioning and reinvesting, and you're creating Australian narratives for a cultural outcome, both domestically and internationally."