o paraphrase a famous baseball film: If you legislate it, they will come. That has been the experience of the Australian film industry after the government boosted the Location Offset from 16.5% to 30% in July 2024 after a period of uncertainty. Another sweetener was the removal of the 20% above-the-line cap from the Producer Offset taking away restrictions when using major creative talent. The result was an immediate uptick in interest in Australia as a place to shoot, but in the past 12 months that has turned into concrete success. According to the Screen Australia Drama Report 2024/25, a record $1.93 billion was spent in Australia across 174 Australian and international titles — a 14% increase from 2023-24. Local pics saw a huge hike with expenditure increasing 76% to $270 million with an unusually high number of local films with budgets over $35 million. Popular on Variety Executive producer E.…