The UK government will exempt some major American actors, such as Tom Cruise, and the crew from its 14-day travel quarantine to allow Hollywood blockbusters to resume production.
The move follows a conversation between Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden and Cruise earlier this week about the restart of filming for the latest “Mission: Impossible” movie. The waiver will allow “Mission: Impossible 7”, starring and produced by Cruise, to restart filming at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden, near London.
Dowden said: “The world’s biggest box office hits and high-end television shows are made in Britain. Our creativity, experience, and highly successful tax breaks for our display industries means that we are a high-demand location that in turn offers a great return for our economy. We want the industry to recover and exempting small amounts of cast and essential equipment from quarantine is part of our continued commitment to get the cameras back up and running safely. “
The government said the exemption only applies to the cast and crew coming to England, other parts of the United Kingdom have their own rules, employed in film and television productions that qualify as British, as classified by the British Film Institute. Those who are exempt will have to live and work in “bubble” protected environments for two weeks.
Adrian Wootton, Executive Director of the British Film Commission, said: “Today’s immensely welcome news is also a clear recognition of the importance of the high-end domestic film and television investment sector to the UK economy.”
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“The sector was worth more than £ 3 billion [$3.75 billion] in 2019, and it has a clear role to play in our post-closing economic recovery. “
Ben Roberts, Executive Director of the British Film Institute, said: “Film and television are worth £ 9.9 billion [$12.4 billion] for the UK economy and being able to get production back on track as soon as possible will help our industry and its 77,000 production workers contribute to the UK economic recovery. “
“It is great news that film and television production have been granted a quarantine exemption, one of the key results of the work of the BFI Screen Sector Working Group, which together with the guidance of the COVID industry- 19 in the UK means that film and television productions that rely on international talent will be able to move forward, create jobs and secure a portfolio of new jobs for those working across the industry. “
Mission: Impossible 7, produced by Skydance Media for Paramount Pictures, closed production in late February due to the coronavirus pandemic. The seventh and eighth installments of the franchise, both written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, are being shot consecutively.
