In the movie version of how coronavirus nearly crushed New York’s film and television industry, the role of the city’s media and entertainment czar would be played by Awkwafina, if the agency director had her way.

The rapper-turned-actress is known on screen and off for meeting challenges head on, and Anne del Castillo, commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, says her approach is the same, come hell or high infection rates.

“I grew up in the ’70s,” del Castillo said. “I’m tough.”

And so is her city. Del Castillo said she is encouraged that film and movie production is returning to New York, even if the pace is slower than a weekly streaming series.

There is no telling yet how this drama is going to end, but del Castillo insists that the Big Apple is on its way back, and ready for its closeup.

“Law & Order: SVU,” TV’s longest-running primetime live-action series, started production on its 22nd season in New York last week, and its star, Mariska Hargitay, shared Instagram images from the cast’s virtual table read for the season opener, a stripped from the headlines story about the coronavirus pandemic.

“It’s official!,” Hargitay wrote in her post. “The bands back together! We had our first read thru today.”

TV staples “Blue Bloods” and “Charmed” are also back to work with limited production crews and social-distancing rules in effect.

Not clear is how the safety changes would impact “Blue Bloods’” signature family dinner scene.

“We’re talking to producers every day about their plans to come back.” del Castillo said. “It’s no secret that productions like to film in New York. The city is one of the most recognizable stars. A lot of production happens on our streets.”

In August, the city approved 131 shooting permits for 67 projects, according to the mayor’s media and entertainment office. That’s up from July, when there were 53 shooting permits approved for 27 projects.

Still, it’s a far cry from pre-COVID-19 levels, when the agency was issuing nearly 1,000 permits each month, and New York City film and TV production was at an all-time high, generating more than $60 billion in direct economic activity for New York City and $3 billion in tax revenue.

But the ending might not be happy for one local production studio owner, who says the reopening might have come too late to save his business.

Joe Grant’s Brooklyn Studios, a three-building complex in Long Island City, was on the verge of signing a deal with Netflix to rent out its space for the production of the popular comedy-drama series “Russian Doll” when the pandemic hit and forced the streaming service to pull out.

The curtain has come down on much of his other business, too.

“The last 20 years, we were doing okay,” said Grant, one of the industry’s few Black studio owners. “Then the epidemic came around. No one’s been making any money since February.”

Grant, 67, said he has been getting by on a federal Paycheck Protection Program loan and a few commercial shooting contracts.

“Even though they’ve lifted part of restrictions, there are so many people who are afraid to gather.”

Among the biggest production challengers is the limit on the number of people allowed on a set. Only 100 people are allowed on set to facilitate social distancing, which could be problematic for a director trying to shoot a riot or a mass protest scene in the heart of Union Square.

But industry leaders insist that production crews will find creative ways around the constraints.

“I don’t think we’re going to see content suffer,” del Castillo said. “You’ll probably see a difference, but I’m pretty confident we’ll see it for the better.”