On Thursday, the state government announced it would continue to support creative industries in next week’s Budget,  investing $300,000  in the production of the series.

It is a feather in the cap to the state’s film industry which once struggled for recognition. Now it has become the darling of the screen.

Just recently The Kettering Incident, which was filmed in Southern Tasmania, won two Logie awards and three Australian Academy of Cinema Television Arts awards. 

The story of Hobart man Saroo Brierley was shown on Hollywood screens and around the nation in the movie Lion, with Slumdog Millionaire actor Dev Patel playing Saroo while Nicole Kidman and David Wenham played his adoptive parents.

The film was partly shot in Southern Tasmania at a farm at Bangor and was nominated for six Academy Awards and the Golden Globe awards.

In the North, the film adaptation of the book The Light Between Oceans was shot at Stanley during 2014 – with the movie shown in Tasmania at the end of 2016. The government assisted producers of the film in 2014 with a $75,000 grant to convert the town into a 1920s fishing village, providing employment to 20 local tradespeople.

This year Jennifer Kent’s Nightingale will also be filmed in the state. Nightingale is expected to generate $3.6 million in Tasmania, with the government investing $200,000, while Rosehaven will inject $2 million into the economy.

It is also believed that Sci-Fi thriller Enter Sanctum is being shot at Bicheno on the East Coast, and will feature homegrown actress Holly Brisley, who has appeared on Home and Away and Will Gabriel.

It is wonderful to see the state government devoting money to the arts – not only is it investing in the state’s creative industry talents but also advertising our pristine state to a worldwide audience.

The investment will also help bring money into the local economy as well as provide employment opportunities to trades ad homegrown actors.

While it may appear the state government is spending big money supporting such industries, the investment back in the state is more far reaching.