When the producers of a short film series about the Launceston Blockie Route heard the council wanted to put their 1994 Holden Barina in the city's museum, they were shocked.
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"It really is a piece of shit," co-creator Dylan Hesp said.
Hesp, and his best mate since primary school Michael O'Neill, have been creating content since about grade 6.
Now, as a result of a partnership with Screen Tasmania and Screen Australia, the pair, aged in their late 20s, were able to create an eight-video series about the city's iconic driving route.
"We're both from Launceston. We were out filming and making content for the internet and we thought 'let's go out on the blockie route'," Hesp said.
"Obviously, being from Launceston, it's the classic kind of thing to do."
From there, that idea became the pilot for the YouTube series - Australia's Best Street Car Racer.
It was launched last Wednesday night on the roof of one of Launceston's multi-storey car parks, with about 140 people attending.
"My favourite thing about the launch so far is all the Facebook groups that are sharing it organically, like the Launceston Memes page and Launceston Chit Chat, and just going on there and reading comments of people saying 'oh this is so cool' or 'this is so you'," O'Neill said.
"I don't have any idea who that person is, but they're loving something we've created, which is really cool."
The whole show is centered around the blockie route but within all eight episodes there are a bunch of different adventures that the lonely character goes on in his mum's 1994 Holden Barina, all wrapped into this short but comedic series.
The lead role of Taylor James is played by Hesp, with O'Neill behind the camera.
"The concept of our show is really boiled down to an 18-year-old who gets his P-plates and borrows his mum's 1994 Holden Barina," O'Neill said.
"It's that rite of passage, especially among young guys, of getting your P-plates and the freedom that it brings is a theme that is quite universal. So even people that aren't from Launceston can still relate to that."
The series will launch nationally this week, with Hesp excited to see how the rest of the nation take to the series.
"I think it will be positive. The original, that inspired the series we have now, was released nationally and got 40,000 views in a couple of days," he said.
"Regardless of where you're from, I think all regional places in Australia have their version of the blockie route. It might be called something different, but the concept is the same."
The duo have been working on the show "pretty solidly" for the past four months.
Hesp is an actor and comedian, and has featured on show ABC TV and multi-country commercials. O'Neill runs his own video production company, working on shows such as Rosehaven and The Belonging.
With the support of Screen Tasmania and Screen Australia, it meant the series was able to be a bit bigger and explore some other characters and do some fun things.
"In addition to the actual lots of mostly Tasmanian cast we had, it was really great that we were able to incorporate police with cameos and some actual local street racers in there as well," Hesp said.
I think all regional places in Australia have their version of the blockie route. It might be called something different, but the concept is the same.
- Dylan Hesp
O'Neill said the whole community got around the series, which helped bring it all together.
"We wanted to close off the Avenue, near the mall, for a scene where a spoiler actually gets dislodged off the hero car and goes through the window of the car behind it," he said.
"We needed to close off the street for that to happen. Our producers are Sydney-based ... and I contacted the council and asked if we could meet about closing this street off.
"The next day me and the producer went into the meeting. I thought we'd be just meeting with one or two people, but it was all the councillors and everyone.
"The question wasn't just yes, we'll close of the street, but what else can we do for you?"
He said he wasn't shocked because he knew how great Launceston was.
"But our producer from Sydney could not believe we were able to do this in Launceston with such a small budget and with such little fuss."
Hesp said when the series was completed, they took it back to the council who asked if they could display the Barina in the Queen Victoria Museum Art Gallery.
"We thought it was ridiculous ... It's tragic, but that kind of support is incredible," he said.
"For them, I think what they loved was that it's two guys who grew up in Launceston just doing something cool and wanted to get behind it and everyone was the same really."
The series can be viewed on youtube.com/australiasbeststreetracer, or at QVMAG.
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