Applications to council to film in Parramatta have risen from 25, in 2002/10, to 85, in 2011/2012 – an increase of 240 per cent.
TV shows and movies using Parramatta as a backdrop have included Packed to the Rafters, Home and Away, Make Me a Super Model, Underbelly, Cedar Boys, The Combination, East West 101, Brothers in Arms and Crownies, Janet King, an ABC TV legal series, a sequel Crownies, is yet to be aired, while a Channel 9 production, Love Child, is currently being shot in the CBD.
Toyota, Woolworths and Volkswagen have used Parramatta in TV commercial.
Parramatta’s popularity can be attributed, in part, to council which aims to transform Parramatta into a “creative city” and has, in a joint venture with the Parramatta-based Information and Cultural Exchange (ICE), published SCOUT!, a free online resource for filmmakers containing photographs of a range of locations and information required to get screen projects up-and-running in Parramatta.
While these mainstream productions are financed by public and private organisations outside Parramatta, a Parramatta-based not-for-profit organisation has been responsible for producing hundreds of promotional videos, short films and a feature film for local, national and international audiences.
This is ICE, which operates from a non-descript, two-storey building in the Parramatta Art and Recreation Precinct, in the CBD.
Over the years, ICE has used scores of aspiring artists, photographers, technicians, camera operators, script writers and the like, from Western Sydney, telling stories of life and the issues in the region, with the guidance of the professional teams at ICE. Hollywood, Bollywood, Nollywood. Parrawood? Why not? Watch this space.
