0/5

Tassie dreams of kids’ TV

With ABC3 looming, Tasmania wants to put itself on the radar as a producer of children's television, and hauls in the ACTF.

screentvLooks like Tasmania is hoping to increase its output of children’s television programming with the announcement of a special initiative between Screen Tasmania and the Australian Children’s Television Foundation (ACTF).

For many years it is Victoria that has led the way with the lucrative children’s genre, thanks largely to producers such as Jonathan M. Shiff’s Elephant Princess plus Crawford’s The Saddle Club, while Queensland has picked up pace with Animalia, WA had Lockie Leonard and Sydney is busy with the ABC’s My Place series.

With ABC3 on the horizon there is also a need for the production sector to pick up.

ACTF has quite a record with such shows as Round the Twist, Lift Off, Mortified and Li’l Elvis Jones and the Truckstoppers.

“As well as developing the skills of Tasmanian writers and producers, it is expected that this investment into the industry will pay off with the positive economic benefits that would come from having a long-running children’s television drama series produced in Tasmania,” Minister for Economic Development, Michael Aird said.

“Tasmania has a rich history in making programs for children going right back to the 1960’s and includes the much loved series The Colonials, They Found a Cave, and the feature film Manganinnie.”

The Australian Film Television and Radio School will be holding a ‘Writing a TV Series’ course in Hobart from July 7-9 2009. An information session on the Screen Tasmania and ACTF initiative will be held at the conclusion of a ‘Writing a TV Series’ course held by AFTRS on Thursday 9 July 2009.

Source: Tas.gov.au

Leave a Reply