City funds for a miniseries

A miniseries showcasing the Busselton, Dunsborough and Yallingup areas will be filmed locally next month and screened to tens of thousands of viewers in mid-2019.

On Wednesday night, Busselton City Council agreed to contribute $20,000 towards production costs of Our Town, which highlights why people should visit, live, work and play in the regions.

The funding will be drawn from differential rates paid by commercial and industrial properties and will complement contributions from Rio Tinto and Hanson Property.

It is the second time Our Town, created by Visage Productions, has filmed in the region.

Several seasons ago, the broader South West was showcased, but producer-director Lee Loraine said this time round the focus would be specifically on the Busselton city district.

“We want to promote growth stories ... and this really is a magical part of the world,” he said.

Loraine said there would be an emphasis on economic growth, development and tourism.

City community and commercial services director Naomi Searle said funding towards the production was discussed at the last Marketing and Events Reference Group.

It was recommended for approval and was voted through on Wednesday.

“The Our Town production is specific to the City of Busselton district so will focus on Busselton, Dunsborough and Yallingup,” she said.

Filming is expected to take place over five days in April or May and the program will go to air from June on Channel 7, GWN and online platforms.

Last season drew about 40,000 viewers. It is expected online platforms will hit a similar figure.

Busselton Mayor Grant Henley said it was a good opportunity to home in on the Busselton city district’s qualities, rather than the broader South West as with the previous episode.

“We’ll also get to keep some of the IP (intellectual property rights) for some of the footage, so we’ll be able to use that in some of our own marketing and promotions,” he said.