"Parrawood"

"Crownies, the ABC's first long-running series in almost a decade, is midway through 132 days of filming in Parramatta and surrounding suburbs".  Series producer, Karl Zwicky, says Parramatta now offers the same look and variety of city locations within a smaller, cheaper and more accessible area. SMH 26/6/11.

This is great news for Parramatta and congratulations are in order to our Council whose visitor strategy released earlier this year prioritised the promotion of filming locations. As a result several commercials for national and global brands have been shot in and around the Parramatta CBD. The council has made less than $10,000 in permits however "several million dollars have been injected into the local economy by shows such as Crownies, which has 2125 cast and crew".

The Council has shown commendable leadership in attracting a new and exciting industry to our city, but the city can also take a bow. It is a tribute to Parramatta's cosmopolitan maturity that artistic producers are attracted by our cityscape. It appears that Parramatta has all that Sydney has to offer these perceptive and cost conscious production teams, in a fresh streetscape.

We can look forward to series and commercials on our screens - starring Parramatta.

Trevor Oldfield AM JP

President