We've had successful television series made here including episodes of the ABC's Escape from the City along with minor film bits but we've got all the necessary ingredients, including the locations and back-up facilities, for companies to make feature-length movies.
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But there's nobody out there knocking on doors and pushing our amazing district locations to movie and TV series makers.
Sydney is again patting itself on the back after clinching a lucrative deal with Marvel Studios for the next Thor movie creating hundreds of jobs for cast, crew and extras and leaving the local economy millions better off.
The movie is the latest of at least 18 that have been made in Sydney including Peter Rabbit 1, Peter Rabbit 2, Unbroken, The Wolverine, The Great Gatsby, Lego, Walking with Dinosaurs and Happy Feet 2.
A utopia of the big screen, more than 35 movies have been filmed in Broken Hill as well as dozens of TV series and countless advertisements.
Some of these include Mad Max II, Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Mission Impossible II. In the past four years, there's been Last Cab to Darwin, Strangerland and The Leftovers while the Australian Ballet has just shot a new short film there for its 2020 season. Any of these films would have been a welcome bonanza for Orange which has had a good reputation in the past for being a top location.
Five or six episodes of Fauna Productions' TV series of Boney were shot in and around Orange, Millthorpe and Cudal after producer John McCallum and top British writer Eric Paice gave Orange the nod after looking at all sorts of other locations from the outback to dry creek beds.
The huge production crew and actors were based at the Hotel Canobolas for several months.
Carcoar has been a popular location for numerous film and television productions including Jessica, Let the Balloon Go, Brides of Christ, Tommy the Kid, Peter Allen: Not the Boy Next Door (2015) and Backtrack (2015).
So c'mon Orange. See what you can do. It's a new industry just sitting there.
Let's cho-cho-chose preservation
There's little doubt that when steam trains began to disappear, there was in many cases a feeling of sadness and now, years later, only the real enthusiasts have maintained the fight to preserve that important part of our history.
Lachlan Valley Railway is a group of dedicated rail buffs who spend most of their spare time restoring old steam locomotives and carriages so it's disappointing plans to base their historic trains at East Fork aren't exactly building up a head of steam.
The group wants to build a shed and roundhouse for its trains after being isolated 10 years ago when the government shut down the Cowra line
- Denis Gregory
The rail group has done some work at the Orange site but nothing substantial since it announced the move from Cowra back in January 2017.
The group wants to build a shed and roundhouse for its trains after being isolated 10 years ago when the government shut down the Cowra line.
However, its main priority is to get access from the main line into the site so it can move in some rolling stock and get going and that will cost about $25,000.
But LVR can't seem to attract much interest here in helping develop what could become a huge tourism attraction running short historic train tours on weekends.
Let's hope more assistance is coming from the council and tourism people.
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