'Cloudstreet' to be filmed in WA

The iconic Tim Winton novel 'Cloudstreet' will be made into a six-hour television series in Western Australia with filming due to commence in the first half of next year.

Culture and the Arts Minister John Day today announced that the State Government through ScreenWest had helped secure the filming of 'Cloudstreet' for WA through its Production Attraction Fund.

"This fund aims to attract high profile interstate and international screen productions to WA and we are thrilled that we are helping to bring 'Cloudstreet' to the screen and that it is being produced here in Western Australia," Mr Day said.

"This will provide employment and development opportunities for local crew, cast, businesses and infrastructure associated with the screen industry, and will also showcase our wonderfully diverse locations and culture to an international audience."

Tim Winton's award winning novel about the Lambs and the Pickles, two working class Western Australian families, who come to live together at 1 Cloud Street, is an iconic and much loved story.

Commissioned and majority funded by SHOWTIME Australia, 'Cloudstreet' will be made into a six-hour television series, to be shown on Foxtel and Austar, produced by leading Australian production company Screentime.

The Minister said the script by Tim Winton and Ellen Fontana is currently being finalised, with pre-production to start in November this year.

"It is expected that principal photography will commence in WA in the first half of 2010," he said.

"WA has a strong creative community, and I congratulate all of those that are taking part in bringing this quintessentially Western Australian story to an international audience."