Hit television series Mystery Road delivers $25 million boost to Western Australia across its four seasons

The ABC’s widely successful Mystery Road television juggernaut has proven a windfall for the Western Australian economy, attracting more than $25 million to the state during production of its four seasons.

Filmed across Western Australia in Kununurra/Wyndham, Broome, Kalgoorlie/Coolgardie and most recently in Pemberton, the two Mystery Road seasons and the two prequel seasons of Mystery Road: Origin have paid dividends for regional communities, which have reeled in an estimated $18.5 million.

Supported by Screenwest and set to premiere on the ABC tonight, the second season of Mystery Road: Origin was filmed amongst the stunning forests and South-West town of Pemberton and returned an estimated $7.3 million to the Western Australian economy, including $5 million into the region.

Rikki Lea Bestall, Screenwest Chief Executive Officer said: “Mystery Road is one of the ABC’s most successful series and has catapulted iconic Western Australia towns into the spotlight with productions in the Goldfields, Kimberley and most recently in Pemberton.

“With support from the WA Government, the four Mystery Road series – each filmed in Western Australia – have collectively injected a staggering $25 million into the state’s economy, including $18.5 million to country towns.

“We have seen screen productions really pull regional communities and country towns into their exciting projects. In York, we saw this happen with The Twelve and Runt, Scrublands: Silver in Augusta and Mystery Road: Origin Season 2 in Pemberton.

“With the exponential increase in film production in Western Australia and the Perth Film Studios due to open in Malaga early next year, there will be even greater scope for regional towns to become film friendly and engage in on-location shoots.

“Western Australia is already experiencing unprecedented levels of production in the state. The availability of state-of-the-art studios, coupled with the state’s striking natural landscapes and unique locations, will support further growth of the screen industry and contribute to significant economic spin-off, not to mention the flow-on effects to the tourism industry.

“Screenwest remains committed to driving local content production in Western Australia, supporting local production houses and building workforce capacity to ensure we have enough skilled crew for when major productions land. We will continue to work hard to attract high-quality film production to the state and incentivise local film and content production to make our state an attractive place to do business.”

Season two of Mystery Road: Origin continues the story into the early years of Detective Jay Swan in a six-part drama produced by Bunya Productions.

The series is produced by Greer Simpkin and David Jowsey, with major production investment from Screen Australia’s First Nations Department in association with Screenwest and Lotterywest and the Western Australian Regional Screen Fund.

AACTA Award-winning Lead Actor and proud Nyikina man Mark Coles Smith (We Bury The Dead, Beasts of War) plays the young Detective Jay Swan, while AACTA Award-winning Lead Actress Tuuli Narkle (NCISS1 & S2, Territory) is Young Mary and Clarence Ryan (Territory, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga) as Sputty.

Mystery Road: Origin Season 2 will premiere tonight at 8:15pm on ABC TV, with all episodes available to stream on ABC iview.

Production credit: Commissioned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Mystery Road: Origin Season 2 is produced by Greer Simpkin and David Jowsey of Bunya Productions with major production investment from Screen Australia’s First Nations Department in association with Screenwest and Lotterywest and the Western Australian Regional Screen Fund. Financed in association with Screen NSW, with All3Media International handling international sales. Written by Steven McGregor, Jada Alberts, Erica Glynn, Samuel Paynter and Gary Hamaguchi. Script Producer Deb Cox. Directed by Wayne Blair and Jub Clerc. ABC Executive Producers Rachel Okine and Brett Sleigh.

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