- Best-selling WA anthology Tales from Outer Suburbia is set to showcase WA to the world through new animated television series
- British actress and comedian Dawn French to play Grandma for much-anticipated new series production
- Tales from Outer Suburbia production supported by Cook Government funding through Screenwest
Internationally acclaimed Western Australian writer, artist and filmmaker Shaun Tan will step into the role of creative director for an adaption of his best-selling anthology Tales from Outer Suburbia.
Tan's illustrated anthology of fifteen short stories is based on his memories of growing up in the northern suburbs of Perth and has been adapted by the Australian Children's Television Foundation.
British actress, comedian, and writer Dawn French has joined the cast for the much-anticipated 10-part animated series, playing Grandma, who French fondly describes as "amazing, courageous and adventurous, quite chaotic and a bit bonkers".
The series will make its world premiere this week at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in France.
The Tales from Outer Suburbia animated series for the ABC is produced by Highly Spirited and Flying Bark Productions in association with WA production company Siamese, which is undertaking production in Perth and at Flying Bark in New South Wales.
The production is supported by the Cook Government through Lotterywest funding that supports local screen production and local screen practitioners.
The Screenwest Scripted Production Fund is supported by the State Government's Screen Industry Strategy, which provides a 10-year framework for building productions in the WA screen industry, growing employment opportunities and supporting the development of screen industry capacity in this State.
The strategy supports the development of the $233.5 million Perth Film Studios and also ensures that the local screen stories and sector capacity is supported alongside the attraction of new productions to WA.
As stated by Creative Industries Minister Simone McGurk:
"This production builds on the much-loved short stories by Academy Award-winning author and illustrator Shaun Tan, who, as creative director will take his tales of suburban Perth to the world.
"This project is also helping to demonstrate how original Western Australian creative content can be supported across many platforms to reach even broader audiences.
"This is a great opportunity for WA production company Siamese to also showcase its work on the world stage and showing the talent of our WA creative industries."
