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Production to start in Tasmania on Pacquola and McGregor’s Rosehaven

Rosehaven writer and creator Celia Pacquola.

Production is set to start in Tasmania on Celia Pacquola and Luke McGregor's Rosehaven, a new eight-part comedy series for the ABC.  

From the production base at the ABC Centre in Hobart, the series will be filmed entirely on location in the state, creating jobs for 200 Tasmanians as cast, crew and extras.   

Eight emerging screen practitioners will also be engaged by the production in training positions funded by Screen Tasmania.  

Tasmanian actors have been cast in over 80 per cent of the sixty roles in the series.

Rosehaven stars two of Australia’s most popular comedians, Tasmanian born Luke McGregor (Utopia, It’s a Date, Luke Warm Sex) and Celia Pacquola (The Beautiful Lie, Utopia, Laid), who also wrote and created the series. 

The series, which will screen in the second half of 2016, is a Guesswork Television production.  

It is produced by Andrew Walker and  co-produced by Fiona McConaghy.  

The executive producer is Kevin Whyte and the ABC executive producers are Rick Kalowski and Brett Sleigh.

Tasmanian actors have scored many of the key roles including the AACTA and AFI-award nominee Kris McQuade (The Kettering Incident, Wentworth, Killing Time), Katie Robertson (The Kettering Incident, Wanted) and 87 year-old Noela Foxcroft in her first on-going television series role.  

They will be joined by David Quirk (Please Like Me, Sammy J and Randy in Rickett’s Lane, Problems), Sam Cotton (The Family Law) and Kim Knuckey (Peter Allen – Not The Boy Next Door, Wonderland). 

Luke McGregor plays Daniel McCallum, a Tasmanian living on the Mainland, who returns to his hometown of Rosehaven, to take over his family’s troubled real estate business. 

He is shocked when his best (Melbourne) friend Emma (Celia Pacquola) joins him, on the run from a marriage that didn’t make it past the honeymoon.  

Kris McQuade co-stars as Daniel’s mother and Rosehaven Real Estate Agent, Barbara McCallum and Katie Robertson will play Grace, the town doctor.

Rosehaven is the latest in a string of screen productions to be filmed in Tasmania.  

The seven week shoot will feature variety of locations across South East Tasmania.  

Geeveston, in the Huon Valley south of Hobart, will provide the main street for the fictional town of Rosehaven, whilst historic New Norfolk in the Derwent Valley will provide other parts of the town centre and several other key locations for the series.

Jonathan Brough (The Family Law, Sammy J & Randy In Rickett’s Lane, It’s A Date, The Time Of Our Lives) will direct seven of the eight episodes, whilst Hobart based director Shaun Wilson (Noirhouse) will make his long form television directorial debut. 

Screen Australia chief executive Graeme Mason said Screen Australia was delighted to be supporting high-quality comedy in such a great year for Australian television. 

"Tasmania has been buzzing with projects recently, and Rosehaven is another terrific chance to showcase the extraordinary scenery and uncover the great local talent joining the excellent Luke McGregor and Celia Pacquola.’

McConaghy (The Kettering Incident, Noirhouse, The Outlaw Michael Howe) is co-producer on the series alongside producer Andrew Walker (The Kettering Incident, Wanted, Mr & Mrs Murder, A Moody Christmas).

Minister for the Arts Vanessa Goodwin said television series like Rosehaven cement Tasmania’s reputation as an exceptional filming destination, with a number of major Australian and international productions being filmed here in recent years.

"The Tasmanian Government is a strong supporter of our screen industry and I’m very pleased that our investment in this project will support local actors and crew, in addition to boosting the economy and growing our state’s profile in the screen sector," she said.

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