The Sutherland Shire community would keep a very close eye on Channel Ten’s filming of The Shire from Wednesday and over coming weeks to ensure the network kept its promise of ‘a PG show like Home and Away’.
Sutherland Shire Mayor Carol Provan made the comments following a meeting with Channel Ten CEO James Warburton and other Ten executives, the council’s General Manager John Rayner, Federal MP for Cook Scott Morrison and State MP for Cronulla, Mark Speakman last Friday.
“Channel Ten must honour their commitment of ‘making a show that will showcase the natural beauty of the area and the pristine beaches to a national audience’. I echo Mr Warburton’s comment about our natural beauty and add that the Sutherland Shire is home to many outstanding people who love our area,’’ Cr Provan said.
‘‘That is the true reflection of our community, and not the smut we saw in the leaked promo from Channel Ten. Indeed, it must be recognised that the leaked material came from Channel Ten as did the connection with Jersey Shore. Now we’re told it won’t be anything like that. In fact, Mr Warburton said this morning The Shire will be a PG rated program.’’
Mr Morrison said the talks were ‘‘constructive,’’ and had enabled community concerns to be put on record. ‘‘Consent and approvals for filming and other activities associated with the production are matters for council, private businesses and individuals,’’ he said.
‘‘As a federal member of Parliament, my primary focus is on Channel Ten’s responsibilities as a licensed broadcaster and their compliance with the Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice.
‘‘The ultimate test will be in what Ten broadcasts.’’
Mr Speakman said the assurance that the the show would have a PG rating meant, at least, it would be different from Jersey Shores and The Only Way is Essex, which had M or MA ratings.’’
Channel 10 referred the Leader to the series maker, Shine Productions, who are yet to provide a comment today.
Shine Australia production company managing director Matt Campbell said last week that the original clip the mayor had seen promoting the show was made six months ago.
‘‘That clip was for a 10.30pm on digital but the show we are making will be PG rated on free-to-air,’’ he said.
‘‘We are talking a whole different territory.’’
Mr Campbell said the show would be ‘‘soft-scripted’’ where real people read the lines. He described it as a real Home and Away.
‘‘These are real people living in the shire. We make Master Chef and Biggest Loser. We make shows that people like, that they warm to.
‘‘It is up to us to reassure the council. We want to be there in seven years time. The legislation says they can’t stop us filming but that’s not the spirit of how we want to do it. We want their support.’’
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