Last week, I suggested that the island’s politicians should be bold and brave in the face of Brexit.
I considered a similar theme this week, but I doubt many of you would make it to the end of this sentence if I did.
I considered weighing up the pros and cons of Mec Vannin’s request to drop the need to swear an oath to the Queen to be a member of Tynwald.
I think they’re correct by the way, an oath of office to serve the people of the island would be perfectly fine for those who consider themselves republicans.
But, then I was browsing through Netflix last week, looking for something to watch. And what comes up on my screen? None other than Waking Ned.
It is such a marvellous piece of storytelling and really shows off the island, even if it is standing in for Ireland.
So then fast forward a couple of days and I was standing on the outer deck of the Ben-My-Chree on my way to a wedding in Manchester and just staring.
I just stared straight at the island and I thought it looks great on a sunny day, especially when you can see the whole east coast.
The little communities along the coast which come to form the Manx community. And it hit me, we are a prime location for filming, we really are.
I know we’ve been burned by our involvement in the film industry, despite the profit from the shares we bought in Pinewood, we’ve lost £26.8m investing in films, but we should go again.
Northern Ireland has Game of Thrones, Jersey had Bergerac, Cornwall has had Doc Martin, Wycliffe, Poldark and so many others.
I’m not saying we should branch into actually making films, but we should focus some government energy on applying the lessons of the past to breed a successful film or TV making environment.
From the Plains of Heaven to Peel Castle and Port Erin to the Point of Ayre Lighthouse, we have some of the best scenery, with a natural character, that any film crew will find anywhere in the British Isles.
We have the locations and the ability to close roads for filming cars so why not making actual films or TV series?
Who knows, a film company may even pay to close our roads, unlike those car manufacturers we recently helped.
I’m kidding of course, the real boost to the economy doesn’t come from the government charging to close the roads or an area for a few days.
It comes from the crew being in shops and pubs, caterers and local produce to feed that crew, it comes from actors tweeting and instagramming about where they’ve been and from our landmarks being silver screen backdrops.
The government could make it as easy as possible, raise the profile and make it known we are open to the filming industry.
Make it known our beaches, our fields, our trains and our trams are here, ready to go.
We need to find a way to boost income into the island, and we keep being told we need fresh ideas.
But fresh ideas aren’t always new ideas, sometimes fresh ideas are correcting what we got wrong last time.
Like so many other sectors, we have fallen behind where we could be in the entertainment industry.
As the Extraordinary Story advert narrated by John Rhys-Davies shows, we have much to offer. The Film Festival is growing and in Rhys-Davies and Mark Kermode we have friends ’in the industry’, so to speak.
We may even be able to nurture some local talent. When it comes to acting, we punch above our weight, so why not with directors and writers?