Auckland's Film Industry Sees Revival
Great news today with the announcement that The Wonder, a USD $20-million feature film, is going to be shot in Auckland. This comes in on the back of the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon prequel (The Green Destiny) recently being green-lit. After a brutal couple of years, this signals that Auckland is beginning to get back on track. The recent increase in incentives and the fine work of our friends from Film Auckland are sure to have played a big part in this success. There is light at the end of the tunnel for the crew, businesses, and equipment providers that have stuck it out. We wish you well from the South. Things are also busy out in Miramar with Avatar ramping up – aside from creating jobs, it will develop skills and technology, and further NZ’s global reputation as a place that can deliver the goods.
Aside from the feature film world, the quiet achiever of the NZ screen industry has been ticking away. TVCs have been relatively steady in the past few years, and it’s safe to say without this valuable mainstay of the industry, the exodus offshore and collapse of infrastructure would have been far more drastic.
TVCs are the bread and butter of the industry in Otago and Southland, as well as for many of us around the country. They tend to be high yield, and due to their short-term nature, relatively low impact.
In the Queenstown region, we have two primary seasons: summer and winter. We service clientele from all over the world, helping them sell everything from Viagra to Volkswagens. It is interesting to note that many of our clients are return business, with some coming back year after year.
The tail end of the summer season has just about wound up, and it’s the time of year that crew either go on holiday or hunker down until the winter season kicks in.
We’ve had a fairly good run the past three months with the usual variety of jobs – cars, clothing, electronics, telcos, chocolate, tourism, retail giants, etc. Intended markets include domestic, North American, European, and the strongly growing Asian clients.
The most significant event was the loss of Ian Turtill (Turtz), a stalwart of the NZ/Queenstown industry. We had a fantastic send-off for him at Kappa, his favourite Queenstown restaurant. He will be sorely missed.
John Allan, Queenstown branch chair
