Auckland's Film Industry Update

The Auckland market has been a little quiet in regards to television commercials since the desperate shortage of crew prior to Christmas. Quite a few line production jobs fell through at the last minute leaving some freelancers up here without much going on in January and February, but we’re fairly confident it’s just another blip in the radar of the filming biz.

There is plenty to sing about in terms of long-form work happening this year, with Ghost in the Shell soaking up hundreds of people, but also with the return filming of new seasons for South Pacific Picture’s 800 Words, and Brokenwood Mysteries, also Filthy Productions’ second project since its inception called Dirty Laundry (following hot on the tails behind their 2015 series of Filthy Rich)… not to mention the return of the highly successful Ash vs Evil Dead, and a locally-produced remake of Geoff Murphy’s true Kiwi film Goodbye Pork Pie, which will be shooting around NZ in March and April, as well as the possible Warner Brothers’ film Meg which is still looking at shooting in West Auckland later in the year.

I think the biggest problem we are going to have is not just a shortage of studio spaces in the north, but a shortage of experienced crew with equipment. On that note, I’d like to suggest that each and every one of you take a keen young thing under your wing. Help them out, teach them the ropes, tell them how it is, and make sure that whatever you do, you learn **and **teach them about the new health and safety legislation that is coming into effect this year. Just like we are responsible for the type of planet we leave to our children, we are responsible for structuring our film and television industry for the new talent that follows in our footsteps in the years to come, regardless of the changing mediums that entertainment is shown to its audiences with.

Sioux Macdonald, Guild vice president and executive committee member