Dunedin: Summer 2023
Let’s not beat around the bush, If the flood gates open next year with an abundance of work, we Southerners, the salt of the earth, hope you see eye to eye with us eager to see Productions filter out down these parts. Piece of cake, right? Spilling the beans, I have heard of some projects eyeing up these parts have already decided to move away from the idea of Southland / Dunedin as a main location base to a more “Studio-esque” location like Wellington and sigh... Auckland. Sheesh Auckland cut us some slack aye.
Don’t put your eggs in one basket they say.
Build it and they will come they say.
It’s not letting the cat out of the bag that the elephant in the room is there is still no studio in Te Waipounamu.
Well, we may not have a studio but don’t judge a book by its cover. The latest haps around town saw acting group ScreenDUNEDIN pull all resources together to shoot their first pilot on a shoestring for a web series titled 'Sandwich'. The narrative of an overworked parole officer. The collaborators driven by the want for a sustainable industry bit the bullet to pull this together, grassroots style.
The best of both worlds, local writer / director Pennie Hunt with Producer Alex Reed received development funding from the New Zealand Film Commission for their debut feature drama Tandem.
Traveling light, a Wales production crew hit the road shooting various footage around town for a travel show to be screened on Welsh TV.
Our very own Film DCC / FOS Film Coordinator, Stefan Roesch, completed the Master Class programme run by the Association of Film Commissioners International becoming the first accredited Certified Film Commissioner (CFC) in New Zealand. He really is a jack of all trades..
We give thanks to small blessings as Sky Originals Commissioners Thomas Robins and Nick Ward threw caution to the wind to include Ōtepoti in their roadshow offering a chance for local filmmakers to jump on the bandwagon and pitch their projects in the scripted or factual space.
A collaboration from Script to Screen, Film Dunedin and Film Otago Southland brought another bite of the cherry for regional content creators by hosting a TV Series writing workshop, facilitated by Ōtepoti returned resident screenwriter Pip Hall (One Lane Bridge, Brokenwood Mysteries).
Through thick and thin we shall prevail..
For the past few years it’s been occasionally not regularly we have seen productions coming to Dunedin. So, 2024, What shall it be?? Let’s not cut corners on this topic of regional incentive. Help us, help you. I can only assume other minority regions would be all ears to the idea of finding Production distribution flow. It’s not going to cost an arm and a leg shooting down here, in fact budget lines for mileage, petrol, services, accommodation are almost always lower than the larger dominant cities.
Its better late than never and action speaks louder than words. The balls in your court now so please don’t sit on the fence on this.
Hopefully 2023 was the calm before the storm.
I don’t know what it is about this time of year but I’m not feeling festive, I’m feeling expressive. Common expressive. Idiomotic I know... but hey, don’t steal my thunder, it takes two to tango.
Time to call it a day.
Meri Kirihimete kotou!
