Farewell to a Queenstown Icon

Not just the end of the year - it's the end of an era...

This wrap is dedicated to Annie Weston, who, as I write is driving northwards to start a new life in Auckland.

Annie has been at the heart of the Queenstown Film Industry since she arrived 23 years ago to Production Manage the many Shoot NZ jobs. And she has been in the hearts of all Queenstown crew since then, known as a true champion of fairness and decency. Often to her own detriment Annie 'went into bat' (maybe 'battle' is more appropriate) to ensure that crew rates and conditions were fair and correct - this did not always go down well with Producers and commonly increased her own workload.

As quoted in the Mountain Scene this week "I think every crew member in Queenstown absolutely adores her"

Annie is an encyclopaedia of knowledge when it comes to all things film - equipment, funding, people, scheduling, safety, writing. She's a recent past president of this Guild and one of the team that updated the Blue Book. For those of us in working in pre production Annie was a key advocate of acknowledgement of overtime hours for crew during prep (Following that addition It’s now up to affected crew to make sure that unavoidable OT hrs in prep are compensated)

The recent lull in Queenstown based film projects, and the corresponding boom in Auckland based projects have conveniently gifted Annie the 'time and opportunity' package to plan and execute the relocate - and will mean that she'll now live in the same city as partner Phil.

For those left behind the hope is that having a Queenstown Cheerleader in Auckland will help smooth the pathways of film projects to this region.

So Annie, I speak for everyone when I say we will miss you, and wish you outlandish success. Travel safe, stay in touch.

And to all you folks in the north - appreciate and take care of this gift.