Kim Sinclair
How long have you been in screen production and how did you get started?
My wife Kirsten answered a classified advertisement in the newspaper in 1982 – wanting set draughtsmen to work on the feature Savage Islands. She got the job and roped me in. The industry was pretty tiny in those days, so on our next job we art directed and then production designed the job after.
What genre(s) does your work tend to come from?
To put it into numbers … action/adventure 40%, sci-fi 24%, drama 17%, war 10% and family 10%, with the rest made up of fantasy, mystery, history, horror, and Western.
How easy is it to make a living in this industry/how often do you work outside the screen production industry?
It’s bloody difficult to make a living. I was originally an architect, but haven’t done that since 1998.
How does your department work as part of the ‘whole’ that other crew probably don’t realize?
Well, the art department is a bit unusual in that if we do our job well, everybody takes us for granted. Except if it is a period film, of course. An issue, and an opportunity, for art departments is the field of virtual production. This does mean no more physical set building – but there is still plenty of work for a traditional art department. On The Adventures of Tintin, a set designer and I were initially contracted for six weeks work. That turned into two years’ work for an art department of 28 people including costume, hair, make-up, graphics, props, set dressers, and set design. Everything still needs to be designed!
And of course, a challenge these days is the more complex relationship between physical filming, and virtual and/or performance capture and VFX in general. In this way, the art department has to have a good working relationship with the pre-vis and VFX departments – not to mention costume, hair, make-up, SPFX, LX, stunts, vehicles, animals etc.
Many films have become so complex that the coordination and effective communication between departments is an important part of my job.
How have your rates changed/improved over the years?
Well, I earn a lot more than I did in 1982, and although I haven’t had a raise in years my rate is abreast of inflation (except for housing). I earn less in the US than I can in NZ, but the cost of living is very high in Auckland.
What sort of changes have you noticed? Have you noticed any trends?
We have some fantastic crew in NZ – people that have been plugging away for years and are superb. Everybody is so hard working and cheerful.
What strengths do you think the New Zealand industry has / what could contribute to a more sustainable industry?
Well obviously the Large Budget Screen Production Grant is not attracting overseas investment – and effectively killing the film industry in NZ. Secondly, Auckland really needs a first-rate film stage complex of international quality. Visit any studio in LA and weep!
