Spring Brings New Film Opportunities

Spring is here and I’m so pleased. I find it very hard to get out of bed on dark winter mornings, so I’m enjoying the sun coming up just that little bit earlier each day. Daylight savings is only weeks away, as is the election. This is the sixth election period that I’ve owned Filmcrews, and every single time, regardless of a government change or not, we have found that work quietens down for about three weeks post the results (in commercials anyway). But this year, we are happy to see plenty of feature films and dramas starting up again, it’s looking to be a promising summer season for many crew. Power Rangers is about to go into production, as is Tammy Davis’ feature film Born To Dance, Dreamworks’ The Light Between Oceans, and South Pacific Picture’s Outrageous Fortune prequel The Westside Story. Given that many crew left NZ or left the industry last year, we think we are going to struggle to fill some roles in Auckland this year, particularly in production and grip departments. So it might be a chance for crew to travel up from south to fill some gaps.

It was with great sadness to hear that the wonderful Caterina De Nave passed away on Sunday 17th August in Sydney after a long journey with cancer. Caterina was an inspiring part of the NZ film and television community, with a varied past in programming, directing, and producing. She was an integral part of the success of South Pacific Pictures' startup of Shortland Street back in the early 90s, and was a big reason so many great NZ stories have been seen on our screens over the years. I was fortunate enough to work closely with her on a documentary at Avalon in the early 90s and I looked up to her as a mentor and someone who didn’t say much unless it was worth saying. She will be greatly missed by many.