Wellington Film Scene Buzzing

Obviously it has been a very busy year or two in Wellington with The Hobbit films shot at Stone Street Studios as well as a couple of months filming on locations in the South Island. A huge production on any scale, keeping hundreds of Wellington film workers busy, as well as techos from throughout the country (with a few of our Aussie mates thrown in too). It is always great to experience a long period of paid work and I’m sure there are some well-earned holidays being had right now. Shooting finished about four weeks ago and last week saw most departments vacating Stone Street Studios. Pickups are rumoured to begin mid-2013 for a couple of months – we will all be looking forward to that.

Taika Waititi has a shoot in pre-production now and due to begin filming in a couple of weeks for about five weeks. Great to see films like this up and running, with an incredibly talented and enthusiastic crew working hard to support Taika. Many of the crew have come straight from The Hobbit – I’m sure they will be fired up and rearing to go.

I don’t have any other information regarding TVCs or possible doco work (either in production or in the pipeline). I’m sure there will be a smattering of TVCs between now and Christmas, something we all look forward to and remember with fondness those large ‘brand campaigns’ that kept the Wellington industry busy throughout the year. I can remember at least a dozen production companies based in Wellington with about the same number of Agencies pumping out TVC’s – oh well!

Music videos will always be on the go around Wellington – keeping a lot of younger techos busy crafting their art to support our musician mates, and good on them.

Unfortunately, a couple of possible projects rumoured to be passing through the Capital have been postponed or gone away. Typically though, Wellington is bubbling with enthusiasm and pride. We’ve knocked off some pretty major films over the last decade and with some big names spending a lot of time in Wellington, I’m sure the gap between jobs will be relatively short – here’s hoping.

Dave Brown, Guild Wellington branch chair

Take two (again)

Miramar’s on a roll – bloody good news for about half of the Wellington crew.** Sir Pete**’ reckons there’s three films in The Hobbit and we certainly aren’t arguing. Best guess is that this will involve about three months of shooting next year, in addition to the weeks of pick-ups already scheduled.

It seems all but certain that Avatar 2 will be at least partially shot in town as well. The rumour is that anyone with underwater shooting skills might be in for a lucrative year. But, just a rumour for now.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, **Taika Waititi **(Boy) is shooting a privately funded feature, about which hardly anyone is saying anything. Either they’re all too busy to chat or Taika’s brought down the cone of silence. We await more news with interest. Vampires you say? Oh good.

As always, it’s a struggle to get the Auckland agencies to shoot an ad down here. We know we’ve got the best locations, the most co-operative council and the best production facilities. But there has been a rumour going around Ponsonby Road that you can’t get a crew in Wellington if Sir Pete’ or** James Cameron** are shooting. We know it is bullsh*t and to prove it, we’ve started www.crewwellington.co.nz. It’s a one-stop site for all crew and will soon be expanding into accommodation, vehicle rentals, catering companies, etc. If you ever hear another Auckland producer saying ‘I’d like to shoot in Wellington, but…’ just type crewwellington.co.nz into their iPad and watch the scales fall from their eyes.

It’s working. The phone is ringing, and we are fielding calls from companies looking to head down our way.

Meanwhile, local features Existence and How to Meet Girls From a Distance both sold out screenings at the New Zealand International Film Festival, with** Louis Sutherland and Mark Albiston’s** Shopping, and Rob Sarkies’ Two Little Boys both coming out fairly soon. As always, Wellington’s bubbling along.

Graeme Tuckett, Guild member