Wellington's Film Industry Boost

Hi all,

It’s been a pretty good couple of months down here in the Capital. Two medium-budget features more or less back to back have kept the Avalon studios and offices ticking over. Both Savage, which is debuting at the Busan Film Festival right about now, and Cousins are genuine labours of love which have taken years to get from script to set. I’ve plenty of friends on the Savage crew, and I was lucky enough to spend a couple of months location scouting on Cousins.

It never ceases to astonish me what our crews – Wellington and nationwide – can accomplish while making a feature film on a budget that wouldn’t buy you one high-end TVC in Europe or the USA.

Looking forward, the next year or two isn’t bad either, with multiple similar projects at various stages of preproduction and development. Meanwhile, the Avatar shoot continues to soak up a lot of our crew and will do for some time. Crew in Wellington who are not working are increasingly heading north for a few weeks or months for the excess of shoots happening in Auckland. It’s not ideal, but it is a living for those who can travel.