Wellington: Summer 2023

What a difference three months make. Back in September, the Hollywood strikes were unresolved, and the chilling effect of that had spread right down to our corner of the world. But in the last month, the phone has been ringing and the emails have been coming in.

Site activity on Crew Wellington and Crew Auckland got a massive spike in October and November, and it hasn't declined. Our feeling is, that 2024 could be a great year.

Meanwhile, the Wellington industry is taking a lot of pride in the massive critical success and audience response to After The Party, which has been getting some of the best reviews and ratings any New Zealand made drama has ever enjoyed. We love seeing our hometown on screen, and we appreciate that Wellington is a real feature of the show, and not just exterior cutaways in between studio-based shots!

I'm writing this after just coming home from the New Zealand Youth Film Festival Awards, held at Massey's great hall in the city. Holy hell, what an inspiring night. The films, the speeches, the catch-ups and yarns after the show...all of it was a powerful reminder of how special this business is, and how much our work can mean to people. It was a pleasure to be in that room, and to see and hear what the next generation are achieving and putting on screens. It's always a bit humbling to realise the responsibility we have to show new film makers some of what we know, but also to learn from new ways of makings films, hearing stories we haven't heard before, and making sure this incredible medium is available to as many people as possible, to communicate their dreams and their histories with us.

Bit ranty I know. But that's the sort of night it's been.

Have a brilliant Christmas and New Years, and here's to a fantastic 2024.

Love your work.

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