Style: October 04, 2019

28 STYLE | report
A Wrinkle in Time.
“Build it and they will come.” He says an amazing studio
based in Queenstown would guarantee a 12-month-a-year,
vibrant industry driving the Queenstown economy. “Oh,
alongside the three million bed nights a year!”
Preston agrees with the need for a studio. She says the
obvious positives about the South Island “are the place itself –
breathtaking”. But the negatives are infrastructure “anywhere
other than Queenstown”. She says the South Island certainly
needs a studio, but it should be in Christchurch. “Because that
is the international gateway to the South. At the moment, the
internationals fly in and out to Queenstown.”
There have been many international shows shot in Central
Otago. Wanted for 7 was filmed there recently, and they’ve
just announced The Lord of the Rings TV series will be shot in
New Zealand. It is mostly Auckland, but Smith is anticipating
possibly some second unit content coming south. Straight
Forward – a Nordic co-production with Screentime, was
also shot in Central. A Wrinkle in Time was filmed there with
Oprah Winfrey and Reese Witherspoon; Mission: Impossible
– Fallout was filmed with Tom Cruise; and Disney shot Mulan
in the South Island last year. “But TV series that could run for
multiple seasons are rare – so One Lane Bridge is quite unique.
Our goal is a second and third season.”
Smith says producers choose parts of the South Island
over other parts of the world because of the vast landscape.
“Internationally, people love coming here. Reece Witherspoon
and Oprah slayed it on social media – they were staggered
by the beauty of Wanaka. I mean, have you ever had a wine
at Rippon? It’s the best looking vineyard in the world.” But he
says it’s also the crews and expertise. Peter Jackson opened
it up by shooting The Lord of the Rings here. This not only
boosted New Zealand’s profile but also gave hundreds of
Kiwis the credits on their CVs to able to work on other major
projects, without question. “So scenery and skill – but we do
need a bump in facilities – the missing ‘S’ – studio.”
The economy and country as a whole benefit from both
local and international content being filmed here because it
stimulates work in the region. “I have just left our offices and
I was surprised by how many locals we have employed.”
The crews then spend big capital in the district. “We
are running over 100 people for five months – houses,
restaurants, locations, vehicles, food.” Smith says any drama
production is spending millions locally, in fact many are
spending hundreds of thousands of dollars per day. “So I
say it is all good. The only limitation going forward will be
a shortage of skilled locals.”
Smith says it would be great if there was more packaging
of regional incentives backed locally. “Drama projects need
multiple streams of funding to get green-lit.” A good example
of this is the Invercargill Licensing Trust backing the film The
World’s Fastest Indian, directed by Kiwi Roger Donaldson and
starring megastar Anthony Hopkins. It was shot largely in
Invercargill and employed many locals both on and off screen.
On release in 2005, the film quickly became the highestgrossing
local film ever at the New Zealand box office, taking
in over $7 million.
Gaylene Preston says other drivers to get more filmmakers
to the South Island would be deals with Kiwi Rail that moved
gear and people at a reduced cost, and also location subsidies
for local films, “such as exist on the Isle of Man etc.”