Queenstown’s beauty is what brings filmmakers from far and wide to shoot content in our southern tourist hotspot.
There's a bold vision from some to build the screen sector further and add new infrastructure to support it – including sound stages.
Whether it is Hollywood blockbusters such as The Lord of the Rings, The Power of the Dog or the yet-to-be-released Brad Pitt film Heart of the Beast or world-renowned dramas, Queenstown and the wider region appear to be featured more on our screens.
Film Otago Southland spokesperson Kahli Scott said the screen industry in the southern lakes is “feeling pretty buoyant at the moment".
Initially built off big budget commercials, the screen sector here now attracts everything from feature films, to streaming giants and outdoor adventure content creators.
“It's become a lot more diverse over the last few years in terms of the types of production that we're welcoming here,” Scott said.
The screen industry generated north of $60m for Queenstown's economy last year, but many were confident that figure could be higher.
A Remarkable Place to Die is one of the most recent projects to film in Queenstown, partly shot at the aptly named Remarkable Studios in the town.
The former H&J Smith department store has been converted into a facility and studio for the show – currently into filming a second season.
Screentime NZ chief executive Philly de Lacy told 1News it was incredible to find such a space after a massive search for buildings around town.
“We were very, very lucky,” she said.
“When we started scouting for season one, we were looking everywhere. We were kind of going, 'oh my God, could we convert an old woolshed into a weather base? Could we do anything'?”, she said.
“None of that's ideal, but we were just kind of really scrambling to see what we could find and then this building became available, and we were just like... we couldn't make anything more perfect,” she said.
The company believed one of the advantages of Remarkable Studios was having the whole production in one location.
“We felt it was our duty to do what we could to film the entire series in Queenstown, to kind of really pay respect to the region… we're using the locations as much as we can and getting out and about into the region so that we can showcase the beauty here,” de Lacey said.
“It makes… economic sense to do the entire production here if we can,” she said.
While the space worked for this series, some believed there was still a missing piece to the puzzle – a world-class screen hub, particularly for international feature films.
Scott told 1News: “If we want to be really aspirational about the kind of industry that we can grow and develop here, it would be great to have purpose-built sound stages that complement the location filming.”
She continued, "location filming is always going to be the main reason why productions come here to film, but they need indoor filming space, they need wet weather cover for the days when the weather's not great".
There have been proposals in the past that haven’t got off the ground.
Now publicly-listed developer, Winton, has a new plan – a two soundstage facility at Ayrburn near Arrowtown – believing it can be approved through the fast-track process early this year.
Spokesperson for the Ayrburn Screen Hub George Watts told 1News: "it's a whole hub approach, which is sound stages… workshops areas for rehearsals, production offices, and all the other supporting infrastructure that a studio needs to support a production that's looking to shoot in our region.”
To house large numbers of cast and crew when they are in town, the hub would include 185 accommodation units.
“Accommodation is extremely important it's hard enough to accommodate a family of four sometimes in Queenstown,” Watts said.
But the 26ha hub won't happen unless the panel set up under the Fast-track Approvals Act sign it off.
However, not everyone was convinced such a facility was necessarily or a make or break for productions.
NZ Film Commission spokesperson Philippa Mossman told 1News, “Queenstown has for many, many years attracted international productions here without sound stages… they have come for the scenery, and they have come because they've been able to find the package of what they need throughout New Zealand.”
She added, “the connectivity of New Zealand is what gives them the confidence to do what they need to do. So, evidently, they don't need sound stages here.”
However, Mossman did stress if something was built, “I think if there were sound stages here, we would definitely make good purchase on that.”
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