Written by new-contact on Apr 8, 2015. Posted in On Location

New Zealand co-productions rise for 2014 as Wellington remains film centre

There was a rise in the number of New Zealand features made as international co-productions in 2014, while Wellington remained the country’s main filming hub. Nearly 80% of production revenue for the year was generated in the capital.

New Zealand’s screen industry generated NZD 3.2 billion, a similar figure to the previous year, according to figured from Statistics New Zealand. Auckland dominated the TV market, generating more than 75% of New Zealand’s television revenue and almost all broadcasting revenue.

“The total revenue is largely driven by a few businesses – those with revenues of at least NZD 50 million – but over 91% of all screen businesses earn less than half a million dollars each,” said the organisation’s business performance statistics manager Jason Attewell: “Many businesses in the screen industry are one-person contractors.”

“2015 looks to be a cracker,” says Gerard Quinn, head of Grow Wellington: “We expect to see steep growth next financial year as the revamped government screen incentives begin to produce more project revenues, jobs and wider benefits from tourism and technology.

“International co-productions such as Disney’s Pete’s Dragon, Legendary Pictures’ Krampus, ITV/Pukeko Pictures’ Thunderbirds and Thunderbirds Season 2, as well as many New Zealand-based projects are already making this year a successful one for the region.”

Auckland has had a new surge of production activity, with TV fantasy Shannara currently based at Auckland Film Studios (above).

New Zealand boosted its filming incentive programme this time last year to enable its production industry to compete more effectively internationally. Wellington is set to host James Cameron’s big-budget but delayed Avatar sequels in the near future.