Fly By Ms Magpie producer Daniel Betty and writer-director Stevie Goodwin on set.
Fly By Ms Magpie producer Daniel Betty and writer-director Stevie Goodwin on set.
The producer of a short film set to be shot in Hawke’s Bay believes it will showcase the region as a filming location, both locally and internationally.
They just need to find the funding for it.
Fly By Ms Magpie is the latest work from Havelock North-raised, Wellington-based writer/director StevieGoodwin, alongside local film producer Daniel Betty.
Betty said the film will be the second short film from Goodwin who writes “queer stories and looks at them from a rural or regional perspective”.
The film follows Dorothy, a 51-year-old transgender woman living quietly in a rural beach town, who has a confrontation with a local teenager.
Betty said the money will go towards making sure the shoot has the right resources and equipment, including special camera lenses, as well as payments for the cast and crew.
The film will be shot between Ocean Beach and Waimārama, with locations already confirmed Betty said.
Betty wants the film to showcase Hawke’s Bay as a filming location, as it has some of the best locations and “really unique features.
“Hawke’s Bay is unparalleled in the rest of our country, if not the world,” he said.
“We’ve got sand, we’ve got stone, we’ve got so many different varieties.
“Plus, with our Napier Art Deco architecture, it puts us in a prime position for capturing American and English films to be shot within the area as well.“
Hawke's Bay-based film producer Daniel Betty.
Betty sits on the board of Screen Hawke’s Bay, the regional film office tasked with building a thriving screen industry in the region.
He said the region’s film industry was “really coming into its own” with a lot of producers contacting Screen Hawke’s Bay about shooting in the region.
“I reckon there’s at least about 10 to a dozen films which are being looked at, at the moment, to be shot here in Hawke’s Bay in the coming years,” he said.
Betty said having the consistency of film work coming through the region is what will propel Hawke’s Bay’s burgeoning film industry to the next level.
“So every little piece that comes out showcasing a new location, showcasing a new idea, showcasing our cast and crew, actually puts us on the map as a film friendly destination to come and film in,” he said,
