Sir Richard Taylor says Wellington needs to review what it can offer the world after basking in a Lord of the Rings afterglow; James Cameron commits to making all future films in the city as he prepares to become a New Zealand citizen; Sir Peter Jackson and Dame Fran Walsh
Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau meets with Peter Jackson, Richard Taylor and James Cameron
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“Wellington is home to outstanding production and special effects studios, and to many talented filmmakers and crew who have worked on world-class films.
“This city has played a pivotal role in this industry, and I’m keen to see it continue to grow and flourish. The more people we can bring to Wellington to do this work, the stronger the industry and the better it is for our local economy.”
Sir Richard Taylor looks to reignite what Wellington has to offer
Taylor was unavailable to comment on the meeting but spoke to the Herald in an earlier interview about the narrative building in Wellington that the city’s golden age is over.
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“The opportunity that Lord of the Rings brought to Wellington City, the scale of it, was undoubtedly going to catalyse an incredible moment whose afterglow has lasted for a long time,” Taylor said.
Films of equal significance in scale like Avatar have been brought to Wellington since then, he said.
However, the city was undoubtedly changing due to Covid-19, the economy, big industries and businesses pulling out of Wellington and moving to Auckland or other parts of the world, and the way the Government has shifted, he said.
“It does worry me a little because we’re only as good as the city that we live in.
“When we bring people into Wellington, we want to know that their families, their husbands or their wives, their children are going to love the city they live in and are going to want to stay here.
“We want to know that the people who have made a home in Wellington and work with us every day, some of them for the past 25 to 30 years, are going to continue to want to be in this city.”
Taylor said he hoped, as all Wellingtonians did, that consecutive councils pull together and find it in themselves to reignite what the city could offer the world.
“We certainly get numerous invites to move somewhere else in the world but you know, this is our home. This is where we live. This is where we work. We’re proud Wellingtonians and we want to continue to be proud Wellingtonians.”
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Commenting specifically on the meeting with Whanau, Wētā Workshop general manager David Wilks said they discussed the importance of Wellington’s creative economy to New Zealand.
“We shared an overview of our business including our screen, design, and manufacture operations, but also our expansion into film collectable consumer products, our own tourism operations, building location-based experiences around the world, and most recently, our move into video game development.”
James Cameron to become NZ citizen, loves Wellington
Cameron’s office said a scheduled meeting with Whanau had to be briefly postponed due to his extended production schedule in LA.
He advised it would be the right time to comment on this “important topic” after the meeting took place.
Cameron was the keynote speaker at Spada’s annual Screen Industry Conference in Wellington in November where he said he wanted to give back to the local industry, including helping foster a new generation of talent.
“I’m sort of speaking on behalf of a big international production, but I’m a resident here, I’ll be a citizen in a year and I plan on making all my films here in Wellington.
“I love working here. I love the people that I get to work with here.
“We’ve got to have the new people... I’m not talking just about writers and directors.
“I’m talking about the tradies, the craftspeople, the dolly grip, the crane grip. Those are all art forms in of themselves.
“They have to be trained coming behind that kind of heyday of Lord of the Rings films. You know, people are starting to get a little creaky in the joints,” he joked, to laughter in the room. “We need some young blood.”
Cameron said he loved the capital.
“I love being a Wellingtonian. I love telling all my pals back in the States that it’s the windiest city in the world. Really, no shit, the windiest city in the world.”
Sir Peter Jackson working on landscaping plans at Shelly Bay
Whanau confirmed she met with Jackson and Walsh in October about plans for development at Shelly Bay.
The couple recently purchased the prime waterfront real estate in Wellington after a controversial $500 million housing development planned there by developer Ian Cassels was scrapped.
The site has already changed substantially in recent months, including looking a lot greener and the reopening of the Chocolate Fish Cafe.
When asked about the meeting with Whanau, a spokesperson for Jackson and Walsh told the Herald that landscaping plans were currently being worked on.
“Peter and Fran hope the remainder of the Peninsula becomes the long-promised public reserve.”
In 2011, the Government announced the establishment of a 76-hectare reserve on neighbouring land to Shelly Bay known as Watts Peninsula.
However, progress to transform the former New Zealand Defence Force land has been slow. It wasn’t until 2019 that Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) began undertaking ongoing hazard reduction work, maintenance and site management.
Watts Peninsula is next to the former Wellington Prison at Mt Crawford.
The Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust (PNBST), which was established to receive and manage the Treaty settlement package for Taranaki Whānui, has first right of refusal over this land.
PNBST and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (MHUD) had signed a memorandum of understanding over the site to investigate whether it could be developed for housing.
However, a MHUD spokesperson said the ministry was no longer progressing with the land because a fast-track consent application was declined and it did not meet the Land for Housing programme’s requirements.
The Land for Housing programme acquires vacant or under-utilised Crown and private land that’s suitable for residential development. The majority of these opportunities involve commercial partnerships with iwi.
LINZ head of Crown property Sonya Wikitera said work on Mt Crawford was happening alongside ongoing discussions with the Department of Conservation, the Office for Māori Crown Relations, and PNBST on future arrangements for Watts Peninsula.
“An iwi-Crown working group is considering options that will ensure the historical, cultural and ecological significance of the land is recognised and protected. Advice on options will be provided to Ministers for consideration in the coming months.
“As the two areas of land are adjoining, it is important we work through future arrangements for both in parallel.
“Because the land at Mt Crawford is not on offer on the open market, we would not consider any expressions of interest in purchasing it from private individuals.”
Georgina Campbell is a Wellington-based reporter who has a particular interest in local government, transport, and seismic issues. She joined the Herald in 2019 after working as a broadcast journalist.
