Buildings on this 160-year-old farm have been restored and re-purposed.
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Television show makers from Under the Vines and One Lane Bridge supportplans for a new $200 million screen hub at Ayrburn near Queenstown because of struggles with inadequate facilities.
Paul Yates, producer of seasons two and three of Under The Vines for Libertine Pictures and Lisa Chatfield from seasontwo and three of the Great Southern Film and Television/TVNZ series, One Lane Bridge, support plans.
They told how Central Otago had stunning scenery but lacked premises for production.
They backed plans by NZX-listed Winton Land to build a $200 million screen hub at Ayrburn beside the Millbrook Resort outside Arrowtown.
During the last three years, Yates was involved in making the series for TVNZ and Acorn TV featuring Rebecca Gibney as a fish-out-of-water Sydney socialite who inherits a struggling vineyard in Central Otago.
Charles and Rebecca in Under the Vines. Photo / Woman's Weekly
“The only drawback on both occasions was the lack of a purpose-built production office and art/costume department facility in the region. For season two shot in early 2022, we had to base our production office at the conference room of the Holiday Inn Remarkables Park in Frankton near Queenstown Airport,” he said.
When he returned for the third season, hotels were booked and too expensive because tourists had returned post-Covid.
Filming for Brad Pitt’s (inset) new movie, Heart of the Beast, at Glenorchy. Photo / George Heard
“I instead managed to find some vacant office space above some shops in the Remarkables Park shopping precinct.
“Though it served our purposes, it was small and less than ideal, especially for the costume department who had to load costumes in and out of an upstairs space,” Yates said.
The series was set in Otago’s wine region and made excellent use of the stunning scenery, Yates said.
For both series, he spent about four months in the Queenstown and Central Otago region with the shoots lasting 10 weeks or 50 shoot days.
Winton Land plans this film studio at its Ayrburn hospitality precinct just outside Arrowtown. Photo / Winton Land
Brad Pitt was in the Queenstown area in March to film Heart of the Beast.
Yates’ comments went to the Ministry for the Environment in an expert report by Kiwi film chief Dave Gibson, submitted as part of Winton’s application.
Gibson wrote a report for Winton, outlining regional and national benefits.
Joel Tobeck and Dominic Ona-Ariki in One Lane Bridge filmed in the Queenstown area.
Lisa Chatfield said it was extremely difficult to find the right premises in Central Otago.
Dave Gibson wrote a report on the screen hub plans. Photo / Dean Purcell
“Although both seasons were (sadly) made a little easier due to Covid keeping borders closed and tourists out, we still struggled to find key spaces, primarily production offices, art department and wardrobe workrooms and storage spaces, and studio space to build our key set,” Chatfield wrote.
Joel Tobeck in the series One Lane Bridge which was filmed in Central Otago.
Gibson said a major US-financed film, War Machine, was shot largely in Melbourne studios, injecting A$73m into the Victorian economy.
It moved cast and crew to Queenstown for three weeks of filming on Queenstown Hill, Kawarau River and in Poolburn as Afghanistan.
“It is possible that this type of film could choose to shoot longer or even entirely in Queenstown, if the screen hub was here,” Gibson wrote.
Andy Serkis, who played Gollum in The Lord of the Rings, is a big fan of Middlemarch in Otago.
Feedback from producers and production companies indicated that a screen hub would increase the number of productions shooting in the region and how long they stayed there.
The concept had been designed with input from experienced art director Ken Turner, in the industry for 25 years with credits including The Lord of the Rings, Avatar, Ghost in the Shell and Top of the Lake, Gibson wrote.
The Central Otago and Southland regions could be used for films set in Kashmir, Afghanistan, Switzerland, Montana, Alaska or Antarctica, he wrote.
London-based Olsberg SPI wrote “Economic Impact of the New Zealand Aotearoa Screen Production Sector”, commissioned by the New Zealand Film Commission, he noted.
That cited expenditure from New Zealand’s screen production industry rising from $336m in 2014-15 to $985m in 2020-21. The Film Commission put $788m on 2022-23 but $1.4b on 2023-24, his report said.
Queenstown doesn't struggle to get film-makers but they find it hard to get facilities to work there.
Last year, the Herald reported Screentime New Zealand was launching Queenstown’s first film and TV studio: Remarkable Studios NZ.
Screentime chief executive Philly de Lacey said the region was popular with film-makers for its landscape but producers generally had to use Auckland studio facilities.
“Queenstown has never struggled to attract film-makers. However, without wet cover and studio facilities, it struggled to serve a whole production,” de Lacey said.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald‘s property editor for 25 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
