KEY POINTS:
A farm north of Auckland is opening up its green acres for film makers to come to work and live there.
Rodney District Council has granted a special zone for the 338ha Wainui site so it can to be used without having to get resource consents for each
production.
The family who own the land say they will develop the Kelly Park Film Village, encouraged by demand for large production facilities.
"The zone will provide for full film, television and video production and post-production services," said Kelly Park founder Matt Barker.
He said there was a pressing need for a high-quality, attractively priced, full-service production and post-production facility close to Auckland.
Support for the film village has come from the industry, including Whale Rider director Niki Caro and Film New Zealand chief executive Judith McCann.
A key attraction of the village, said Mr Barker, was its location in a well-maintained rural environment, instead of a busy urban area where traffic, industrial and construction noises cause problems during productions.
He said the property was used during the production of The Chronicles of Narnia: the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; The Ferryman; 30 Days of Night and shooting scenes for The Vintner's Luck.
Commercials for television and short films also gave work for a large pool of Auckland film professionals.
However, New Zealand needed greater infrastructure capacity and it was planned to build a large sound stage and more facilities in a central valley on the property.
The first phase of development included an 8000sq m sound stage, three 600sq m workshops, 1440sq m of office space, back-lot facilities, post-production suites and areas for buildings sets.
Planned hotel-style accommodation and catering would allow the crew to stay on site during a production. Further plans included having a second sound stage by spring 2010 and a film school.
Kelly Park would also include a housing subdivision aimed at film and television people who wanted to "live, work and play on site".
Ecos Homes would use high-quality materials and keep the rural character of the landscape of hills and valleys.
Property adviser DTZ New Zealand was promoting the project overseas in the hope of attracting a substantial investor for Kelly Park.
Mr Barker said the project would boost the Rodney economy because about 300 people would be involved in building the village and use of local contractors, services and products encouraged.
Rodney district plan committee chairman Gaye Harding said the zoning decision opened the way for a significant boost to the district's economic and job growth.
The committee received 333 submissions in support as well as concerns from the Auckland Regional Council and some residents that the development would spoil the rural character of the area.
The committee said the zone would impose limits on scale, density and look of buildings, which would not cover more than 5 per cent of the site.
