Growth in Wellington screen production industry

Official figures released on May 12 highlight significant growth in the Wellington region’s screen production industry. Statistics New Zealand’s Screen Industry Survey Regional Data for 2008/09 shows a healthy 51% increase in Wellington screen production revenue - $531 million up from $352 million the previous year.

“Film Wellington is delighted by the survey results,” says Delia Shanly, Manager, Film Wellington. “They show that the region’s screen production industry has been performing extremely well, even in a tough economic climate. Last year was not an easy year for the industry globally and it’s very pleasing that both in the Wellington region and nationally, the industry has continued to grow.

“As well as achieving impressive growth, another important characteristic of our regional screen production industry is the very high quality of work being done. Wellington is at the cutting edge of international screen production developments. There are many world leading projects that we can point to that Wellington can be really proud of.”

Ms Shanly also commented on the diverse achievements of the Wellington industry.

“We have companies which are winning international awards, not only in feature films, but also in TV and interactive web based media. You just need to look at the success of Sticky Pictures short film, Six Dollar Fifty Man, Krafthaus winning a Digital Emmy for Reservoir Hill, and Production Shed's prize winning television series Kaitangata Twitch. And there are plenty more examples like these,” she said.

The Screen Industry Survey also showed that businesses based in the Wellington region received $244 million for post-production work in 2009 - 87% of this coming from digital animation work. In 2009, there were 327 businesses involved in digital animation in the Wellington region compared with 225 the previous year.

Nigel Kirkpatrick, CEO Grow Wellington said, “These figures confirm our decision to focus on the Screen and Digital Sector as one of our Centres of Excellence. By doing so we are helping ensure Wellington has the capability, connections and support to enable the industry to keep growing internationally.”