Flying Fish angling for European clients

By YVETTE ADAMS IN LONDON

The world now knows that New Zealand is a great place to make films. Wendie Cuthbert, producer at Flying Fish UK, tries to convince Northern Hemisphere production companies to shoot television commercials here too.

Ever since the first film in the Lord of the Rings trilogy was released, New Zealand has been stamped on the world map as a desirable film location. With its photogenic scenery, favourable exchange rate, numerous locations and short distances - which lower transport and travel time costs - Brian Kassler and director Lee Tamahori (Die Another Day, Once Were Warriors) Lee knew they were onto a good thing when they co-founded the production company Flying Fish in Auckland in 1986.

The pair now have production offices in Auckland, Wellington and Sydney and a London office that operates as a hub for European companies wishing to film in New Zealand and Australia.

Cuthbert was freelancing for Flying Fish in Wellington when the opportunity to take over the London office arose. She jumped at the chance.

Since then she has been dealing with clients as varied as an Austrian beer company, a Swiss Bank, German chocolate company and the BBC ever since.

The business tends to be feast or famine, she explains. But lately it's been feast. "We've been very, very busy for about the past six months now."

Cuthbert freelanced for various companies in New Zealand before returning to the UK - which she left as a child in 1971 - in September 2001 with her nine-year-old daughter Lucy.

Although Cuthbert had worked as both a production manager and line producer on everything from films to television dramas, commercials are where a large amount of her experience lies.

This has proved invaluable when liaising with interested clients or companies on potential scripts, working out New Zealand locations, finding pictures and putting together budgets.

"If a project goes ahead, there are also castings to organise and New Zealand location scouts to send out," she says.

"Once we get to this stage ... you say farewell to the client, although I continue to liaise with the production crew on how the job is going, how much it's coming in at, and do the follow-up accounts."

The annual Cannes Advertising Awards in July are also an important part of the company's business.

"We go to network, meet new people and then follow them up for the rest of the year."

With the completion of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Cuthbert advises New Zealand film and television workers who are planning to venture to the UK to come with a clean slate.

"You need to arrive presuming nothing. You can't presume you have something to offer. You need to come with the attitude that you're going to start from scratch again. What will get you work at the end of the day is friendly persistence."