KEY POINTS:
You don't have to be in show business to work with rock stars, Hollywood actors and film directors. Staff at an Auckland travel firm specialise in helping people in the entertainment industry get to their venue or film set, no matter where in the country it is.
Carolyn Guthrie started working as a travel consultant more than five years ago and completed formal industry training. Today she's a team leader in FCM's film and screen unit, a subsidiary of Flight Centre.
"We really book corporate travel but specialise in the entertainment industry," says Guthrie. "We look after people in film productions, TV commercials, musicians, people in advertising and the media.'
It's a broad range that has seen Guthrie help those working on the film The Chronicles of Narnia, staff at C4 and TV3, and her team made sure touring groups such as U2 and Pink Floyd got to their New Zealand venues on time.
"Just recently we had to move 200 people down to Wellington from Auckland and when we came to fly them out they were fogged in - their plane couldn't take off,' says Guthrie.
"We had to bus them out to Palmerston [North] so they could catch a flight to their next venue.
"It can be stressful. Sometimes we get a call that shooting has finished early and we have to move a lot of people sooner than planned.
"My job includes a lot of paperwork and everything has to be double checked - it's no good if a musician is late for a performance because we got it wrong.'
To keep on top of the job, Guthrie and her four-strong team are on call 24/7. Having a phone and a laptop each mean they can react to changing requests on the fly.
And of course there's plenty of opportunity to travel. Already this year Guthrie has had three trips to Melbourne, visited Chicago and enjoyed a trip to Fiji.
"We get to hear of some special deals and we are offered trips to resorts so we can see what they are like, then we can recommend them to clients with first-hand knowledge.'
Apart from arranging travel to and from venues, Guthrie also arranges off-road cars and helicopters so film crews can scout locations around the country.
"We have a lot of good contacts across the country who so we know who to call on,' says Guthrie.
"It's very exciting but can be stressful at times. However, it's a bit quiet right now as there isn't a big film on.
"Some of the films run for seven months, so it can be quite full-on during production.'
During rest days for cast and crew, Guthrie's team will often arrange private travel for people who want to visit other parts of the country or hop over to Fiji.
"We have to use pseudonyms for the stars,' she says. "It's strange - all of us in the office will know exactly what hotels our clients are staying at and what their itinerary is.'
Guthrie has also been asked to arrange a Lear jet to take a few people to Europe at a cost of $550,000.
But while Guthrie helps lots of famous faces get around the country she rarely gets to talk to them.
"It's normally their PAs who work with us to organise things. But now and again we get to speak to someone famous. Samantha Morton who appeared in River Queen was nice.'
Guthrie says to do her job people need to have a strong attention to detail, a sense of urgency, to be able to multi-task and be personable.
She says: "It's a high pressure job. There's lots of deadlines and often once everything is ticketed and ready to go, everything changes again.'
But key to a career in the travel industry says Guthrie is a love of travel.
"If you've got the right attitude then I think that means more than having to sit through lots of exams like I did.'
- Extra, HoS
