Whanganui played host to two large-scale film productions earlier this year. Whanganui and Partners are hoping to attract more. Photo / Bevan Conley
Whanganui played host to two large-scale film productions earlier this year. Whanganui and Partners are hoping to attract more. Photo / Bevan Conley
Economic development agency Whanganui and Partners has its eyes firmly set on turning the region into a hotspot of both local and international productions as it ramps up its promotion of the region as a film destination.
The group unveiled its Film Whanganui project to a crowd of community stakeholdersand local film industry contractors at an event on Tuesday night.
Film Whanganui has been established as a regional film office - a dedicated body designed to promote the region as a destination for film productions.
The project was the brainchild of Emma Bugden, Whanganui and Partners strategic lead for creative industries and arts.
The office was established last year after A24, an Oscar award-winning production company, approached Whanganui and Partners about shooting two films in the district, bringing with them around 100 workers and a number of high-profile stars.
The Hollywood-based production company stumbled upon Whanganui purely by accident, falling in love with a Fordell farm which later became the main set of the film earlier this year.
While in the region, Bugden was the main point of contact with A24, facilitating local requirements that the production company otherwise wouldn't have the contacts to facilitate themselves.
Whanganui and Partners creative industries and arts strategic lead Emma Bugden. Photo / File
Bugden said this included a variety of different tasks from arranging wastewater management for the off-the-beaten-track sets, to liaising with the council to confirm road closures, such as when the production took to Whanganui's Victoria Ave for the last day of filming in the region.
This is precisely the purpose of the regional film office, Bugden said.
"That's all stuff that anyone could work with council to do, but you'd have to do that with a different person for each of those activities.
"The point of a regional film office is that there's one person you get in touch with, and they get in touch with all the relevant people."
The office also exists as a promotional tool when it comes to attracting big-budget productions to town.
The group is piecing together a local film directory alongside local film company Double Farley.
This will act as an online network of local film contractors and services that could assist productions, from caterers and transport companies to plumbers and carpenters.
The directory will also have a large portfolio of images of Whanganui architecture and heritage buildings - one of the biggest drawcards that brought A24 to the region.
"There is real potential in the region and a growing number of people in the film industry here. They live here, have families here, and this is their home," Bugden said.
