Local-based TV production company Screentime New Zealand launched the resort’s first fulltime studio and wet-weather cover facility yesterday.
Remarkable Studios NZ is moving into the former H&Js department store, at Frankton’s Remarkables Park, which Screentime leased for five months earlier this year to produce its murder-mystery drama series, A Remarkable Place to Die.
Screentime NZ chief executive Philly De Lacey said "offering an unrivalled and diverse landscape, Queenstown has never struggled to attract film-makers".
"However, without wet cover and studio facilities, it struggled to serve a whole production."
Often, she notes, producers resorted to using Auckland studio facilities, which sent costs soaring.
As a result, she is confident Queenstown’s new fully sound-proofed, 2300sqm studio will boost the region’s appeal to film and TV producers and significantly grow the creative sector.
In a statement from Screentime’s global owner Banijay Entertainment chief executive Marco Bassetti and chief business officer Fred Balmary acknowledge Ms De Lacey’s entrepreneurialism and creative vision.
"Standing as our 10th studio globally, but certainly first in a repurposed department store, the ground-breaking facilities have emerged at the perfect moment — a time where production costs are soaring and producers everywhere are looking for economical solutions."
Queenstown Mayor Glyn Lewers said film had been an important contributor to the local economy for decades, "thanks to our cinematic alpine locations, skilled crew base and welcoming communities".
"But having a dedicated film and television facility to add to that package will unlock more opportunities for our local industry."
Ms De Lacey said even before Covid they had been looking for a studio facility — "we always thought we would have to build something".
When A Remarkable Place to Die was green-lit, "we were really nervous about what we were going to do for wet-weather cover, and that [store] happened to just come up for lease".
She said it housed the entire cast and crew of about 150 people and accommodated four sets — police station, morgue, pathology office and gold mine tunnel — as well as mini-sets and a prop-building.
The loading bay out the back was also useful, she said.
"The wonderful thing is the airport’s only five minutes away, but we’re not affected by it and we’re not bothering anybody else.
"Being a concrete bunker, effectively, it actually was just such a perfect solution.
"The production crew kept going to me, ‘please, please take it on as a permanent thing’."
