Film Otago Southland says the industry in Queenstown is proving resilient to the global economic meltdown, with two television commercials shooting, two others in pre-production and locations being scouted for "several others".
Film Otago Southland executive manager Kevin Jennings, of Queenstown, said he was also fielding inquiries from big-budget Hollywood feature film producers, who were searching around the world for a winter shoot location involving remote landscapes and frozen lakes.
Independent North American film-makers had also approached him for suitable caves in which to film.
A Chinese television commercial was shot in Queenstown last month, involving 60 cast and crew, and about 35 lived in the resort.
Koran Productions, a Bollywood production company, also filmed in town in January, for the fourth time since February 2008.
A television commercial for Guinness was also filmed in the Queenstown area last month.
"Four separate adverts were shot in one day earlier this month," Mr Jennings said.
"While we welcome feature films, they are not our bread and butter. Commercials are. They are low-impact, big budget and what drives the industry in Queenstown."
Mr Jennings said companies still wanted to push their products and people still watched television, regardless of the economic situation.
"There's a misconception Queenstown is more expensive than the big centres and you have to bring everyone and everything here to shoot. The conventional wisdom is they've got the crew base, equipment and cheaper accommodation, but the reality is Queenstown has . . . lighting trucks, cutting-edge camera technology including a red camera, aerial rigs for helicopters, art departments and that ties into the capability to serve large television commercials and small-to-medium features.
"We're not self sustaining but we can do it with our local base and draw in to fill the gaps. We'd love to have more television content produced here and look forward to working with producers to try and make that happen in the next year."
Mr Jennings said one of his goals for 2009 was to spread the word to New Zealand and Australian film-makers that Otago-Southland was open for business and the regions could service jobs with existing equipment, crews and infrastructure.
Otago-Southland was the third largest production base in the country, after Auckland and Wellington, with productions spending $38.7 million in the area last year.
He said the regions offered unique locations and had a very high crew population per capita.
About 30 Queenstown-residing crew were working on the feature film Kingdom Come, possibly due to start filming next month.
Mr Jennings supported the construction of a dedicated film studio in Queenstown.
His office had commissioned a study that identified the need.
An independent follow-up to report, determine what kind of studio and a business case for it would be submitted to Film Otago Southland later this year.
The Film Otago Southland Trust deed, signed in Queenstown last July, includes representation from the Queenstown Lakes District Council, Central Otago District Council, Dunedin City Council, Venture Southland, the Waitaki Development Board and Enterprise Clutha.
