Film Otago Southland executive manager Kevin Jennings, of Queenstown, said yesterday the area's film industry had enjoyed its busiest start yet in 2009, a sharp contrast to the slow patch in December.
"We've had a great year in the face of doom and gloom," he said.
There have been more than 70 shooting days so far. Queenstown, Glenorchy, Nevis Valley, Fiordland, Alexandra, Oamaru, Waitaki Valley, Dansey Pass, Gore, Dunedin and other locations have all hosted crews this year.
The average crew size was 40 and each crew pumped $50,000 to $250,000 per day into local economies, including about a month of preparation and a week of wrap and depending on production requirements.
Clients and markets included New Zealand, the United States, China, Japan, South Korea, India, Germany and the Netherlands.Vehicle, pharmaceutical, dairy, water, soft-drink, beer and jewellery products were among the items being promoted in the South.
Mr Jennings said a German telemovie was being shot in Dunedin this week, among the other projects in the works.
"There are four other jobs I know of being bid on. If these go, they will most likely shoot in April.
"There is a three to four-day television commercial for the Australian market at present in prep, scheduled to shoot over the weekend.
"There are two real [feature films], who I'm sending reference photos, and wheels are in motion. Then there's three other ones. One came in yesterday, and I'm starting a dialogue with them.
"They want a futuristic setting that we can fit the bill on . . . He wants three small rural towns that are set in the near future after something has happened."
When asked if his office had been approached about locations for The Lord Of The Rings prequel The Hobbit, Mr Jennings said: "I couldn't possibly comment."
Mr Jennings said the production boom was not necessarily unique to Otago-Southland, "but we just happen to have had a really good chunk of it. Television commercials are the backbone of the industry. The feature films are the icing on the cake."
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.
"We're well ahead of that, with the exception [that] Wolverine pumped it up last year," Mr Jennings said.
Southern exposure is about to rocket when X-Men Origins: Wolverine is released in theatres around the world on April 29.
The Hugh Jackman-starring blockbuster prequel was shot in part on location in Paradise, Glenorchy, Deer Park Heights in Queenstown, Clutha district, Dunedin and Southland just over a year ago.
Soon after millions of North Americans saw Queenstown featured in the latest episodes of The Bachelor, the resort's profile is about to be bolstered even further when MTV airs its Real World style reality show, on dates to be announced.
Up to 20 young Americans were filmed living in a Queenstown house last November and December and were set several adventure activity tasks before one person won the prize.
New Zealand's Next Top Model was also filmed in the South and is due for future broadcast.
About 20 Queenstown Lakes district crew were working on the feature film Kingdom Come, possibly due to start filming next month.
About 120 in the district made their full-time living from the film industry and travelled to projects around the country.
Mr Jennings said Otago-Southland offered a variety of backdrops for client and producers to select, from the rugged and glacial to the historical and coastal. Landscapes akin to South America and South Africa were available, but in a safer and closer environment in Otago-Southland.
He had noticed an increase in commercial producers wanting "dreamy, romantic, lush, rolling green hills" to associate their products with.
Film Otago-Southland is one of seven offices in New Zealand, which all work in tandem with each other and the national office, along the same lines as regional tourism organisations and Tourism New Zealand. Film Otago-Southland was also attempting to encourage business in the shoulder seasons.
