{"id":9542,"date":"2019-02-25T18:52:55","date_gmt":"2019-02-25T05:52:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/queenstownlife.com\/?p=9542"},"modified":"2019-02-25T18:53:04","modified_gmt":"2019-02-25T05:53:04","slug":"locals-film-otago-southland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/queenstownlife.com\/2019\/02\/locals-film-otago-southland\/","title":{"rendered":"Locals – Film Otago Southland"},"content":{"rendered":"
Who the hell are you and what do you do? <\/strong><\/p>\n Film Otago Southland<\/span><\/a> is a regional film office\/commission that covers the southern half of the South Island – our six regions are Waitaki, Queenstown-Lakes, Central Otago, Southland, Dunedin and Clutha. We currently have a team of two – KJ Jennings, Executive Manager, and Kahli Scott, Coordinator.<\/p>\n In a nutshell, our job is to help attract screen productions to the region, to help productions run smoothly while they\u2019re here, and to make sure the community\u2019s happy once the production leaves.<\/span><\/p>\n Queenstown and the surrounding regions attract a wide range of screen productions, from high-end blockbusters like Mission Impossible to TV commercials for Korean clothing brands to adventure documentaries. <\/span><\/p>\n A typical day in the office could involve: responding to enquiries from productions who are looking to film here, promoting the region as a filming destination through our comms channels and ongoing relationships, collaborating with the New Zealand Film Commission and other regional film offices on our national offering, working with councils and other agencies on location access, helping to facilitate permits and consents, arranging recces and attending events as an ambassador for the region…and that\u2019s just a small snapshot.<\/span><\/p>\n In our region, a huge amount of resource goes into access to locations. We have truly world-class locations here, but they\u2019re of no use if we can\u2019t access them in a timely manner. In our industry, a timely manner may be as short as a matter of days. To that end, we work with local councils, DOC, LINZ, Environment Southland, and a wide variety of landowners and guardians.<\/span><\/p>\n We also have initiatives like our Writers in Residence programme, which supports screenwriters who are developing a project with a connection to the region. The programme provides writers with accommodation, writing space, local knowledge and introductions to key community members. One of our first Writers in Residence was Jackie Van Beek (of THE BREAKER-UPPERERS fame) for her project THE INLAND ROAD.<\/span><\/p>\n We\u2019re putting a big focus this year on further developing our office\u2019s marketing assets – building our social media following, developing a showreel, and growing our online Locations Directory and Industry Directory to show to the world all the amazing assets we have to offer as a filming destination. If anyone has materials they\u2019d like to add to the mix, please get in touch<\/span><\/a>!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n