Media release

11 February 2013

Auckland shines on screen tonight

Tune in to South Pacific Pictures’ latest series The Blue Rose at 8.30pm on TV3 tonight to see Auckland once again in the spotlight.

The new series written for Outrageous Fortune stars Siobhan Marshall and Antonia Prebble, is set predominantly in Auckland’s CBD. Filming took place last winter amongst the everyday workings of the city to create a unique on screen atmosphere while reducing disruption.

Mayor of Auckland, Len Brown says The Blue Rose demonstrates the flexibility available in Auckland – to live, work and film.

“The Blue Rose highlights Auckland’s ability to adapt for filming while remaining a great place to live and work. The series was predominantly shot in popular locations in the central city, without major disruption to residents, workers, tourists and businesses,” says Mayor Brown.

Producer of The Blue Rose and Managing Director of South Pacific Pictures, Chris Bailey was committed to minimising disruption throughout filming of the drama series.

“Shooting a 13-part drama series over four months during Auckland’s winter, we worked very hard to minimise the impact of our film crew on the local businesses. This meant downsizing our unit in every possible way, such as having vans not trucks and moving extras in by shuttle,” says Mr Bailey.

“Many business owners complimented us on the effort we put into keeping our imprint as small as possible. The resulting production really showcases the best of Auckland.”

Film Auckland, part of Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (ATEED), facilitated and permitted the filming.

“The Blue Rose was filmed amongst Aucklanders working and socialising in their city. From the early stages of production, South Pacific Pictures aimed to minimise the series’ footprint so parts of the city where people normally go for lunch or a drink after work could become film locations,” says Michael Brook, ATEED’s Manager Film Auckland.

“This approach is not without its risks and we worked together with key stakeholders, Heart of the City and Waterfront Auckland, to overcome possible obstacles to deliver on the producer’s concept.

Along with the many bars and restaurants around Auckland, the major filming locations included:

Wynyard Quarter’s North Wharf and Karanga Plaza (the locations were used for night filming, offer a great city view and will feature in tonight’s opening scenes)
Britomart
Shortland Street
Jean Batten Place
Victoria Park
Birkenhead
Bayswater
Beach Haven

Ends

© Scoop Media

Arguably Reassuring: Inspector-General Finds GCSB "Arguably" Legal

Of the 88 individuals:

• 15 cases involving 22 individuals did not have any information intercepted by GCSB.

• another four cases involving five individuals were the subjects of a New Zealand Security Intelligence Service warrant and the GCSB assisted in the execution of the warrants. The Inspector-General is of the view that there were arguably no breaches and the law is unclear.

• the Bureau only provided technical assistance which did not involve interception of communications, involving three of the individuals, so no breach occurred.

• the remaining cases involved the collection of metadata, and the Inspector-General formed the view that there had arguably been no breach, noting once again that the law is unclear.
More>>